The spring fling: Sapflow during thaw-refreeze cycles

Michele L. Pruyn

Dept. of Biological Sciences

Plymouth State University

http://www.nps.gov/plants/pubs/chesapeake/plant/446.htm

http://nhmapleexperience.com/nh_syrup.php

http://extension.unh.edu/nhoutside/trees/

Spring Tease

Birch compared to other Northern Hardwoods

• Shallowest root system of the northern hardwoods

(Yanai et al. 2008, Fahey and Hughes, 1994).

• Root vs. Stem Pressure in Refilling• Birches generate root pressure to remove xylem embolism in

early spring, unlike sugar maple, which uses stem pressure (Cirelli et al. 2008)

• Especially Susceptible to Xylem Cavitation (Maherali et al. 2004)• If roots are damaged from soil freezing, may not be able to generate enough

root pressure to remove emboli in the spring, this can lead to permanent blockage of xylem vessels (Zhu et al. 2001)

Shallow Rooting Depth in Yellow Birch

Yanai et al. 2008

Advantage of Stem Pressure in pre-bud break sapflow.

Sugar Maple

Yellow Birch

Lack of pitting between vessels and other xylem cells sequester sap in the vessel elements – favors a build up of pressure in the xylem.

Evolution of resistance to water-stress-induced xylem cavitation in woody plants

Maherali et al. (2004)

Rustad et al. (2012) in prep

• We wondered how the trees might be readying for budbreak and how is sapflow involved in this process?

95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 1050

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Spring 2011, PSU Boyd Sugar Maples

Tree 2, North-facing, 2cm deep

Tree 3, South-facing, 4cm deep

Panel Temp (C)

Ordinal Date / Decimal Time

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pfl

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April 5

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 1040

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Spring 2011, PSU Boyd Sugar Maples

Tree 1, South-facing, 2cm deep

Tree 1, North-facing, 4cm deep

Tree 3, North-facing, 2cm deep

Panel Temp (C)

Ordinal Date / Decimal Time

Sa

pfl

ow

(g

/ c

m2

/ s

)

Pa

ne

l Te

mp

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ture

(°C

)

79.5 80 80.5 81 81.5 82 82.5 83 83.50

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Spring 2012, HQ Plot

American Beech Yellow Birch 2 Yellow Birch 3Air Temperature (C)

Ordinal Date / Decimal Time

Sa

pfl

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(g

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s)

Air

Te

mp

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ture

(°C

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March 19

79.5 80 80.5 81 81.5 82 82.5 83 83.5 840

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Spring 2012, HQ MaplesSugar Maple 2 Sugar Maple 3 Panel Temperature (C)

Ordinal Date / Decimal Time

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March 19

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Soil Profile Temperaturs at HQ plot(stack 1)

10cm

20cm

30cm

40cm

Ordinal Date

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il T

em

pe

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°C)

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Soil Profile Temperaturs at HQ plot(stack 2)

10cm

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Oridinal Date

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Soils data courtesy of Amey Bailey

84 85 86 87 88 89 90

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2012 Pre bud-break Js: HBEF HQ

Julian Day

Js (

g*m

-2*s

-1)

YB 1YB 3AB 3AB 1SM 2SM 3Air Temp (C)

96 97 98 99 100 101 102

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2012 Pre bud-break Js: HBEF HQ

Julian Day

Js (g

*m-2

*s-1

)

AB 3YB 1YB 3AB1SM 2SM 3Air Temp (C)

Courtesey of Jordan Christ

Courtesy of Lindsey Rustad

The Relationship between leaf

emergence and water conducting

properties of stems

Lechowicz (1984) American Naturalist

Acknowledgements

• Plymouth State University & Center for the Environment

• Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest Summer REU Program• Hubbard Brook Researchers, especially Ms. Amey Bailey, Drs. Scott

Bailey, Lindsay Rustad and Ruth Yanai for inspirational discussion.

• Undergraduates: Maegan Gagne, Melissa Lanfranco, Brita Stepe, Kristin Grenier, Darius Harrison, Amanda Hook, Clifton French, Jess Brennan

• Graduate Students: Jordan Christ & James VanGyzen

• PSU Botany and Plant Physiology Classes

References • Charles P.-A. Bourque, Roger M. Cox, Darren J. Allen, Paul A. Arp, Fan-Rui Meng. (2005) Spatial

extent of winter thaw events in eastern North America: historical weather records in relation to yellow birch decline. Global Change Biology 11:9, 1477-1492

• Cirelli D., Jagles R and Tyree MT. (2008). Toward an improved model of maple sap exudation: the location and role of osmotic barriers in sugar maple, butternut and white birch. Tree Physiology 28:1145-1155.

• Cox RM, Malcolm JW (1997) Effects of duration of a simulated winter thaw on dieback and xylem conductivity of Betula papyrifera. Tree Physiology, 17, 397–404.

• Cox RM, Zhu XB (2003) The effects of a simulated thaw on xylem cavitation, residual embolism, spring dieback, and shoot growth in yellow birch. Tree Physiology, 23, 615–624.

• Maherali H, Pockman WT and Jackson RB (2004) Adaptive variation in the vulnerability of woody plants to xylem cavitation. Ecology 85:2184-2199.

• Yanai, RD, Fisck MC, Fahey TJ, Cleavitt NL and Park BB (2008) Identifying roots of nothern hardwood species: patterns with diameter and depth. Can J For Res 38: 2862-2869

• Zhu XB, Cox RM, Arp PA (2000) Effects of xylem cavitation and freezing injury on dieback of yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) in relation to a simulated winter thaw. Tree Physiology, 20, 541–547.

• Zhu XB, Cox RM, Meng F-R et al. (2001) Responses of xylem cavitation, freezing injury and shoot dieback to a simulated winter thaw in yellow birch seedlings growing in different nursery culture regimes. Forest Ecology and Management, 145, 243–253.

Questions?

http://www.nps.gov/plants/pubs/chesapeake/plant/446.htm