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    Drought-Influenced Mortality of Tree Species with Different Predawn Leaf Water Dynamics in a Decade-Long Study of a Central US forest

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    Date
    2015
    Author
    Gu, L.
    Pallardy, S. G.
    Hosman, K. P.
    Sun, Y.
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    Abstract
    Using decade-long continuous observations of tree mortality and predawn leaf water potential (psi(pd)) at the Missouri Ozark AmeriFlux (MOFLUX) site, we studied how the mortality of important tree species varied and how such variations may be predicted. Water stress determined inter-annual variations in tree mortality with a time delay of 1 year or more, which was correlated fairly tightly with a number of quantitative predictors formulated based on psi(pd) and precipitation regimes. Predictors based on temperature and vapor pressure deficit anomalies worked reasonably well, particularly for moderate droughts. The exceptional drought of the year 2012 drastically increased the mortality of all species, including drought-tolerant oaks, in the subsequent year. The drought-influenced tree mortality was related to the species position along the spectrum of psi(pd) regulation capacity with those in either ends of the spectrum being associated with elevated risk of death. Regardless of species and drought intensity, the psi(pd) of all species recovered rapidly after sufficiently intense rain events in all droughts. This result, together with a lack of immediate leaf and branch desiccation, suggests an absence of catastrophic hydraulic disconnection in the xylem and that tree death was caused by significant but indirect effects. Species differences in the capacity of regulating psi(pd) and its temporal integral were magnified under moderate drought intensities but diminished towards wet and dry extremes. Severe droughts may overwhelm the capacity of even drought-tolerant species to maintain differential levels of water potential as the soil becomes exhausted of available water in the rooting zone, thus rendering them more susceptible to death if predisposed by other factors such as age.
    Department
    Geological Sciences
    Subject
    vegetation mortality
    woody angiosperms
    central missouri
    xylem
    embolism
    die-off
    deciduous angiosperms
    southeastern ohio
    stomatal
    control
    ozark highlands
    united-states
    ecology
    geosciences, multidisciplinary
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/2152/43212
    Citation
    Gu, Lianhong, Stephen G. Pallardy, Kevin P. Hosman, and Ying Sun. "Drought-influenced mortality of tree species with different predawn leaf water dynamics in a decade-long study of a central US forest." Biogeosciences, Vol. 12, No. 10 (2015): 2831-2845.
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    • facebook
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    • CONTACT US
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    • Adobe Reader
    Subscribe to our NewsletterGive to the Libraries

    © The University of Texas at Austin