Drobyshev, Igor
- Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)
Research article2016Peer reviewed
Root connections affect radial growth of balsam poplar trees
Adonsou, Kokouvi Emmanuel; Drobyshev, Igor; DesRochers, Annie; Tremblay, Francine; Drobyshev, Igor
Abstract
Connected root systems reduced the negative impact of August temperatures and insect outbreak on growth.Root connections between trees can be an ecological advantage of clonal plant species in environments with unevenly distributed resources. We investigated the effects of root connectivity in stands of balsam poplar in Quebec (Canada). We evaluated differences in growth response between groups of trees with and without root connections through climate-growth analyses, comparison of the growth dynamics, and analysis of growth response to a severe forest tent caterpillar (FTC) outbreak. Current May temperature had a positive influence on radial growth of both connected and non-connected trees. Growth of non-connected trees was negatively affected by August temperatures (r = -0.3) while connected trees did not reveal a significant relationship for that month. A mixed effect ANOVA showed a significant difference (F (1, 25) = 5.59, p = 0.02) in growth responses to FTC outbreak between connected and non-connected trees. Connected trees grew on average 16 % better than unconnected trees during the outbreak, with bootstrapped 95 % confidence range from 2.28 to 31.36 %. The study suggests a sharing of resources through root connections, affecting radial growth of connected balsam poplar trees under both average and extreme environmental conditions.
Keywords
Populus balsamifera; Malacosoma disstria; Root grafting; Insect outbreak; Resource sharing; Tree nutrition; Biotic interactions; Facilitation in plant communities; Forest resilience
Published in
Trees - Structure and Function
2016, Volume: 30, number: 5, pages: 1775-1783
Publisher: SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
SLU Authors
Associated SLU-program
Forest
SLU Plant Protection Network
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
SDG2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
UKÄ Subject classification
Ecology
Publication identifier
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-016-1409-2
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/81103