This special issue contains 11 articles headed by a tribute to Edith L. Taylor, discussing topics regarding paleobotany, such as a new genus and new species of a Late Devonian Lycopsid, periderm production and periderm occurence in Paleozoic plants, conifer diversity in Middle Triassic, pollen...

New fossil plants are described from the Ischichuca Formation (Middle-Late Triassic), La Rioja province, northwestern Argentina. A systematic description of Heidiphyllum leaves, ovulate structures of Dordrechtites and undetermined conifer wood is provided. This is the first description of these...

Tree fine roots (<2 mm in diameter) are the primary organs for water acquisition from soil, yet how root traits contribute to water uptake under field conditions is not well established. In this study, we quantified the relationship between root water uptake and root functional traits in natural ...

Shoots of cheirolepidiaceous conifers assigned to the fossil genus Frenelopsis are very common in Portuguese Early Cretaceous mesofossil floras. In this study, a new cheirolepidiaceous conifer Frenelopsis antunesii is described from the Lower Cretaceous (upper Aptian -lower Albian) of Figueira da...

The southern conifer Agathis australis is among the largest (by volume) and longest-lived trees in the world. They are confined to the north of New Zealand's north island where droughts will become more frequent and severe under future climatic conditions. To explore the impact of drought on water...

In plantation forests, competition from unwanted vegetation may reduce survival and negatively impact tree growth. The goal of this study was to examine the influence of vegetation management treatments on plant water relations and wood properties. Control trees (no treatment) were compared to...

Earth's tropical forests repeatedly restructured on 10⁵- to 10⁷-year timescales during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (340-280 Ma). Although it is established that these ancient plants responded to an evolving climate, their thresholds for physiological functioning and how such thresholds led to...

Xylem embolism resistance varies across species influencing drought tolerance, yet little is known about the determinants of the embolism resistance of an individual conduit. Here we conducted an experiment using the optical vulnerability method to test whether individual conduits have a specific...

This special issue contains 17 papers highlighting the responses of European forests to drought, discussing topics such as: the role of species interactions for forest resilience to drought; constant mortality rise in European forests; spatial and temporal declines in European beech forest canopy;...

Developing approaches to simultaneously maximize short-rotation woody crop (SRWC) productivity while minimizing footprints associated with intensive management is imperative to profitable and sustainable bioenergy production systems. Intercropping nitrogen (N)-fixing cover crops in SRWC systems is...