Article
Ecology
Xiaojing Wei, Andy Benowicz, Jaime Sebastian-Azcona, Barb R. Thomas
Summary: The study compared the phenotypic and genetic variation in Leaf Economics Spectrum (LES) traits and the response to gas exchange to vapour pressure deficit (VPD) between lodgepole pine and white spruce. It found that lodgepole pine exhibited greater phenotypic and genetic variation in LES traits and photosynthetic rate, but showed less sensitive stomatal response to VPD, which could make it more vulnerable to climate-change-induced droughts.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Forestry
Xuan Wu, Liang Jiao, Xiaoping Liu, Ruhong Xue, Changliang Qi, Dashi Du
Summary: With global warming, it is expected that the frequency, intensity, and period of extreme climates will increase in many areas. However, the impact of climate extremes on forest vulnerability and the mechanisms of forest adaptation to extreme climates are not well understood. In this study, the response of two tree species, Picea schrenkiana and Larix sibirica, to climate fluctuations and their adaptability were analyzed based on long-term climate data. The results showed that extreme climate changes significantly affected the growth of the two tree species, with Schrenk spruce being more sensitive and Siberian larch having higher resistance to extreme climate events.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Hamed Gharibi, Davood Mostofinejad, Mohammad Teymouri
Summary: Global energy consumption has increased significantly. Agricultural waste ashes, specifically conifer leaves and pines, have been found to reduce the thermal conductivity of concrete, leading to lower energy consumption in concrete buildings.
CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jibin Miao, Perla Farhat, Wentao Wang, Markus Ruhsam, Richard Milne, Heng Yang, Sonam Tso, Jialiang Li, Jingjing Xu, Lars Opgenoorth, Georg Miehe, Kangshan Mao
Summary: This study explores the genetic variation, speciation, and demographic history of two narrow-endemic juniper species from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The results show that the two species diverged in the late Pliocene and continued interspecific gene flow until the Last Glacial Maximum. Additionally, it highlights differences in habitat adaptation, genetic diversity, and genetic load between the two species.
Article
Forestry
Stephen C. Sillett, Russell D. Kramer, Robert Van Pelt, Allyson L. Carroll, Jim Campbell-Spickler, Marie E. Antoine
Summary: The study found that Picea sitchensis, which invests the least in bark protection and heartwood defense, produces more aboveground biomass during its relatively brief lifespan, while Sequoiadendron giganteum, which invests the most in bark protection and heartwood defense, achieves the greatest longevity. The growth efficiency of all conifer species decreases with age.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Jesus Eduardo Saenz-Ceja, Miguel Martinez-Ramos, Manuel E. Mendoza, Diego R. Perez-Salicrup
Summary: This study describes the fire scar patterns in two conifer species in Mexican temperate forests. The results suggest that the absence of visible fire scars in smooth-bark Mexican pines does not imply the absence of fire, and sacred firs can exhibit external fire scars like pines.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WILDLAND FIRE
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yunhe Liu, Zhongyao Wang, Caixia Wang, Hanrui Si, Hui Yu, Le Li, Shuzheng Fu, Luying Tan, Pingya Li, Jinping Liu, Yan Zhao
Summary: The study on Acanthopanax senticosus leaves and Acanthopanax sessiliflorus leaves revealed their rich phytochemical composition and similar pharmacological activities. Both leaves exhibited sedative-hypnotic effects and may mediate beneficial bioactivity through serotonin and GABA. Some specific chemical markers could be potential active compounds and quality markers for the future development and utilization of the leaves.
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Jiatong Wei, Xiaona Pei, Xiaoqing Hu, Siqi Sun, Chunli Zhao, Rui Han, Xiyang Zhao
Summary: This article introduces the application of RNA sequencing technology in conifer gene research and discusses the future development prospects.
PLANT CELL TISSUE AND ORGAN CULTURE
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
Ziqiang Liu, Huan Zhang, Xinxiao Yu, Guodong Jia, Jiang Jiang
Summary: The study found that foliar water uptake (FWU) occurs in semi-humid rock mountainous areas, with water absorption via leaves increasing with precipitation intensity but decreasing with soil water content (SWC). The greatest ratios of FWU were observed in treatments with SWC of 3.9-6.5%. The findings suggest that Platycladus orientalis can uptake water through both roots and leaves to alleviate drought stress effectively, providing new insights into water use patterns in trees.
AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Shin-Ichi Miyazawa, Tokuko Ujino-Ihara, Takafumi Miyama, Ko Tahara, Hiroyuki Tobita, Yuji Suzuki, Mitsuru Nishiguchi
Summary: Research reveals that conifer gymnosperms have a different photorespiratory pathway compared to angiosperms, with a significant role played by the positive C-1 metabolism pathway.
Article
Ecology
Cynthia Webster, Laura Figueroa-Corona, Ivan David Mendez-Gonzalez, Lluvia Alvarez-Soto, David B. Neale, Juan Pablo Jaramillo-Correa, Jill L. Wegrzyn, Alejandra Vazquez-Lobo
Summary: This study compared leaf heteroblastic development in Juniperus flaccida and Pinus cembroides and found differences in gene regulation and pathways between the two species. Juvenile leaves of P. cembroides showed a focus on cell division and development, while adult leaves of J. flaccida exhibited differential expression and gene interaction patterns related to photosynthesis and chloroplast biogenesis.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Aurore Fanal, Gregory Mahy, Adeline Fayolle, Arnaud Monty
Summary: Identifying emerging invasive species is crucial for early prevention and control measures. A study in southern Belgium utilized arboreta as natural experiments to identify alien conifers showing invasive behavior. The research found that some alien conifer species exhibited important regeneration density and dispersal distances, potentially posing a threat to the forests in Western Europe.
Article
Plant Sciences
Li Chen, De-Quan Wen, Guang-Li Shi, Dan Sun, Yan Yin, Miao Yu, Wen-Qi An, Qian Tang, Jun Ai, Li-Jun Han, Chao-Bin Yan, Yuan-Jing Sun, Yun-Peng Wang, Zhen-Xing Wang, Da-Yong Fan
Summary: The white leaves of Actinidia kolomikta can turn pink, while the white leaves of A. polygama remain white. White leaves of A. kolomikta use a reflection strategy for photoprotection, while pink leaves resist photoinhibition through anthocyanin accumulation.
PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM
(2023)
Article
Forestry
A. L. Schoonmaker, R. M. Hillabrand, V. J. Lieffers, P. S. Chow, S. M. Landhausser
Summary: This study comprehensively investigated the dynamics of non-structural carbon compounds in pine and spruce trees in a boreal climate. The results showed a seasonal shift from starch to sugars, with spruce exhibiting a more conservative NCC reserve strategy compared to pine.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Tereza Novakova, Tomas Navratil, Jason D. Demers, Michal Roll, Jan Rohovec
Summary: Comparisons of tree-ring mercury records between Scots pine and European larch in the Czech Republic showed that larch tree-ring records more closely matched peat archive records, suggesting that larch is a more reliable indicator of atmospheric mercury concentrations than Scots pine.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Editorial Material
Plant Sciences
Lucas A. Cernusak, Martin G. De Kauwe
Article
Plant Sciences
Oliver Binks, Lucas A. Cernusak, Michael Liddell, Matt Bradford, Ingrid Coughlin, Hannah Carle, Callum Bryant, Elliot Dunn, Rafael Oliveira, Maurizio Mencuccini, Patrick Meir
Summary: This study derived robust in-situ estimates for whole-tree conductance, 'functional' soil conductance, and 'system' conductance at two tropical rainforest sites. The results showed that whole-tree conductance was lower and seasonally varying at the site with higher vapour pressure deficit and rainfall, while it differed little across species but scaled with tree circumference. Soil conductance ranged from 0 in the wet season to 10x less than tree conductance in the dry season.
