TY - JOUR
T1 - Trade-off between growth rate and water use efficiency in southwestern ponderosa pine provenances
AU - Dixit, Aalap
AU - Kolb, Thomas
AU - Burney, Owen
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the McIntire-Stennis Program project accession numbers 1014222 and1002447 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and by the USGS Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center. The authors thank John Bradford (USGS Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center) for supporting this work; Philip Patterson and Adair Patterson (Northern Arizona University) for providing seeds, Kelsey Dixit (Coconino Community College) for help with data collection, and Tammy Parsons (New Mexico State University) and many volunteers for help with establishing the field study.
Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the McIntire-Stennis Program project accession numbers 1014222 and1002447 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and by the USGS Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center. The authors thank John Bradford (USGS Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center) for supporting this work; Philip Patterson and Adair Patterson (Northern Arizona University) for providing seeds, Kelsey Dixit (Coconino Community College) for help with data collection, and Tammy Parsons (New Mexico State University) and many volunteers for help with establishing the field study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/7/1
Y1 - 2022/7/1
N2 - We investigated growth and a suite of physiological and structural traits of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson var. scopulorum Engelm.) seedlings from different provenances using a field common garden study. Twenty-one provenances from a range of elevations across Arizona and New Mexico were planted in 2018 at a field site in the core of the species range in northern Arizona. We measured stem growth rate for three years (2019–2021), leaf carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13C), and leaf nitrogen concentration in 2020 on all provenances, and leaf-level gas exchange, instantaneous water use efficiency, predawn and midday water potentials, soil-to-leaf hydraulic conductance and specific leaf area on nine provenances in 2020. Provenances differed significantly in stem growth rate, Δ13C, and specific leaf area, and several traits were correlated with provenance environmental and climatic characteristics. Seedlings with higher growth rate had greater Δ13C suggesting a trade-off between growth rate and water use efficiency. Provenances from warmer sites had lower growth rate and Δ13C (higher water use efficiency) than provenances from cooler sites during the driest year. Growth rate of provenances in the driest year was positively associated with stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, and soil-to-leaf hydraulic conductance and negatively associated with instantaneous water use efficiency indicating the importance of maintaining water uptake and gas exchange to growth during drought under dry conditions. Our results enhance understanding of physiological mechanisms of establishment for planted ponderosa pine seedlings and show a trade-off between growth rate and water use efficiency of provenances from different thermal environments that should be useful in selection of seed sources for reforestation.
AB - We investigated growth and a suite of physiological and structural traits of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson var. scopulorum Engelm.) seedlings from different provenances using a field common garden study. Twenty-one provenances from a range of elevations across Arizona and New Mexico were planted in 2018 at a field site in the core of the species range in northern Arizona. We measured stem growth rate for three years (2019–2021), leaf carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13C), and leaf nitrogen concentration in 2020 on all provenances, and leaf-level gas exchange, instantaneous water use efficiency, predawn and midday water potentials, soil-to-leaf hydraulic conductance and specific leaf area on nine provenances in 2020. Provenances differed significantly in stem growth rate, Δ13C, and specific leaf area, and several traits were correlated with provenance environmental and climatic characteristics. Seedlings with higher growth rate had greater Δ13C suggesting a trade-off between growth rate and water use efficiency. Provenances from warmer sites had lower growth rate and Δ13C (higher water use efficiency) than provenances from cooler sites during the driest year. Growth rate of provenances in the driest year was positively associated with stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, and soil-to-leaf hydraulic conductance and negatively associated with instantaneous water use efficiency indicating the importance of maintaining water uptake and gas exchange to growth during drought under dry conditions. Our results enhance understanding of physiological mechanisms of establishment for planted ponderosa pine seedlings and show a trade-off between growth rate and water use efficiency of provenances from different thermal environments that should be useful in selection of seed sources for reforestation.
KW - Carbon isotope discrimination
KW - Common garden
KW - Gas exchange
KW - Ponderosa pine
KW - Reforestation
KW - Water use efficiency
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U2 - 10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120239
DO - 10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120239
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85129493722
SN - 0378-1127
VL - 515
JO - Forest Ecology and Management
JF - Forest Ecology and Management
M1 - 120239
ER -