Scholars@Duke
Jean Christophe Domec

Jean Christophe Domec

Visiting Professor in the Nicholas School of the Environment
Environmental Sciences and Policy
jc.domec@duke.edu
Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708-0328
LSRC A308, Durham, NC 27708

Selected Publications

Similar response of canopy conductance to increasing vapor pressure deficit and decreasing soil conductivity with drought among five morphologically contrasting but co-occurring pine species

Journal Article Agricultural and Forest Meteorology · May 1, 2025 Knowledge of plant hydraulics facilitates our understanding of the capabilities of forests to withstand droughts. This common-garden study quantified the hydraulic response to variation in sandy soil conductivity and atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD ... Full text Cite

Improving forest decision-making through complex system representation: A viability theory perspective

Journal Article Forest Policy and Economics · January 1, 2025 Forests are complex adaptive systems (CAS) featuring dynamics that can take centuries to unfold. Managing them for multiple objectives (e.g. financial performance, climate regulation, biodiversity conservation, watershed protection) in the face of multiple ... Full text Cite

Phenology Across Scales: An Intercontinental Analysis of Leaf-Out Dates in Temperate Deciduous Tree Communities

Journal Article Global Ecology and Biogeography · December 1, 2024 Aim: To quantify the intra-community variability of leaf-out (ICVLo) among dominant trees in temperate deciduous forests, assess its links with specific and phylogenetic diversity, identify its environmental drivers and deduce its ecological consequences w ... Full text Cite

Dynamic interactions between groundwater level and discharge by phreatophytes

Journal Article Advances in Water Resources · November 1, 2024 Many traditional models that predict plant–groundwater use based on groundwater level variations, such as the White method, make various simplifying assumptions. For example, these models often neglect the role of plant hydraulic redistribution, a process ... Full text Cite

Leaf Physiological Responses and Early Senescence Are Linked to Reflectance Spectra in Salt-Sensitive Coastal Tree Species

Journal Article Forests · September 1, 2024 Salt-sensitive trees in coastal wetlands are dying as forests transition to marsh and open water at a rapid pace. Forested wetlands are experiencing repeated saltwater exposure due to the frequency and severity of climatic events, sea-level rise, and human ... Full text Cite

Assisted migration in a warmer and drier climate: less climate buffering capacity, less facilitation and more fires at temperate latitudes?

Journal Article Oikos · August 1, 2024 Assisted tree migration has been proposed as a conceptual solution to mitigate lags in biotic responses to anthropogenic climate change. The rationale behind this concept is that tree species currently growing under warmer and drier climates will be more r ... Full text Cite

Water use of co-occurring loblolly (Pinus taeda) and shortleaf (Pinus echinata) in a loblolly pine plantation in the Piedmont

Journal Article Journal of the American Water Resources Association · August 1, 2024 Measuring water use in co-occurring loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) and shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.) enhances our understanding of their competitive water use and aids in refining watershed water budget model parameters. This study was conducted in ... Full text Cite

Toward spectrally truthful models for gap-filling soil respiration and methane fluxes. A case study in coastal forested wetlands in North Carolina

Journal Article Agricultural and Forest Meteorology · June 15, 2024 Soil respiration (Rs) and methane (FCH4) fluxes are two important metrics of ecosystem metabolism. An accurate estimate of the budget of these two greenhouse gases is critical to understanding their response to climate and land-use changes. Reconstructing ... Full text Cite

Influence of tree removal on the water dynamic of the Lascaux hill by time lapse ERT

Conference 30th European Meeting of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics, Held at the Near Surface Geoscience Conference and Exhibition 2024, NSG 2024 · January 1, 2024 Vegetation has the potential to affect the water behavior of an unsaturated karst environment. This study investigates the impact of tree felling on the water content of the Lascaux massif, using monthly electrical resistivity measurements from the past de ... Full text Cite

Linking the Water and Carbon Economies of Plants in a Drying and Warming Climate

Journal Article Current Forestry Reports · December 1, 2023 Purpose of Review : Harsher abiotic conditions are projected for many woodland areas, especially in already arid and semi-arid climates such as the Southwestern USA. Stomatal regulation of their aperture is one of the ways plants cope with drought. Interes ... Full text Cite

Merging flux-variance with surface renewal methods in the roughness sublayer and the atmospheric surface layer

Journal Article Agricultural and Forest Meteorology · November 15, 2023 Two micrometeorological methods utilizing high-frequency sampled air temperature were tested against eddy covariance (EC) sensible heat flux (H) measurements at three sites representing agricultural, agro-forestry, and forestry systems. The two methods cov ... Full text Cite

Native and invasive seedling drought-resistance under elevated temperature in common gorse populations

Journal Article Journal of Plant Ecology · June 1, 2023 The assumption that climatic growing requirements of invasive species are conserved between their native and non-native environment is a key ecological issue in the evaluation of invasion risk. We conducted a growth chamber experiment to compare the effect ... Full text Cite

Sucrose transport inside the phloem: Bridging hydrodynamics and geometric characteristics

Journal Article Physics of Fluids · June 1, 2023 In plants, the delivery of the products of photosynthesis is achieved through a hydraulic system labeled as phloem. This semi-permeable plant tissue consists of living cells that contract and expand in response to fluid pressure and flow velocity fluctuati ... Full text Cite

Toward a Realistic Representation of Sucrose Transport in the Phloem of Plants

Journal Article Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences · March 1, 2023 The significance of phloem hydrodynamics to plant mortality and survival, which impacts ecosystem-scale carbon and water cycling, is not in dispute. The phloem provides the conduits for products of photosynthesis to be transported to different parts of the ... Full text Cite

Beyond carbon flux partitioning: Carbon allocation and nonstructural carbon dynamics inferred from continuous fluxes.

Journal Article Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · October 2022 Carbon (C) allocation and nonstructural carbon (NSC) dynamics play essential roles in plant growth and survival under stress and disturbance. However, quantitative understanding of these processes remains limited. Here we propose a framework where we conne ... Full text Cite

Tallo: A global tree allometry and crown architecture database.

Journal Article Global change biology · September 2022 Data capturing multiple axes of tree size and shape, such as a tree's stem diameter, height and crown size, underpin a wide range of ecological research-from developing and testing theory on forest structure and dynamics, to estimating forest carbon stocks ... Full text Cite

Quantifying canopy conductance in a pine forest during drought from combined sap flow and canopy surface temperature measurements

Journal Article Agricultural and Forest Meteorology · August 15, 2022 Precise determination of canopy conductance (gs) is needed to quantify the water loss and CO2 exchange from forest canopies and their response to changing environmental conditions. In this study, we combined measurements of the leaf-to-air vapour pressure ... Full text Cite

Catastrophic hydraulic failure and tipping points in plants.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · August 2022 Water inside plants forms a continuous chain from water in soils to the water evaporating from leaf surfaces. Failures in this chain result in reduced transpiration and photosynthesis and are caused by soil drying and/or cavitation-induced xylem embolism. ... Full text Cite

Radial-axial transport coordination enhances sugar translocation in the phloem vasculature of plants.

Journal Article Plant physiology · August 2022 Understanding mass transport of photosynthates in the phloem of plants is necessary for predicting plant carbon allocation, productivity, and responses to water and thermal stress. Several hypotheses about optimization of phloem structure and function and ... Full text Cite

Variations in leaf water status and drought tolerance of dominant tree species growing in multi-aged tropical forests in Thailand.

