Research Group of Plants and Ecosystems, PLECO, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
Department of Forest Yield and Silviculture & Department for Forest Technique and Economics, Slovenian Forestry Institute, Večna pot 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Tree Physiol. 2021 Jul 5;41(7):1171-1185. doi: 10.1093/treephys/tpaa175.
Research on wood phenology has mainly focused on reactivation of the cambium in spring. In this study we investigated if summer drought advances cessation of wood formation and if it has any influence on wood structure in late successional forest trees of the temperate zone. The end of xylogenesis was monitored between August and November in stands of European beech and pedunculate oak in Belgium for two consecutive years, 2017 and 2018, with the latter year having experienced an exceptional summer drought. Wood formation in oak was affected by the drought, with oak trees ceasing cambial activity and wood maturation about 3 weeks earlier in 2018 compared with 2017. Beech ceased wood formation before oak, but its wood phenology did not differ between years. Furthermore, between the 2 years, no significant difference was found in ring width, percentage of mature fibers in the late season, vessel size and density. In 2018, beech did show thinner fiber walls, whereas oak showed thicker walls. In this paper, we showed that summer drought can have an important impact on late season wood phenology xylem development. This will help to better understand forest ecosystems and improve forest models.
关于木本植物物候的研究主要集中在春季形成层的再激活上。本研究调查了夏季干旱是否会提前终止木材的形成，以及它是否会对温带地区演替后期森林树木的木材结构产生任何影响。2017 年和 2018 年，连续两年在比利时的欧洲山毛榉和栓皮栎林分中，8 月至 11 月监测木质部的形成，后一年经历了异常的夏季干旱。橡木的木质部形成受到了干旱的影响，与 2017 年相比，橡木的形成层活动和木质部成熟提前了约 3 周。山毛榉比橡木更早停止木质部形成，但两年间其物候期没有差异。此外，两年间，轮宽、晚季成熟纤维的百分比、导管大小和密度均无显著差异。2018 年，山毛榉的纤维壁较薄，而橡木的纤维壁较厚。本文表明，夏季干旱会对后期的木质部物候学和木质部发育产生重要影响。这将有助于更好地理解森林生态系统并改进森林模型。
