Wood type influences tree responses to recurring hot and dry summer tree water deficits across European forests

Abstract Increasingly frequent summer droughts are intensifying stem dehydration across European forests, constraining tree growth and resilience. Even mild water-related stress can inhibit tree growth, although its impact is species-specific. Tree water deficit (TWD), a measure deduced from radial stem contraction during drought, reflects stem water status and can be used as a proxy for the physiological drought stress experienced by trees. Using high-resolution dendrometer measurements representing 29 tree species from 130 forest sites across Europe from 2003 to 2018, we examined how the length of TWD periods during summer is related to their recurrence within the same year, to TWD intensity, to climate factors, and to wood type (i.e., tracheid-based coniferous, ring-porous or diffuse-porous anatomy). A greater degree of incomplete rehydration, indicated by highest minimum TWD during TWD periods (70% increase of expected response for conifers and ring-porous species, 42% increase of expected response for diffuse-porous), together with warmer temperature (44% increase of expected response for all wood types) and stronger drought, prolonged the length of TWD periods. However, the recurrence of TWD periods only increased the length of the subsequent TWD period within the same year for diffuse-porous tree species (12% increase of expected response). Our results show that wood type and its associated functional traits influence tree responses to recurring stem dehydration periods. The greater sensitivity of diffuse-porous species to recurring TWD periods suggests that wood type anatomy may play an important role in determining how tree species cope with increasingly frequent summer droughts.

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Publication Details

Journal
European Journal of Forest Research
Published
2026-10-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-026-01956-9
Primary Topic
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
Type
article
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article

Wood type influences tree responses to recurring hot and dry summer tree water deficits across European forests

Katarína Střelcová, Ľubica Ditmarová, Marcus Lindner, Jan Krejza et al.
European Journal of Forest Research
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
article

Wood type influences tree responses to recurring hot and dry summer tree water deficits across European forests

Katarína Střelcová, Ľubica Ditmarová, Marcus Lindner, Jan Krejza, Rainer Hentschel, Nikolaus Obojes, Patrick Fonti, K Sterenczak, Volodymyr Trotsiuk, Andrea Ganthaler, Pavel Janda, Ewa Zin, Bart Muys, Michal Bellan, Alicia Forner, Daniel Berveiller, Stefan Mayr, Nicolas Delpierre, Marko Smiljanić, Marta Galvagno, Adriaan J. Teuling, Roman Plichta, Radim Matula, Kathy Steppe, Martin Wilmking, Walter Oberhuber, Stefan Ehekircher, Miroslav Blaženec, Fernando Valladares, Laura Nikinmaa, Łukasz Kuberski, Marco Conedera, Marek Ježík, Lorenz Walthert, Vojtěch Čada, Josef Urban, Dominik Florian Stangler, Sébastien Cecchini, Miroslav Svoboda, Andreas Bär, Jan Světlík, Vinicio Carraro, Monika Vejpustková, Martin Mikoláš, Sylvain Delzon, Annemiek Irene Stegehuis, Marko Stojanović, 邹俊亮 ZOU Junliang, Bruce Osborne, Jean Kempf, Matthew Saunders, Koenraad Van Meerbeek, Sophie Lorentz, Jean-Marc Limousin, Bas Lerink, Gert-Jan Nabuurs, François Lebourgeois, Roman Zweifel, Ute Sass-Klaassen, Hans-Peter Kahle, Brian Tobin, Cyrille B. K. Rathgeber, Roberto L. Salomón, Caroline Petitjean, Johannes Edvardsson, Georg von Arx
article en

Abstract

Abstract Increasingly frequent summer droughts are intensifying stem dehydration across European forests, constraining tree growth and resilience. Even mild water-related stress can inhibit tree growth, although its impact is species-specific. Tree water deficit (TWD), a measure deduced from radial stem contraction during drought, reflects stem water status and can be used as a proxy for the physiological drought stress experienced by trees. Using high-resolution dendrometer measurements representing 29 tree species from 130 forest sites across Europe from 2003 to 2018, we examined how the length of TWD periods during summer is related to their recurrence within the same year, to TWD intensity, to climate factors, and to wood type (i.e., tracheid-based coniferous, ring-porous or diffuse-porous anatomy). A greater degree of incomplete rehydration, indicated by highest minimum TWD during TWD periods (70% increase of expected response for conifers and ring-porous species, 42% increase of expected response for diffuse-porous), together with warmer temperature (44% increase of expected response for all wood types) and stronger drought, prolonged the length of TWD periods. However, the recurrence of TWD periods only increased the length of the subsequent TWD period within the same year for diffuse-porous tree species (12% increase of expected response). Our results show that wood type and its associated functional traits influence tree responses to recurring stem dehydration periods. The greater sensitivity of diffuse-porous species to recurring TWD periods suggests that wood type anatomy may play an important role in determining how tree species cope with increasingly frequent summer droughts.

European Journal of Forest ResearchVol. 145(6)
University College Dublin (IE), Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale del Piemonte (IT), University of Bern (CH), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (CH), Eurac Research (IT), University of Padua (IT), Teagasc - The Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority (IE), Université de Bordeaux (FR), École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR), University of Freiburg (DE), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (ES), Lund University (SE), Universität Innsbruck (AT), Université de Montpellier (FR), Trinity College Dublin (IE), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZ), Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Masaryk University (CZ), AgroParisTech (FR), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Universitätsmedizin Greifswald (DE), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH), Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences (NL), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE), Natural Resources Institute Finland (FI), Rottenburg University of Applied Forest Sciences (DE), Ghent University (BE), Universität Greifswald (DE), Institute of Forest Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (FR), Forest Research Institute (HU), Technická univerzita vo Zvolene (SK), Silva (FR), Czech Academy of Sciences, Global Change Research Institute (CZ), Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (DE), Universidad Internacional De La Rioja (ES), Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (ES), Office National des Forêts (FR), Forestry and Game Management Research Institute (CZ), Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières (FR), UMR BIOdiversity, GEnes & Communities (FR), European Forest Institute (DE), Instytut Badawczy Leśnictwa (PL), Laboratoire de Géologie de l’École Normale Supérieure (FR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Mendel University in Brno (CZ), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ES), Université de Lorraine (FR), Wageningen University & Research (NL), KU Leuven (BE)
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Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
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