Global climatic models predict an increment in the frequency and intensity of drought events, which have important consequences on forest dieback. However, the mechanisms leading to tree mortality under drought conditions and the physiological thresholds for recovery are not totally understood yet. ...

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...

Reductions in a plant's ability to transport water, measured as hydraulic conductivity, can impact stomatal conductance and photosynthetic gas exchange. Roots are the plant organs least resistant to cavitation and, due to this, root hydraulic conductivity and vulnerability to cavitation have been...

Understanding how trees respond to drought is critical to understanding forest sensitivity to global climate change, which can help inform forest policy and management decisions. However, mechanisms governing carbon fixation and water fluxes in response to increased temperatures and water...

In most tree species, xylem consists of two different functional parts: sapwood and heartwood. While sapwood, as the flowpath for sap, has received more attention in isotope studies assessing water sources accessed by trees (e.g. soil water from different depths, groundwater, stream water or a...

The global carbon and water cycles are governed by the coupling of CO₂ and water vapour exchanges through the leaves of terrestrial plants, controlled by plant adaptations to balance carbon gains and hydraulic risks. We introduce a trait-based optimality theory that unifies the treatment of...

Competition for soil water resources between newly planted Douglas-fir seedlings and aggressive early-seral plants, such as Senecio sylvaticus [L.] (Senecio), can create drought conditions that impact tree seedling physiology, growth, and likelihood of mortality. However, the specific impact of...

Tree-species mixture effects (e.g. complementarity and facilitation) have been found to increase individual-tree productivity, lessen mortality and improve recruitment in forests worldwide. By promoting more efficient and complete resource use, mixture effects may also lessen individual-tree-level...

The origin of sorption hysteresis in the wood-water system is still under debate. In nanoporous-fluid systems, in general, hysteresis is explained as the manifestation of metastable states in a single pore-fluid system and that is further complicated by the pore connectivity. Cell walls are...

The Preisach model, the mathematical form of the independent domain model, has been used to describe water sorption hysteresis in wood for over 20 years, however, its geometric interpretation has not been fully explored. In this work, it is demonstrated that the geometric interpretation can be used ...