Review
Plant Sciences
Hendrik Poorter, Oliver Knopf, Ian J. Wright, Andries A. Temme, Sander W. Hogewoning, Alexander Graf, Lucas A. Cernusak, Thijs L. Pons
Summary: A meta-analysis of 630 experiments was conducted to derive dose-response curves for 85 phenotypic traits of C-3 plants grown at different CO2 concentrations. The results show that plants exhibit diverse responses to atmospheric CO2, with some traits doubling in response while others halve or exhibit opposite responses.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Andrea C. Westerband, Ian J. Wright, Vincent Maire, Jennifer Paillassa, Iain Colin Prentice, Owen K. Atkin, Keith J. Bloomfield, Lucas A. Cernusak, Ning Dong, Sean M. Gleason, Caio Guilherme Pereira, Hans Lambers, Michelle R. Leishman, Yadvinder Malhi, Rachael H. Nolan
Summary: This study investigated the dependency of photosynthetic traits on climate and soil properties, and found that soil properties play a significant role in explaining the variation in photosynthetic traits. The results suggest that soil properties, along with climate, contribute to the understanding of resource costs and use in plants.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Niels C. Munksgaard, Ickjai Lee, Thomas Napier, Costijn Zwart, Lucas A. Cernusak, Michael I. Bird
Summary: This study provides a 1-year dataset of atmospheric surface CO2, CH4, and H2O concentrations and delta C-13-CO2 values from an Australian savanna site. The study reveals pronounced seasonal variations in CO2 and CH4 concentrations, influenced by soil and vegetation sources. This dataset is important for modeling greenhouse gas budgets, improving satellite measurements, and understanding the role of vegetation and soil in modulating atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
GEOSCIENCE DATA JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Agronomy
Yafei Li, Andreas Riedl, Werner Eugster, Nina Buchmann, Lucas A. Cernusak, Marco M. Lehmann, Roland A. Werner, Franziska Aemisegger
Summary: During dry periods in temperate grasslands, non-rainfall water (NRW) has an important impact on leaf surface water balance and plant water status. Previous studies overlooked the role of radiative cooling in air-leaf water exchange, which prompted us to conduct a field study investigating the effect of radiatively-induced NRW inputs on leaf water isotope signals and air-leaf water exchange in a temperate grassland. Our results revealed the ecological relevance of radiative cooling and leaf wetting in temperate grasslands, which has implications for land surface water budgets and plant survival in a drier climate.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2023)
Review
Plant Sciences
L. Turin Dickman, Alexandra K. Jonko, Rodman R. Linn, Ilkay Altintas, Adam L. Atchley, Andreas Bar, Adam D. Collins, Jean-Luc Dupuy, Michael R. Gallagher, J. Kevin Hiers, Chad M. Hoffman, Sharon M. Hood, Matthew D. Hurteau, W. Matt Jolly, Alexander Josephson, E. Louise Loudermilk, Wu Ma, Sean T. Michaletz, Rachael H. Nolan, Joseph J. O'Brien, Russell A. Parsons, Raquel Partelli-Feltrin, Francois Pimont, Victor Resco de Dios, Joseph Restaino, Zachary J. Robbins, Karla A. Sartor, Emily Schultz-Fellenz, Shawn P. Serbin, Sanna Sevanto, Jacquelyn K. Shuman, Carolyn H. Sieg, Nicholas S. Skowronski, David R. Weise, Molly Wright, Chonggang Xu, Marta Yebra, Nicolas Younes
Summary: Wildfires are a global crisis and current fire models need improvement in capturing vegetation response to changing climate. The representation of woody vegetation in fire models needs renewed focus due to the increasing importance of vegetation dynamics to fire behavior. A process-based approach linking plant water and carbon dynamics to fire behavior and effects could improve the accuracy of current coarse scale fire models and strengthen the science needed for future fire management.
Article
Water Resources
Francesca A. McInerney, Christoph Gerber, Emma Dangerfield, Lucas A. Cernusak, Athina Puccini, Steve Szarvas, Tanoj Singh, Nina Welti
Summary: The oxygen (delta O-18) and hydrogen (delta H-2) isotope ratios of water change as it moves from the atmosphere to the land surface, through soils and plants, and back to the atmosphere. This is due to isotopic fractionation during transpiration, which is influenced by climate. Predictions of isotopic fractionation during transpiration can be made using process-based models and climate data. These predictions can then be used to generate maps of leaf water isotope ratios, or isoscapes, which can be used in various fields including hydrology, ecology, and forensics. In this study, leaf water isoscapes for Australia, the driest vegetated continent on Earth, were generated with higher resolution and region-specific parameters, improving the accuracy of predictions.
HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Stephanie Law, Habacuc Flores-Moreno, Alexander W. Cheesman, Rebecca Clement, Marc Rosenfield, Abbey Yatsko, Lucas A. Cernusak, James W. Dalling, Thomas Canam, Isra Abo Iqsaysa, Elizabeth S. Duan, Steven D. Allison, Paul Eggleton, Amy E. Zanne
Summary: Although variation in decay rates across woody species is crucial for predicting carbon fate in deadwood, wood traits can explain the differences in contributions from microbes and termites. However, in the tropical rainforest and savanna of northeast Australia, termites did not increase decay rates as expected.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Diego A. Marquez, Hilary Stuart-Williams, Lucas A. Cernusak, Graham D. Farquhar
Summary: We propose a reliable method to estimate the CO2 concentration at the surface of photosynthetic mesophyll cells (c(w)) using independent adaxial and abaxial gas exchange measurements and accounting for mesophyll airspace resistances. Our experiments using model plants confirm that c(w) is lower than adaxial and abaxial estimated intercellular CO2 concentrations (c(i)), with differences usually larger than 10 mu mol mol(-1). Accounting for c(w) improves the information that can be extracted from gas exchange experiments, providing a more detailed description of the CO2 and water vapor gradients within the leaf.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mazen Nakad, Jean-Christophe Domec, Sanna Sevanto, Gabriel Katul
Summary: The hydrodynamics of phloem plays a crucial role in plant survival and ecosystem-scale carbon and water cycling. The phloem transports products of photosynthesis throughout the plant and is mathematically represented by the Mu'' $\ddot{u}$nch pressure flow hypothesis (PFH). However, this framework does not take into account the elasticity of living phloem cells, which has been shown to affect the speed of sucrose diffusion.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Meisha Holloway-Phillips, Lucas A. Cernusak, Daniel B. Nelson, Marco M. Lehmann, Guillaume Tcherkez, Ansgar Kahmen
Summary: Oxygen and hydrogen isotopes of cellulose in plant biology can be used to understand environmental conditions, but their covariation is not well understood. This study compared plant water, leaf cellulose, and branch cellulose across an aridity gradient in Northern Australia. The researchers found a decline in covariation from xylem to leaf water, and from leaf to branch wood cellulose. The results suggest that postphotosynthetic isotope exchange with water is more apparent for oxygen isotopes, while variable kinetic and nonequilibrium isotope effects complicate the interpretation of metabolic-induced d(2)H patterns.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Nara Vogado, Susan G. Laurance, Michael J. Liddell, Jayden E. Engert, Christopher M. Wurster, Michele Schiffer, Andrew Thompson, Cassandra Nichols, Lucas A. Cernusak
Summary: This study assesses the effects of drought on the reproductive phenology and ecophysiology of a rainforest tree community. The results show that the drought had varied effects on species-level response in both phenology and physiology. This has implications for tropical forest function and highlights the potential impact of climate change on tree species.
CONSERVATION PHYSIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Forestry
K. Y. Crous, A. W. Cheesman, K. Middleby, E. I. E. Rogers, A. Wujeska-Klause, A. Y. M. Bouet, D. S. Ellsworth, M. J. Liddell, L. A. Cernusak, C. V. M. Barton
Summary: As global climate warms, increasing leaf temperatures have a significant impact on tree physiology and the interaction between leaf and air temperatures in forests. By warming leaves in two mature evergreen forests, researchers found that higher leaf temperatures lead to reduced stomatal conductance and net photosynthesis, potentially weakening the land carbon sink in tropical and temperate forests.
Article
Ecology
Arun Singh Ramesh, Alexander W. Cheesman, Habacuc Flores-Moreno, Noel D. Preece, Darren M. Crayn, Lucas A. Cernusak
Summary: Elevation gradients provide natural laboratories for investigating tropical tree ecophysiology in the context of climate warming. Previously observed trends with increasing elevation include decreasing stem diameter growth rates (GR), increasing leaf mass per area (LMA), higher root-to-shoot ratios (R:S), increasing leaf delta C-13, and decreasing leaf delta N-15. These patterns could be driven by decreases in temperature, lower soil nutrient availability, changes in species composition, or a combination thereof.
FRONTIERS IN FORESTS AND GLOBAL CHANGE
(2023)