We evaluated the size effect on stem water status and growth in Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) occurring at the edge of its natural range in a dry inner Alpine environment (750 m asl, Tyrol, Austria). Intra-annual dynamics of stem water deficit (ΔW), maximum daily shrinkage (MDS), and radial growth (RG) were compared among saplings (stem diameter/height: 2.2 cm/93 cm; n = 7) and mature...

A substantial amount of global carbon is stored in mature trees. However, no experiments to date test how warming affects mature tree carbon storage. Using a unique, citywide, factorial experiment, we investigated how warming and insect herbivory affected physiological function and carbon sequestration (carbon stored per year) of mature trees. Urban warming increased herbivorous arthropod abund...

This article comments on: Seeking the “point of no return” in sequence events leading to mortality mature trees

determined in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees and stands from 7 to about 60 years of age. At the stand scale, leaf area index and net primary productivity (NPP, aboveplus belowground) increased and reached a plateau at about 25--30 and 15--20 years, respectively; both parameters declined in mature stands. Stand hydraulic conductance followed a similar trend to NPP, with a maximum at abou...

A quantitative analysis was applied to the stomatal and biochemical limitations to light-saturated net photosynthesis under optimal field conditions in mature trees and seedlings of the co-occurring evergreen oak, Quercus ilex L., and the deciduous oak, Q. faginea Lam. Stomatal limitation to photosynthesis, maximal Rubisco activity and electron transport rate were determined from assimilation v...