Climatically controlled reproduction drives interannual growth variability in a temperate tree species



Hacket Pain, AJ ORCID: 0000-0003-3676-1568, Ascoli, Davide, Vacchiano, G, Biondi, Franco, Cavin, Liam, Conedera, Marco, Drobyshev, Igor, Dorado Linan, Isabel, Friend, Andrew D, Grabner, Micheal
et al (show 15 more authors) (2018) Climatically controlled reproduction drives interannual growth variability in a temperate tree species. Ecology Letters, 21 (12). pp. 1833-1844.

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Abstract

Climatically controlled allocation to reproduction is a key mechanism by which climate influencestree growth and may explain lagged correlations between climate and growth. We used continent-wide datasets of tree-ring chronologies and annual reproductive effort inFagus sylvaticafrom1901 to 2015 to characterise relationships between climate, reproduction and growth. Resultshighlight that variable allocation to reproduction is a key factor for growth in this species, andthat high reproductive effort (‘mast years’) is associated with stem growth reduction. Additionally,high reproductive effort is associated with previous summer temperature, creating lagged climateeffects on growth. Consequently, understanding growth variability in forest ecosystems requiresthe incorporation of reproduction, which can be highly variable. Our results suggest that futureresponse of growth dynamics to climate change in this species will be strongly influenced by theresponse of reproduction.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Dendrochronology, drought, European beech, Fagus sylvatica, forest growth, masting, path analysis, SEM, structural equation modelling, trade‐off
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 24 Aug 2018 13:25
Last Modified: 15 Mar 2023 02:21
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13158
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13158
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3025509