Journal Article Scientific reports · April 2022 Large-scale abandoned agricultural areas in Southeast Asia resulted in patches of forests of multiple successions and characteristics, challenging the study of their responses to environmental changes, especially under climatic water stress. Here, we inves ... Full text Cite

Evidence for distinct isotopic compositions of sap and tissue water in tree stems: consequences for plant water source identification.

Journal Article The New phytologist · February 2022 The long-standing hypothesis that the isotopic composition of plant stem water reflects that of source water is being challenged by studies reporting bulk water from woody stems with an isotopic composition that cannot be attributed to any potential water ... Full text Cite

The xylem of anisohydric Quercus alba L. is more vulnerable to embolism than isohydric codominants.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · February 2022 The coordination of plant leaf water potential (ΨL ) regulation and xylem vulnerability to embolism is fundamental for understanding the tradeoffs between carbon uptake and risk of hydraulic damage. There is a general consensus that trees with v ... Full text Cite

Potassium supply modulates Eucalyptus leaf water-status under PEG-induced osmotic stress: integrating leaf gas exchange, carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition and plant growth.

Journal Article Tree physiology · January 2022 The objective of this study was to quantify the effect of potassium (K) supply on osmotic adjustment and drought avoidance mechanisms of Eucalyptus seedlings growing under short-term water stress. The effects of K supply on plant growth, nutritional status ... Full text Cite

Spatial variability in tree-ring carbon isotope discrimination in response to local drought across the entire loblolly pine natural range.

Journal Article Tree physiology · January 2022 Considering the temporal responses of carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13C) to local water availability in the spatial analysis of Δ13C is essential for evaluating the contribution of environmental and genetic facets of plant Δ13C. Using tree-ring Δ13C from ... Full text Cite

Variability of tree transpiration across three zones in a southeastern U.S. Piedmont watershed

Journal Article Hydrological Processes · October 1, 2021 Quantifying the spatial variability of species-specific tree transpiration across hillslopes is important for estimating watershed-scale evapotranspiration (ET) and predicting spatial drought effects on vegetation. The objectives of this study are to (1) a ... Full text Cite

Increased hydraulic constraints in Eucalyptus plantations fertilized with potassium.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · September 2021 Fertilization is commonly used to increase growth in forest plantations, but it may also affect tree water relations and responses to drought. Here, we measured changes in biomass, transpiration, sapwood-to-leaf area ratio (As :Al ) a ... Full text Cite

The roles of conduit redundancy and connectivity in xylem hydraulic functions.

Journal Article The New phytologist · August 2021 Wood anatomical traits shape a xylem segment's hydraulic efficiency and resistance to embolism spread due to declining water potential. It has been known for decades that variations in conduit connectivity play a role in altering xylem hydraulics. However, ... Full text Cite

Ecosystem productivity and evapotranspiration are tightly coupled in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda l.) plantations along the coastal plain of the southeastern U.S.

Journal Article Forests · August 1, 2021 Forest water use efficiency (WUE), the ratio of gross primary productivity (GPP) to evapotranspiration (ET), is an important variable to understand the coupling between water and carbon cycles, and to assess resource use, ecosystem resilience, and commodit ... Full text Cite

Global transpiration data from sap flow measurements: The SAPFLUXNET database

Journal Article Earth System Science Data · June 14, 2021 Plant transpiration links physiological responses of vegetation to water supply and demand with hydrological, energy, and carbon budgets at the land-atmosphere interface. However, despite being the main land evaporative flux at the global scale, transpirat ... Full text Cite

Effects of land-use change and drought on decadal evapotranspiration and water balance of natural and managed forested wetlands along the southeastern US lower coastal plain

Journal Article Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. · June 2021 Forested wetlands are important in regulating regional hydrology and climate. However, long-term studies on the hydrologic impacts of converting natural forested wetlands to pine plantations are rare for the southern US. From 2005-2018, we quantified water ... Full text Cite

Aquaporins, and not changes in root structure, provide new insights into physiological responses to drought, flooding, and salinity.

Journal Article Journal of experimental botany · May 2021 The influence of aquaporin (AQP) activity on plant water movement remains unclear, especially in plants subject to unfavorable conditions. We applied a multitiered approach at a range of plant scales to (i) characterize the resistances controlling water tr ... Full text Cite

Heterotrophic Respiration and the Divergence of Productivity and Carbon Sequestration

Journal Article Geophysical Research Letters · April 16, 2021 Net primary productivity (NPP) and net ecosystem production (NEP) are often used interchangeably, as their difference, heterotrophic respiration (soil heterotrophic CO2 efflux, RSH = NPP−NEP), is assumed a near-fixed fraction of NPP. Here, we show, using a ... Full text Cite

Productivity of low-input short-rotation coppice American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis L.) grown at different planting densities as a bioenergy feedstock over two rotation cycles

Journal Article Biomass and Bioenergy · March 1, 2021 Short rotation coppice culture of woody crop species (SRWCs) has long been considered a sustainable method of producing biomass for bioenergy that does not compete with current food production practices. In this study, we grew American sycamore (Platanus o ... Full text Cite

Interclonal variation, coordination, and trade-offs between hydraulic conductance and gas exchange in Pinus radiata: consequences on plant growth and wood density.

Journal Article Journal of experimental botany · March 2021 Stem growth reflects genetic and phenotypic differences within a tree species. The plant hydraulic system regulates the carbon economy, and therefore variations in growth and wood density. A whole-organism perspective, by partitioning the hydraulic system, ... Full text Cite

Persistent decay of fresh xylem hydraulic conductivity varies with pressure gradient and marks plant responses to injury.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · February 2021 Defining plant hydraulic traits is central to the quantification of ecohydrological processes ranging from land-atmosphere interactions, to tree mortality and water-carbon budgets. A key plant trait is the xylem specific hydraulic conductivity (Kx Full text Cite

Taylor dispersion in osmotically driven laminar flows in phloem

Journal Article Journal of Fluid Mechanics · January 1, 2021 Sucrose is among the main products of photosynthesis that are deemed necessary for plant growth and survival. It is produced in the mesophyll cells of leaves and translocated to different parts of the plant through the phloem. Progress in understanding thi ... Full text Open Access Cite

Extensive Variation in Drought-Induced Gene Expression Changes Between Loblolly Pine Genotypes.

Journal Article Frontiers in genetics · January 2021 Drought response is coordinated through expression changes in a large suite of genes. Interspecific variation in this response is common and associated with drought-tolerant and -sensitive genotypes. The extent to which different genetic networks orchestra ... Full text Cite

Sap Flow Disruption in Grapevine Is the Early Signal Predicting the Structural, Functional, and Genetic Responses to Esca Disease.

