Authors
Morine Lempereur, Nicolas K Martin‐StPaul, Claire Damesin, Richard Joffre, Jean‐Marc Ourcival, Alain Rocheteau, Serge Rambal
Publication date
2015/8
Journal
New Phytologist
Volume
207
Issue
3
Pages
579-590
Description
- Understanding whether tree growth is limited by carbon gain (source limitation) or by the direct effect of environmental factors such as water deficit or temperature (sink limitation) is crucial for improving projections of the effects of climate change on forest productivity.
- We studied the relationships between tree basal area (BA) variations, eddy covariance carbon fluxes, predawn water potential (Ψpd) and temperature at different timescales using an 8‐yr dataset and a rainfall exclusion experiment in a Quercus ilex Mediterranean coppice.
- At the daily timescale, during periods of low temperature (< 5°C) and high water deficit (< −1.1 MPa), gross primary productivity and net ecosystem productivity remained positive whereas the stem increment was nil. Thus, stem increment appeared limited by drought and temperature rather than by carbon input. Annual growth was accurately predicted by the duration of BA …
Scholar articles
M Lempereur, NK Martin‐StPaul, C Damesin, R Joffre… - New Phytologist, 2015