Tree-to-Shrub Shift Benefits the Survival of Quercus mongolica Fisch. ex Ledeb. at the Xeric Timberline

Woody species are either trees or shrubs, with the exception of approximately 9.2% “trub” species exhibiting both tree and shrub growth forms. Little is known thus far about the ecological importance of plant growth-form plasticity under a drying climate. Quercus mongolica Fisch. ex Ledeb., a domina...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forests 2022-02, Vol.13 (2), p.244
Main Authors: Dai, Jingyu, Lu, Surui, Qi, Yang, Liu, Hongyan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acclimation
Acclimatization
Carbohydrates
Chromosomes
Climate change
Dominant species
Drought
drought acclimation
Drought resistance
Drying
Forest ecosystems
Forest fires
growth form plasticity
hydraulic architecture
Hydraulics
Mountains
Physiology
Plant growth
Plant species
Plastic properties
Plasticity
Precipitation
Quercus mongolica
Shrubs
Slopes
Survival
Temperate forests
Timberline
tree architecture
Trees
Water shortages
xeric timberline
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Summary:Woody species are either trees or shrubs, with the exception of approximately 9.2% “trub” species exhibiting both tree and shrub growth forms. Little is known thus far about the ecological importance of plant growth-form plasticity under a drying climate. Quercus mongolica Fisch. ex Ledeb., a dominant tree species of temperate forests in East Asia, typically shows tree-to-shrub growth-form shifts at the xeric timberline and is suitable to test whether growth-form plasticity can physiologically benefit plant drought acclimation. We quantified the tree architecture, drought stress, physiological drought tolerance, and nonstructural carbohydrates of Q. mongolica trees and shrubs on the opposite slope of the same mountain at the xeric timberline in July 2018. Compared with Q. mongolica trees on shady slopes, the shrubs on sunny slopes had less available water to use and were more severely threatened by drought. Moreover, the shrubs had stronger tolerance to drought but still tended to have less nonstructural carbohydrate accumulation. The tree-to-shrub shift effectively benefits the survival of Q. mongolica under a dry climate and may strongly contribute to forest dynamics and even fire regimes under climate drying, especially for sensitive ecosystems such as the xeric timberline, which will be vulnerable under future climate change scenarios.
ISSN:1999-4907
1999-4907
DOI:10.3390/f13020244