Journal Article Frontiers in plant science · January 2021 Fungal species involved in Esca cause the formation of grapevine wood necroses. It results in the deterioration of vascular network transport capacity and the disturbance of the physiological processes, leading to gradual or sudden grapevine death. Herein, ... Full text Cite

Variability of tree transpiration across three zones in a southeastern U.S. Piedmont watershed

Journal Article · 2021 Quantifying species-specific tree transpiration across watershed zones is important for estimating watershed evapotranspiration (ET) and predicting drought effects on vegetation. The objectives of this study are to 1) assess sap flux density (Js) and tree- ... Full text Cite

Radial-axial transport coordination enhances sugar translocation in the phloem vasculature of plants

Journal Article · 2021 Mass transport of photosynthates in the phloem of plants is necessary for describing plant carbon allocation, productivity, and responses to water and thermal stress. Several hypotheses about optimization of phloem structure and function and limitations of ... Full text Cite

The xylem of anisohydric Quercus alba L. is more vulnerable to embolism than isohydric co-dominants

Journal Article · 2021 The coordination of plant leaf water potential (Ψ) regulation and xylem vulnerability to embolism is fundamental for understanding the tradeoffs between carbon uptake and risk of hydraulic damage. There is a general consensus that trees with vulnerable xyl ... Full text Cite

Understorey-overstorey biotic and nutrient interactions are key factors for Pinus pinaster growth and development under oligotrophic conditions

Journal Article Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research · January 1, 2021 The main objective of this study was to examine the interactive effects of nutrient availability and understorey plants, including a nitrogen(N)-fixing shrub, on growth, physiology and survival of commercial maritime pines (Pinus pinaster Ait.). Three expe ... Full text Cite

Effects of Microtopography on Absorptive and Transport Fine Root Biomass, Necromass, Production, Mortality and Decomposition in a Coastal Freshwater Forested Wetland, Southeastern USA

Journal Article Ecosystems. · September 2020 Forested wetlands are an important carbon (C) sink. Fine roots (diameter < 2 mm) dominate belowground C cycling and can be functionally defined into absorptive roots (order 1–2) and transport roots (order ≥ 3). However, effects of microtopography on the fu ... Full text Cite

Spectral evidence for substrate availability rather than environmental control of methane emissions from a coastal forested wetland

Journal Article Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. · September 2020 Knowledge of the dynamics of methane (CH₄) fluxes across coastal freshwater forested wetlands, such as those found in the southeastern US remains limited. In the current study, we look at the spectral properties of ecosystem net CH₄ exchange (NEECH₄) time ... Full text Cite

Potassium fertilization increases hydraulic redistribution and water use efficiency for stemwood production in Eucalyptus grandis plantations

Journal Article Environmental and Experimental Botany · August 1, 2020 Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of droughts in most tropical regions in the coming decades. A passive phenomenon called hydraulic redistribution (HR) allows some plant species to take up water from deep and wet soil layers and redistri ... Full text Cite

Long-term carbon flux and balance in managed and natural coastal forested wetlands of the Southeastern USA

Journal Article Agricultural and Forest Meteorology · July 15, 2020 Wetlands store large carbon (C) stocks and play important roles in biogeochemical C cycling. However, the effects of environmental and anthropogenic pressures on C dynamics in lower coastal plain forested wetlands in the southern U.S. are not well understo ... Full text Cite

Root water gates and not changes in root structure provide new insights into plant physiological responses and adaptations to drought, flooding and salinity

Journal Article · 2020 The influence of aquaporin (AQP) activity on plant water movement remains unclear, especially in plants subject to unfavorable conditions. We applied a multitiered approach at a range of plant scales to (i) characterize the resistances controlling water tr ... Full text Cite

Evidence for distinct isotopic composition of sap and tissue water in tree stems: consequences for plant water source identification

Journal Article · 2020 For decades, theory has upheld that plants do not fractionate water isotopes as they move across the soil-root interface or along plant stems. This theory is now being challenged by several recent studies reporting that the water held in woody stems has an ... Full text Cite

Using δ13C and δ18O to analyze loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) response to experimental drought and fertilization.

Journal Article Tree physiology · December 2019 Drought frequency and intensity are projected to increase throughout the southeastern USA, the natural range of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.), and are expected to have major ecological and economic implications. We analyzed the carbon and oxygen isotopic ... Full text Cite

Mechanisms for minimizing height-related stomatal conductance declines in tall vines.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · November 2019 The ability to transport water through tall stems hydraulically limits stomatal conductance (gs ), thereby constraining photosynthesis and growth. However, some plants are able to minimize this height-related decrease in gs , regardle ... Full text Cite

A dynamic yet vulnerable pipeline: Integration and coordination of hydraulic traits across whole plants.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · October 2019 The vast majority of measurements in the field of plant hydraulics have been on small-diameter branches from woody species. These measurements have provided considerable insight into plant functioning, but our understanding of plant physiology and ecology ... Full text Cite

The conifer-curve: fast prediction of hydraulic conductivity loss and vulnerability to cavitation

Journal Article Annals of Forest Science · September 1, 2019 Key message: The relationship between relative water loss (RWL) and hydraulic conductivity loss (PLC) in sapwood is robust across conifer species. We provide an empirical model (conifer-curve) for predicting PLC from simple RWL measurements. The approach i ... Full text Cite

A Dynamic Optimality Principle for Water Use Strategies Explains Isohydric to Anisohydric Plant Responses to Drought

Journal Article Frontiers in Forests and Global Change · August 28, 2019 Optimality principles that underlie models of stomatal kinetics require identifying and formulating the gain and the costs involved in opening stomata. While the gain has been linked to larger carbon acquisition, there is still a debate as to the costs tha ... Full text Cite

Anatomical changes with needle length are correlated with leaf structural and physiological traits across five Pinus species.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · May 2019 The genus Pinus has wide geographical range and includes species that are the most economically valued among forest trees worldwide. Pine needle length varies greatly among species, but the effects of needle length on anatomy, function, and coordination an ... Full text Cite

Spatiotemporal sensitivity of thermal stress for monitoring canopy hydrological stress in near real-time

Journal Article Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. · May 2019 Monitoring drought in real-time using minimal field data is a challenge for ecosystem management and conservation. Most methods require extensive data collection and in-situ calibration and accuracy is difficult to evaluate. Here, we demonstrated how the s ... Full text Cite

The ideal percentage of K substitution by Na in Eucalyptus seedlings: Evidences from leaf carbon isotopic composition, leaf gas exchanges and plant growth.

Journal Article Plant physiology and biochemistry : PPB · April 2019 Potassium (K) is the most required macronutrient by Eucalyptus, while sodium (Na) can partially substitute some physiological functions of K and have a positive response on plant growth in K-depleted tropical soils. However, the right percentage of K subst ... Full text Cite

Aquaporin regulation in roots controls plant hydraulic conductance, stomatal conductance, and leaf water potential in Pinus radiata under water stress.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · February 2019 Stomatal regulation is crucial for forest species performance and survival on drought-prone sites. We investigated the regulation of root and shoot hydraulics in three Pinus radiata clones exposed to drought stress and its coordination with stomatal conduc ... Full text Cite

Ecophysiological impacts of Esca, a devastating grapevine trunk disease, on Vitis vinifera L.

Journal Article PloS one · January 2019 Esca is a Grapevine Trunk Disease (GTD) caused by a broad range of taxonomically unrelated fungal pathogens. These attack grapevine wood tissues inducing necroses even in the conductive vascular tissues, thus affecting the vine physiology and potentially l ... Full text Open Access Cite

A network model links wood anatomy to xylem tissue hydraulic behaviour and vulnerability to cavitation.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · December 2018 Featured Publication Plant xylem response to drought is routinely represented by a vulnerability curve (VC). Despite the significance of VCs, the connection between anatomy and tissue-level hydraulic response to drought remains a subject of inquiry. We present a numerical mode ... Full text Cite

Drought and thinning have limited impacts on evapotranspiration in a managed pine plantation on the southeastern United States coastal plain

Journal Article Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. · November 2018 Managed and natural coastal plain forests in the humid southeastern United States exchange large amounts of water and energy with the atmosphere through the evapotranspiration (ET) process. ET plays an important role in controlling regional hydrology, clim ... Full text Open Access Cite

Accounting for landscape heterogeneity improves spatial predictions of tree vulnerability to drought.

