Number of Growth Days and Not Length of the Growth Period Determines Radial Stem Growth of Temperate Trees

Overview

Journal Ecol Lett

Specialty Environmental Health

Date 2021 Dec 9

PMID 34882952

Citations 14

Authors

Sophia Etzold

Frank Sterck

Arun K Bose

Sabine Braun

Nina Buchmann

Werner Eugster

Arthur Gessler

Ansgar Kahmen

Richard L Peters

Yann Vitasse

Lorenz Walthert

Kasia Zieminska

Roman Zweifel

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Radial stem growth dynamics at seasonal resolution are essential to understand how forests respond to climate change. We studied daily radial growth of 160 individuals of seven temperate tree species at 47 sites across Switzerland over 8 years. Growth of all species peaked in the early part of the growth season and commenced shortly before the summer solstice, but with species-specific seasonal patterns. Day length set a window of opportunity for radial growth. Within this window, the probability of daily growth was constrained particularly by air and soil moisture, resulting in intermittent growth to occur only on 29 to 77 days (30% to 80%) within the growth period. The number of days with growth largely determined annual growth, whereas the growth period length contributed less. We call for accounting for these non-linear intra-annual and species-specific growth dynamics in tree and forest models to reduce uncertainties in predictions under climate change.

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