Journal Article The New phytologist · October 2018 As climate change continues, forest vulnerability to droughts and heatwaves is increasing, but vulnerability varies regionally and locally through landscape position. Also, most models used in forecasting forest responses to heat and drought do not incorpo ... Full text Cite

Transport in a coordinated soil-root-xylem-phloem leaf system

Journal Article Advances in Water Resources · September 1, 2018 Links between the carbon and water economies of plants are coupled by combining the biochemical demand for atmospheric CO2 with gas transfer through stomates, liquid water transport in the soil-xylem hydraulic system and sucrose export in the phloem. We fo ... Full text Open Access Cite

Coupling of ecosystem-scale plant water storage and leaf phenology observed by satellite.

Journal Article Nature ecology & evolution · September 2018 Plant water storage is fundamental to the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems by participating in plant metabolism, nutrient and sugar transport, and maintenance of the integrity of the hydraulic system of the plant. However, a global view of the size an ... Full text Cite

Variability of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence according to stand age-related processes in a managed loblolly pine forest.

Journal Article Global change biology · July 2018 Leaf fluorescence can be used to track plant development and stress, and is considered the most direct measurement of photosynthetic activity available from remote sensing techniques. Red and far-red sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) maps were gen ... Full text Open Access Cite

Leaf phenology paradox: Why warming matters most where it is already warm

Journal Article Remote Sensing of Environment. · May 2018 Interactions between climate and ecosystem properties that control phenological responses to climate warming and drought are poorly understood. To determine contributions from these interactions, we used space-borne remotely sensed vegetation indices to mo ... Full text Open Access Cite

Leaf hydraulic parameters are more plastic in species that experience a wider range of leaf water potentials

Journal Article Functional ecology. · April 2018 Many plant species experience large differences in soil moisture availability within a season, potentially leading to a wide range of leaf water potentials (ΨLEAF). In order to decrease the risk of leaf dehydration, among species, there is a continuum rang ... Full text Open Access Cite

Co-occurring woody species have diverse hydraulic strategies and mortality rates during an extreme drought.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · March 2018 From 2011 to 2013, Texas experienced its worst drought in recorded history. This event provided a unique natural experiment to assess species-specific responses to extreme drought and mortality of four co-occurring woody species: Quercus fusiformis, Diospy ... Full text Open Access Cite

Drought will not leave your glass empty: Low risk of hydraulic failure revealed by long-term drought observations in world's top wine regions.

Journal Article Science advances · January 2018 Featured Publication Grapevines are crops of global economic importance that will face increasing drought stress because many varieties are described as highly sensitive to hydraulic failure as frequency and intensity of summer drought increase. We developed and used novel app ... Full text Open Access Cite

How does water-stressed corn respond to potassium nutrition? A shoot-root scale approach study under controlled conditions

Journal Article Agriculture (Switzerland) · January 1, 2018 Potassium (K) is generally considered as being closely linked to plant water dynamics. Consequently, reinforcing K nutrition, which theoretically favors root growth and specific surface, extends leaf lifespan, and regulates stomatal functioning, is often u ... Full text Cite

Measuring canopy loss and climatic thresholds from an extreme drought along a fivefold precipitation gradient across Texas.

Journal Article Global change biology · December 2017 Globally, trees are increasingly dying from extreme drought, a trend that is expected to increase with climate change. Loss of trees has significant ecological, biophysical, and biogeochemical consequences. In 2011, a record drought caused widespread tree ... Full text Cite

Hydrology and microtopography control carbon dynamics in wetlands: Implications in partitioning ecosystem respiration in a coastal plain forested wetland

Journal Article Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. · December 2017 Wetlands store a disproportionately large fraction of organic carbon relative to their areal coverage, and thus play an important role in global climate mitigation. As destabilization of these stores through land use or environmental change represents a si ... Full text Cite

TRACC: an open source software for processing sap flux data from thermal dissipation probes

Journal Article Trees (Berlin, Germany : West) · October 2017 KEY MESSAGE: TRACC is an open-source software for standardizing the cleaning, conversion, and calibration of sap flux density data from thermal dissipation probes, which addresses issues of nighttime transpiration and water storage. Thermal dissipation pro ... Full text Cite

Competition for light and water in a coupled soil-plant system

Journal Article Advances in Water Resources · October 1, 2017 It is generally accepted that resource availability shapes the structure and function of many ecosystems. Within the soil-plant-atmosphere (SPA) system, resource availability fluctuates in space and time whereas access to resources by individuals is furthe ... Full text Cite

The role of potassium on maize leaf carbon exportation under drought condition

Journal Article Acta Physiologiae Plantarum · October 1, 2017 Climate changes are mainly characterized by an increase in air temperature and a decrease in rainfalls. Potassium (K) nutrition is generally considered to alleviate plants tolerance to water deficit, especially by improving photosynthesis and phloem transp ... Full text Cite

Monitoring Xylem Hydraulic Pressure in Woody Plants.

Journal Article Bio-protocol · October 2017 Xylem sap circulates under either positive or negative hydraulic pressure in plants. Negative hydraulic pressure (i.e., tension) is the most common situation when transpiration is high, and several devices have been developed to quantify it accurate ... Full text Cite

Productivity, Biomass Partitioning, and Energy Yield of Low-Input Short-Rotation American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis L.) Grown on Marginal Land: Effects of Planting Density and Simulated Drought

Journal Article Bioenergy Research · September 1, 2017 Short-rotation woody crops (SRWC) grown for bioenergy production are considered a more sustainable feedstock than food crops such as corn and soybean. However, to be sustainable SRWC should be deployed on land not suitable for agriculture (e.g., marginal l ... Full text Cite

Leveraging 35 years of Pinus taeda research in the southeastern US to constrain forest carbon cycle predictions: Regional data assimilation using ecosystem experiments

Journal Article Biogeosciences · July 26, 2017 Predicting how forest carbon cycling will change in response to climate change and management depends on the collective knowledge from measurements across environmental gradients, ecosystem manipulations of global change factors, and mathematical models. F ... Full text Cite

Aridity drove the evolution of extreme embolism resistance and the radiation of conifer genus Callitris.

Journal Article The New phytologist · July 2017 Xylem vulnerability to embolism is emerging as a major factor in drought-induced tree mortality events across the globe. However, we lack understanding of how and to what extent climate has shaped vascular properties or functions. We investigated the evolu ... Full text Cite

A synthesis of the effects of atmospheric carbon dioxide enrichment on plant hydraulics: implications for whole-plant water use efficiency and resistance to drought.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · June 2017 Here, we summarize studies on the effects of elevated [CO2 ] (CO2e ) on the structure and function of plant hydraulic architecture and explore the implications of those changes using a model. Changes in conduit diameter and ... Full text Cite

The effect of plant water storage on water fluxes within the coupled soil-plant system.

Journal Article The New phytologist · February 2017 In addition to buffering plants from water stress during severe droughts, plant water storage (PWS) alters many features of the spatio-temporal dynamics of water movement in the soil-plant system. How PWS impacts water dynamics and drought resilience is ex ... Full text Cite

The effects of potassium nutrition on water use in field-grown maize (Zea mays L.)

Journal Article Environmental and Experimental Botany · February 1, 2017 Water is about to become increasingly limited for crop production, which jeopardizes the whole maize sector. Potassium (K) nutrition has been proposed to mitigate water deficit in plants, but field-scale studies involving grain yield components are scarce. ... Full text Cite

Ecophysiological variation of transpiration of pine forests: synthesis of new and published results.

Journal Article Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · January 2017 Canopy transpiration (EC ) is a large fraction of evapotranspiration, integrating physical and biological processes within the energy, water, and carbon cycles of forests. Quantifying EC is of both scientific and practical importance, ... Full text Cite

A critical analysis of species selection and high vs. low-input silviculture on establishment success and early productivity of model short-rotation wood-energy cropping systems

Journal Article Biomass and Bioenergy · January 1, 2017 Most research on bioenergy short rotation woody crops (SRWC) has been dedicated to the genera Populus and Salix. These species generally require relatively high-input culture, including intensive weed competition control, which increases costs and environm ... Full text Cite

An extractive removal step optimized for a high-throughput α-cellulose extraction method for δ13C and δ18O stable isotope ratio analysis in conifer tree rings.

Journal Article Tree physiology · January 2017 Stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ18O) of tree-ring α-cellulose are important tools in paleoclimatology, ecology, plant physiology and genetics. The Multiple Sample Isolation System for Solids (MSISS) was a major advance in the tree-ring α-cellulose extract ... Full text Cite

Evidence for Hydraulic Vulnerability Segmentation and Lack of Xylem Refilling under Tension.

Journal Article Plant physiology · November 2016 The vascular system of grapevine (Vitis spp.) has been reported as being highly vulnerable, even though grapevine regularly experiences seasonal drought. Consequently, stomata would remain open below water potentials that would generate a high loss of stem ... Full text Cite

A test of the hydraulic vulnerability segmentation hypothesis in angiosperm and conifer tree species.

Journal Article Tree physiology · August 2016 Water transport from soils to the atmosphere is critical for plant growth and survival. However, we have a limited understanding about many portions of the whole-tree hydraulic pathway, because the vast majority of published information is on terminal bran ... Full text Cite

Soil-plant-atmosphere conditions regulating convective cloud formation above southeastern US pine plantations.

Journal Article Global change biology · June 2016 Loblolly pine trees (Pinus taeda L.) occupy more than 20% of the forested area in the southern United States, represent more than 50% of the standing pine volume in this region, and remove from the atmosphere about 500 g C m-2 per year through net ecosyste ... Full text Cite

Assessment and simulation of global terrestrial latent heat flux by synthesis of CMIP5 climate models and surface eddy covariance observations

Journal Article Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. · June 2016 The latent heat flux (LE) between the terrestrial biosphere and atmosphere is a major driver of the global hydrological cycle. In this study, we evaluated LE simulations by 45 general circulation models (GCMs) in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project P ... Full text Cite

Monthly land cover-specific evapotranspiration models derived from global eddy flux measurements and remote sensing data

Journal Article Ecohydrology · March 1, 2016 Evapotranspiration (ET) is arguably the most uncertain ecohydrologic variable for quantifying watershed water budgets. Although numerous ET and hydrological models exist, accurately predicting the effects of global change on water use and availability rema ... Full text Cite

Multi-scale predictions of massive conifer mortality due to chronic temperature rise

Journal Article Nature Climate Change · March 1, 2016 Global temperature rise and extremes accompanying drought threaten forests and their associated climatic feedbacks. Our ability to accurately simulate drought-induced forest impacts remains highly uncertain in part owing to our failure to integrate physiol ... Full text Cite

A dynamic leaf gas-exchange strategy is conserved in woody plants under changing ambient CO2 : evidence from carbon isotope discrimination in paleo and CO2 enrichment studies.

Journal Article Global change biology · February 2016 Rising atmospheric [CO2 ], ca , is expected to affect stomatal regulation of leaf gas-exchange of woody plants, thus influencing energy fluxes as well as carbon (C), water, and nutrient cycling of forests. Researchers have proposed various strategies for s ... Full text Cite

Measuring root hydraulic parameters of container-grown herbaceous and woody plants using the hydraulic conductance flow meter

Journal Article HortScience · February 1, 2016 Root hydraulic conductance and conductivity are physiological traits describing the ease with which water can move through the belowground vascular system of a plant, and are used as indicators of plant performance and adaptability to a given environment. ... Full text Cite

Weak tradeoff between xylem safety and xylem-specific hydraulic efficiency across the world's woody plant species.

Journal Article The New phytologist · January 2016 The evolution of lignified xylem allowed for the efficient transport of water under tension, but also exposed the vascular network to the risk of gas emboli and the spread of gas between xylem conduits, thus impeding sap transport to the leaves. A well-kno ... Full text Cite

Clearcutting upland forest alters transpiration of residual trees in the riparian buffer zone

Journal Article Hydrological Processes · November 29, 2015 Our objectives are (1) to compare tree sap flux density (Js in gcm-2d-1) and stomatal conductance (Gs in mmolm-2s-1) across five dominant species, red maple (Acer rubrum), sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), loblolly ... Full text Cite

Testing DRAINMOD-FOREST for predicting evapotranspiration in a mid-rotation pine plantation

Journal Article Forest Ecology and Management. · November 2015 Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key component of the hydrologic cycle in terrestrial ecosystems and accurate description of ET processes is essential for developing reliable ecohydrological models. This study investigated the accuracy of ET prediction by the ... Full text Cite

Fertilization intensifies drought stress: Water use and stomatal conductance of Pinus taeda in a midrotation fertilization and throughfall reduction experiment

Journal Article Forest Ecology and Management. · November 2015 While mid-rotation fertilization increases productivity in many southern pine forests, it remains unclear what impact such management may have on stand water use. We examined the impact of nutrient and water availability on stem volume, leaf area, transpir ... Full text Cite

Conversion of natural forests to managed forest plantations decreases tree resistance to prolonged droughts

Journal Article Forest Ecology and Management. · November 2015 Throughout the southern US, past forest management practices have replaced large areas of native forests with loblolly pine plantations and have resulted in changes in forest response to extreme weather conditions. However, uncertainty remains about the re ... Full text Open Access Cite

Effects of forest management on productivity and carbon sequestration: A review and hypothesis

Journal Article Forest Ecology and Management. · November 2015 With an increasing fraction of the world’s forests being intensively managed for meeting humanity’s need for wood, fiber and ecosystem services, quantitative understanding of the functional changes in these ecosystems in comparison with natural forests is ... Full text Cite

Growth and physiological responses of isohydric and anisohydric poplars to drought.

Journal Article Journal of experimental botany · July 2015 Understanding how different plants prioritize carbon gain and drought vulnerability under a variable water supply is important for predicting which trees will maximize woody biomass production under different environmental conditions. Here, Populus balsami ... Full text Open Access Cite

Linking carbon and water relations to drought-induced mortality in Pinus flexilis seedlings.

Journal Article Tree physiology · July 2015 Survival of tree seedlings at high elevations has been shown to be limited by thermal constraints on carbon balance, but it is unknown if carbon relations also limit seedling survival at lower elevations, where water relations may be more important. We mea ... Full text Cite

BAAD: a Biomass And Allometry Database for woody plants

Journal Article Ecology · May 1, 2015 Understanding how plants are constructed; i.e., how key size dimensions and the amount of mass invested in different tissues varies among individuals; is essential for modeling plant growth, estimating carbon stocks, and mapping energy fluxes in the terres ... Full text Cite

The influence of water table depth and the free atmospheric state on convective rainfall predisposition

Journal Article Water Resources Research · April 1, 2015 A mechanistic model for the soil-plant system is coupled to a conventional slab representation of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) to explore the role of groundwater table (WT) variations and free atmospheric (FA) states on convective rainfall predispo ... Full text Cite

Biophysical modelling of intra-ring variations in tracheid features and wood density of Pinus pinaster trees exposed to seasonal droughts.

Journal Article Tree physiology · March 2015 Process-based models that link seasonally varying environmental signals to morphological features within tree rings are essential tools to predict tree growth response and commercially important wood quality traits under future climate scenarios. This stud ... Full text Cite

Increases in atmospheric CO2 have little influence on transpiration of a temperate forest canopy.

Journal Article The New phytologist · January 2015 Featured Publication Models of forest energy, water and carbon cycles assume decreased stomatal conductance with elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]) based on leaf-scale measurements, a response not directly translatable to canopies. Where canopy-atmosphere are well- ... Full text Cite

A range-wide experiment to investigate nutrient and soil moisture interactions in loblolly pine plantations

Journal Article Forests · January 1, 2015 The future climate of the southeastern USA is predicted to be warmer, drier and more variable in rainfall, which may increase drought frequency and intensity. Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) is the most important commercial tree species in the world and is pla ... Full text Open Access Cite

The hydraulic architecture of conifers

Chapter · January 1, 2015 The water-conducting cells in the xylem of conifers are tracheids. Despite the fact that these conduits are limited in diameter and length, the tracheid-based xylem structure of conifers supports the largest and tallest trees. This is explicable in the lig ... Full text Cite

Role of aquaporin activity in regulating deep and shallow root hydraulic conductance during extreme drought

Journal Article Trees (Berlin, Germany : West) · October 2014 KEY MESSAGE : Deep root hydraulic conductance is upregulated during severe drought and is associated with upregulation in aquaporin activity. In 2011, Texas experienced the worst single-year drought in its recorded history and, based on tree-ring data, lik ... Full text Open Access Cite

A broad survey of hydraulic and mechanical safety in the xylem of conifers.

Journal Article Journal of experimental botany · August 2014 Drought-induced forest dieback has been widely reported over the last decades, and the evidence for a direct causal link between survival and hydraulic failure (xylem cavitation) is now well known. Because vulnerability to cavitation is intimately linked t ... Full text Open Access Cite

Gas exchange and stand-level estimates of water use and gross primary productivity in an experimental pine and switchgrass intercrop forestry system on the Lower Coastal Plain of North Carolina, U.S.A

Journal Article Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. · July 2014 Despite growing interest in using switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) as a biofuel, there are limited data on the physiology of this species and its effect on stand water use and carbon (C) assimilation when grown as a forest intercrop for bioenergy. Therefo ... Full text Cite

Effects of potassium and sodium supply on drought-adaptive mechanisms in Eucalyptus grandis plantations.

Journal Article The New phytologist · July 2014 A basic understanding of nutrition effects on the mechanisms involved in tree response to drought is essential under a future drier climate. A large-scale throughfall exclusion experiment was set up in Brazil to gain an insight into the effects of potassiu ... Full text Cite

Tree root systems competing for soil moisture in a 3D soil-plant model

Journal Article Advances in Water Resources · April 1, 2014 Competition for water among multiple tree rooting systems is investigated using a soil-plant model that accounts for soil moisture dynamics and root water uptake (RWU), whole plant transpiration, and leaf-level photosynthesis. The model is based on a numer ... Full text Cite

Contrasting hydraulic architecture and function in deep and shallow roots of tree species from a semi-arid habitat.

Journal Article Annals of botany · March 2014 Background and aimsDespite the importance of vessels in angiosperm roots for plant water transport, there is little research on the microanatomy of woody plant roots. Vessels in roots can be interconnected networks or nearly solitary, with few ves ... Full text Cite

Growth under field conditions affects lignin content and productivity in transgenic Populus trichocarpa with altered lignin biosynthesis

Journal Article Biomass and Bioenergy · January 1, 2014 This study evaluated the potential of transgenic Populus trichocarpa with antisense 4CL for reduced total lignin and sense Cald5H for increased S/G ratio in a short rotation woody cropping (SRWC) system for bioethanol production in the Southeast USA. Trees ... Full text Cite

Evaluating theories of drought-induced vegetation mortality using a multimodel-experiment framework.

Journal Article The New phytologist · October 2013 SummaryModel-data comparisons of plant physiological processes provide an understanding of mechanisms underlying vegetation responses to climate. We simulated the physiology of a piñon pine-juniper woodland (Pinus edulis-Juniperus monosperma) that ... Full text Cite

Impact of soil texture and water availability on the hydraulic control of plant and grape-berry development

Journal Article Plant and Soil · July 1, 2013 Aims: All components of the soil-plant-atmosphere (s-p-a) continuum are known to control berry quality in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) via ecophysiological interactions between water uptake by roots and water loss by leaves. The scope of the present work ... Full text Cite

Hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) infestation affects water and carbon relations of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and Carolina hemlock (Tsuga caroliniana).

Journal Article The New phytologist · July 2013 Hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) is an exotic insect pest causing severe decimation of native hemlock trees. Extensive research has been conducted on the ecological impacts of HWA, but the exact physiological mechanisms that cause mortality are not known. Wate ... Full text Cite

The challenge of lignocellulosic bioenergy in a water-limited world

Journal Article BioScience · February 1, 2013 It is hoped that lignocellulosic sources will provide energy security, offset carbon dioxide enrichment of the atmosphere, and stimulate the development of new economic sectors. However, little is known about the productivity and sustainability of plant ce ... Full text Cite

Contrasting hydraulic strategies in two tropical lianas and their host trees.

Journal Article American journal of botany · February 2013 Premise of the studyTropical liana abundance has been increasing over the past 40 yr, which has been associated with reduced rainfall. The proposed mechanism allowing lianas to thrive in dry conditions is deeper root systems than co-occurring tree ... Full text Cite

The dynamic pipeline: Homeostatic mechanisms that maintain the integrity of xylem water transport from roots to leaves

Journal Article Acta Horticulturae · January 1, 2013 Over the last decade, it has become increasingly apparent that the properties of the root-to-leaf hydraulic pathway in trees can quickly acclimate over short timescales. In this context, the term hydraulic architecture takes on a broader meaning, making it ... Full text Cite

The effect of water table fluctuation on soil respiration in a lower coastal plain forested wetland in the southeastern U.S.

Journal Article Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences · January 1, 2013 Anthropogenic and environmental pressures on wetland hydrology may trigger changes in carbon (C) cycling, potentially exposing vast amounts of soil C to rapid decomposition. We measured soil CO2 efflux (Rs) continuously from 2009 to 2010 in a lower coastal ... Full text Cite

Elevated growth temperatures alter hydraulic characteristics in trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) seedlings: implications for tree drought tolerance.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · January 2013 Although climate change will alter both soil water availability and evaporative demand, our understanding of how future climate conditions will alter tree hydraulic architecture is limited. Here, we demonstrate that growth at elevated temperatures (ambient ... Full text Cite

Evaluation of intercropped switchgrass establishment under a range of experimental site preparation treatments in a forested setting on the Lower Coastal Plain of North Carolina, U.S.A.

Journal Article Biomass and Bioenergy · November 1, 2012 There is growing interest in using switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) as a biofuel crop and for its potential to sequester carbon. However, there are limited data on the establishment success of this species when grown as a forest intercrop in coastal plain ... Full text Cite

A Comparison of Three Methods to Estimate Evapotranspiration in Two Contrasting Loblolly Pine Plantations: Age-Related Changes in Water Use and Drought Sensitivity of Evapotranspiration Components

Journal Article Forest science. · October 2012 Increasing variability of rainfall patterns requires detailed understanding of the pathways of water loss from ecosystems to optimize carbon uptake and management choices. In the current study we characterized the usability of three alternative methods of ... Full text Open Access Cite

The role of harvest residue in rotation cycle carbon balance in loblolly pine plantations. Respiration partitioning approach.

Journal Article Global change biology · October 2012 Timber harvests remove a significant portion of ecosystem carbon. While some of the wood products moved off-site may last past the harvest cycle of the particular forest crop, the effect of the episodic disturbances on long-term on-site carbon sequestratio ... Full text Cite

Interactive effects of nocturnal transpiration and climate change on the root hydraulic redistribution and carbon and water budgets of southern United States pine plantations.

Journal Article Tree physiology · June 2012 Deep root water uptake and hydraulic redistribution (HR) have been shown to play a major role in forest ecosystems during drought, but little is known about the impact of climate change, fertilization and soil characteristics on HR and its consequences on ... Full text Cite

Hydraulic architecture of two species differing in wood density: opposing strategies in co-occurring tropical pioneer trees.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · January 2012 Co-occurring species often have different strategies for tolerating daily cycles of water stress. One underlying parameter that can link together the suite of traits that enables a given strategy is wood density. Here we compare hydraulic traits of two pio ... Full text Cite

Effects of age-related increases in sapwood area, leaf area, and xylem conductivity on height-related hydraulic costs in two contrasting coniferous species

Journal Article Annals of Forest Science · January 1, 2012 Introduction Knowledge of vertical variation in hydraulic parameters would improve our understanding of individual trunk functioning and likely have important implications for modeling water movement to the leaves. Specifically, understanding how foliage a ... Full text Cite

Comparative hydraulic architecture of tropical tree species representing a range of successional stages and wood density.

Journal Article Oecologia · September 2011 Plant hydraulic architecture (PHA) has been linked to water transport sufficiency, photosynthetic rates, growth form and attendant carbon allocation. Despite its influence on traits central to conferring an overall competitive advantage in a given environm ... Full text Cite

Gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon: global prices, deforestation, and mercury imports.

Journal Article PloS one · April 2011 Many factors such as poverty, ineffective institutions and environmental regulations may prevent developing countries from managing how natural resources are extracted to meet a strong market demand. Extraction for some resources has reached such proportio ... Full text Open Access Cite

Genetic effects on transpiration, canopy conductance, stomatal sensitivity to vapour pressure deficit, and cavitation resistance in loblolly pine

Journal Article Ecohydrology · March 1, 2011 Physiological uniformity and genetic effects on canopy-level gas-exchange and hydraulic function could impact loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation sustainability and ecosystem dynamics under projected changes in climate. Over a 1-year period, we exami ... Full text Cite

Leaf-level gas-exchange uniformity and photosynthetic capacity among loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) genotypes of contrasting inherent genetic variation.

Journal Article Tree physiology · January 2011 Variation in leaf-level gas exchange among widely planted genetically improved loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) genotypes could impact stand-level water use, carbon assimilation, biomass production, C allocation, ecosystem sustainability and biogeochemical c ... Full text Cite

Variable conductivity and embolism in roots and branches of four contrasting tree species and their impacts on whole-plant hydraulic performance under future atmospheric CO₂ concentration.

Journal Article Tree physiology · August 2010 Anatomical and physiological acclimation to water stress of the tree hydraulic system involves trade-offs between maintenance of stomatal conductance and loss of hydraulic conductivity, with short-term impacts on photosynthesis and long-term consequences t ... Full text Cite

Hydraulic redistribution of soil water by roots affects whole-stand evapotranspiration and net ecosystem carbon exchange.

Journal Article The New phytologist · July 2010 *Hydraulic redistribution (HR) of water via roots from moist to drier portions of the soil occurs in many ecosystems, potentially influencing both water use and carbon assimilation. *By measuring soil water content, sap flow and eddy covariance, we investi ... Full text Open Access Cite

Energy and water balance of two contrasting loblolly pine plantations on the lower coastal plain of North Carolina, USA

Conference Forest Ecology and Management. · March 2010 During 2005-2007, we used the eddy covariance and associated hydrometric methods to construct energy and water budgets along a chronosequence of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantations that included a mid-rotation stand (LP) (i.e., 13-15 years old) and a r ... Full text Cite

Response of carbon fluxes to drought in a coastal plain loblolly pine forest

Journal Article Global change biology. · January 2010 Full accounting of ecosystem carbon (C) pools and fluxes in coastal plain ecosystems remains less studied compared with upland systems, even though the C stocks in these systems may be up to an order of magnitude higher, making them a potentially important ... Full text Cite

Acclimation of leaf hydraulic conductance and stomatal conductance of Pinus taeda (loblolly pine) to long-term growth in elevated CO(2) (free-air CO(2) enrichment) and N-fertilization.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · November 2009 We investigated how leaf hydraulic conductance (K(leaf)) of loblolly pine trees is influenced by soil nitrogen amendment (N) in stands subjected to ambient or elevated CO(2) concentrations (CO(2)(a) and CO(2)(e), respectively). We also examined how K(leaf) ... Full text Cite

Decoupling the influence of leaf and root hydraulic conductances on stomatal conductance and its sensitivity to vapour pressure deficit as soil dries in a drained loblolly pine plantation.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · August 2009 The study examined the relationships between whole tree hydraulic conductance (K(tree)) and the conductance in roots (K(root)) and leaves (K(leaf)) in loblolly pine trees. In addition, the role of seasonal variations in K(root) and K(leaf) in mediating sto ... Full text Cite

Safety factors for xylem failure by implosion and air-seeding within roots, trunks and branches of young and old conifer trees

Journal Article IAWA Journal · January 1, 2009 The cohesion-tension theory of water transport states that hydrogen bonds hold water molecules together and that they are pulled through the xylem under tension. This tension could cause transport failure in at least two ways: collapse of the conduit walls ... Full text Cite

Constraints on physiological function associated with branch architecture and wood density in tropical forest trees.

Journal Article Tree physiology · November 2008 This study examined how leaf and stem functional traits related to gas exchange and water balance scale with two potential proxies for tree hydraulic architecture: the leaf area:sapwood area ratio (A(L):A(S)) and wood density (rho(w)). We studied the upper ... Full text Cite

Bole girdling affects metabolic properties and root, trunk and branch hydraulics of young ponderosa pine trees.

Journal Article Tree physiology · October 2008 Effects of trunk girdling on seasonal patterns of xylem water status, water transport and woody tissue metabolic properties were investigated in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex P. Laws.) trees. At the onset of summer, there was a sharp decrease i ... Full text Cite

Biophysical and life-history determinants of hydraulic lift in Neotropical savanna trees

Journal Article Functional ecology. · October 2008 1. Ecological and physiological characteristics of vascular plants may facilitate or constrain hydraulic lift. Studies of hydraulic lift typically include only one or few species, but in species-rich ecosystems a larger number of representative species nee ... Full text Cite

Maximum height in a conifer is associated with conflicting requirements for xylem design.

Journal Article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · August 2008 Despite renewed interest in the nature of limitations on maximum tree height, the mechanisms governing ultimate and species-specific height limits are not yet understood, but they likely involve water transport dynamics. Tall trees experience increased ris ... Full text Cite

Coordination of leaf and stem water transport properties in tropical forest trees.

Journal Article Oecologia · May 2008 Stomatal regulation of transpiration constrains leaf water potential (Psi(L)) within species-specific ranges that presumably avoid excessive tension and embolism in the stem xylem upstream. However, the hydraulic resistance of leaves can be highly variable ... Full text Cite

Dynamic variation in sapwood specific conductivity in six woody species.

Journal Article Tree physiology · October 2007 Our goals were to quantify how non-embolism-inducing pressure gradients influence trunk sapwood specific conductivity (k(s)) and to compare the impacts of constant and varying pressure gradients on k(s) with KCl and H2O as the perfusion solutions. We studi ... Full text Cite

Hydraulic redistribution of soil water in two old-growth coniferous forests: quantifying patterns and controls.

Journal Article The New phytologist · January 2007 Although hydraulic redistribution of soil water (HR) by roots is a widespread phenomenon, the processes governing spatial and temporal patterns of HR are not well understood. We incorporated soil/plant biophysical properties into a simple model based on Da ... Full text Cite

Bordered pit structure and function determine spatial patterns of air-seeding thresholds in xylem of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii; Pinaceae) trees.

Journal Article American journal of botany · November 2006 The air-seeding hypothesis predicts that xylem embolism resistance is linked directly to bordered pit functioning. We tested this prediction in trunks, roots, and branches at different vertical and radial locations in young and old trees of Pseudotsuga men ... Full text Cite

Transpiration-induced axial and radial tension gradients in trunks of Douglas-fir trees.

Journal Article Tree physiology · March 2006 We determined the axial and radial xylem tension gradients in trunks of young Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) trees. Axial specific conductivity (k(s-a)) and sap flux density (Js) were measured at four consecutive depths within the sapwo ... Full text Cite

Dynamics of water transport and storage in conifers studied with deuterium and heat tracing techniques.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · January 2006 The volume and complexity of their vascular systems make the dynamics of long-distance water transport in large trees difficult to study. We used heat and deuterated water (D2)) as tracers to characterize whole-tree water transport and storage properties i ... Full text Cite

Hydraulic redistribution in a Douglas-fir forest: lessons from system manipulations.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · January 2006 Hydraulic redistribution (HR) occurs in many ecosystems; however, key questions remain about its consequences at the ecosystem level. The objectives of the present study were to quantify seasonal variation in HR and its driving force, and to manipulate the ... Full text Cite

Diurnal and seasonal variation in root xylem embolism in neotropical savanna woody species: impact on stomatal control of plant water status.

Journal Article Plant, cell & environment · January 2006 Vulnerability to water-stress-induced embolism and variation in the degree of native embolism were measured in lateral roots of four co-occurring neotropical savanna tree species. Root embolism varied diurnally and seasonally. Late in the dry season, loss ... Full text Cite

Axial and radial profiles in conductivities, water storage and native embolism in trunks of young and old-growth ponderosa pine trees

Journal Article Plant, Cell and Environment · September 1, 2005 Ponderosa pine has very wide sapwood, and yet the spatial and temporal use of that sapwood for water transport is poorly understood. Moreover, there have been few comparisons of function in tips of old-growth trees in comparison with young trees. In the pr ... Full text Cite

Vertical stratification of soil water storage and release dynamics in Pacific Northwest coniferous forests

Journal Article Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. · May 2005 We characterized vertical variation in the seasonal release of stored soil moisture in old-growth ponderosa pine (OG-PP, xeric), and young and old-growth Douglas-fir (Y-DF, OG-DF, mesic) forests to evaluate changes in water availability for root uptake. So ... Full text Cite

Native root xylem embolism and stomatal closure in stands of Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine: mitigation by hydraulic redistribution.

Journal Article Oecologia · September 2004 Hydraulic redistribution (HR), the passive movement of water via roots from moist to drier portions of the soil, occurs in many ecosystems, influencing both plant and ecosystem-water use. We examined the effects of HR on root hydraulic functioning during d ... Full text Cite

The Cohesion-Tension Theory.

Journal Article The New phytologist · September 2004 Full text Cite

Wood density and hydraulic properties of ponderosa pine from the Willamette valley vs. the Cascade Mountains

Journal Article Wood and Fiber Science · April 1, 2003 The Willamette Valley (WV) race of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) is being widely planted for timber in the Willamette Valley, western Oregon, because it grows in habitats that are either too wet or too dry for Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). Compar ... Cite

Relationship between growth rates and xylem hydraulic characteristics in young, mature and old-growth ponderosa pine trees

Journal Article Plant, Cell and Environment · March 1, 2003 The first objective of the present study was to quantify the effects of tree age and stem position on specific conductivity (ks), vulnerability to embolism and water storage capacity (capacitance) in trunks of young, mature and old-growth ponderosa pine. T ... Full text Cite

Does foliage on the same branch compete for the same water? Experiments on Douglas-fir trees

Journal Article Trees - Structure and Function · January 1, 2003 Do branchlets within a branch have autonomous water supplies, or do they share a common water supply system? We hypothesized that if branchlets shared a common water supply, then stomatal conductance (gs) on sunlit foliage would increase with reduced trans ... Full text Cite

How do water transport and water storage differ in coniferous earlywood and latewood?

Journal Article Journal of experimental botany · December 2002 The goal of this research project was to determine the water transport behaviour of earlywood versus latewood in the trunk of 21-year-old Douglas-fir [Pseudostuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco] trees. Specific conductivity (k(s)) and the vulnerability of xylem ... Full text Cite

Age- and position-related changes in hydraulic versus mechanical dysfunction of xylem: inferring the design criteria for Douglas-fir wood structure.

Journal Article Tree physiology · February 2002 We do not know why trees exhibit changes in wood characteristics as a function of cambial age. In part, the answer may lie in the existence of a tradeoff between hydraulic properties and mechanical support. In conifers, longitudinal tracheids represent 92% ... Full text Cite

Effects of change in Douglas-fir bordered pit structure and functioning on tree hydraulics

Conference PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FORESTERS, 2001 NATIONAL CONVENTION · January 1, 2001 Link to item Cite

Interpreting the variations in xylem sap flux density within the trunk of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.): Application of a model for calculating water flows at tree and stand levels

Journal Article Annales des Sciences Forestieres · January 1, 1998 Sap flux density was measured throughout a whole growing season at different locations within a 25-year-old maritime pine trunk using a continuous constant-power heating method with the aim of 1) assessing the variability of the sap flux density within a h ... Full text Cite