Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.5
2.9
Journals
Forests
Special Issues
Stable Isotope Applications in Forest Ecosystems
share announcement

Stable Isotope Applications in Forest Ecosystems

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 12708

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jordi Voltas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Joint Research Unit CTFC-Agrotecnio, Universitat de Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Interests: tree physiology; forest genetics; dendroecology; adaptation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Juan Pedro Ferrio

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Unidad de Recursos Forestales, Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Aragón (CITA), Avda. Montañana 930, E-50059 Zaragoza, Spain
2. Aragon Agency for Research and Development (ARAID), E-50018 Zaragoza, Spain
Interests: ecophysiology; ecohydrology; palaeoecology; phenotyping
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Tatiana A. Shestakova

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Woodwell Climate Research Center, MA, USA
Interests: carbon cycling; stable isotopes; forest dynamics; boreal ecosystems

Special Issue Information

Since the turn of this century, the applications of stable isotopes to forest ecology and management have experienced an exponential increase. This is because many biogeochemical processes that occur in forest ecosystems generate a distinctive isotopic imprint that can be used to track how major elements (C, N, O) are transferred between different compartments (trees and plants in general, soil and atmosphere), thereby allowing to investigate the effects of environmental variation in vegetation responses, climate–vegetation feedbacks, and carbon, nutrient and water cycles. In this Special Issue, we invite studies developing applications of stable isotopes in forest ecology, adaptive forest management, tree physiology, and ecohydrology.

In particular, we encourage studies enquiring into:

  • Water vapor fluxes and carbon storage of forests, and their potential feedbacks on climate;
  • Present and future shifts in tree responses to climate change toward water saving, and their effects on the magnitude and nature of climate–vegetation feedbacks;
  • The upscaling of annual and intra-annual tree-ring isotopic signals to entire ecosystems benchmarking vegetation models of varying complexity;
  • Temporal changes in the proportion of wood components in tree rings in relation to climate fluctuations and isotope-based retrievable climate signals;
  • Stand dynamics under competition or disturbances (pests, forest fires), and assessment of forest management strategies to cope with them;
  • Tree physiological responses using stable isotopes in combination with emerging tree-ring proxies (intra-annual density fluctuations, maximum and minimum density, vessel diameter, cell wall thickness, blue intensity);
  • Long-term physiological responses of forest trees to elevated CO2 and climate change across the globe, particularly in less explored areas (e.g., tropical and polar regions, Central Asia, Oceania).

Prof. Dr. Jordi Voltas
Dr. Juan Pedro Ferrio
Dr. Tatiana A. Shestakova
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Stable isotopes 
  • Climate–vegetation feedbacks 
  • Tree rings 
  • Ecohydrology 
  • Adaptive forest management 
  • Forest dynamics 
  • Climate change 
  • Carbon cycle

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

20 pages, 5725 KiB  
Article
Understanding the Representativeness of Tree Rings and Their Carbon Isotopes in Characterizing the Climate Signal of Tajikistan
by Yuting Fan, Huaming Shang, Shulong Yu, Ye Wu and Qian Li
Forests 2021, 12(9), 1215; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12091215 - 07 Sep 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2384
Abstract
The juniper tree forest is a critical component of the carbon, water, and energy cycles of Tajikistan. However, to date, long-term information about tree-ring isotopes is limited in this region. Here, we developed tree-ring width (TRW) and tree-ring 13C chronologies for juniper [...] Read more.
The juniper tree forest is a critical component of the carbon, water, and energy cycles of Tajikistan. However, to date, long-term information about tree-ring isotopes is limited in this region. Here, we developed tree-ring width (TRW) and tree-ring 13C chronologies for juniper trees (Juniperus seravschanica (Juniperus excelsa subsp.polycarpos (K. Koch) Takht.) and Juniperus turkestanica (Juniperus pseudosabina Fisch. & C. A. Mey)) and investigated their dendroclimatic signals in the northwest of the Pamir-Alay (NWPA) mountains in Tajikistan. Tree-ring ∆13C and TRW of juniper presented different sensitivities to monthly precipitation. Moreover, ∆13C in juniper showed consistently significant relationships with climatic factors in larger seasonal windows than TRW did. Dendroclimatological analysis demonstrates that precipitation has significant effects on tree growth and isotope enrichment. Late summer to early winter temperature is one limiting factor for the TRW chronologies, but previous spring, summer, and autumn temperature and precipitation from the previous July to the current May were the dominant climatic factors accounting for inter-annual variations in the ∆13C chronologies. This verified that the multi tree-ring parameters of juniper in Tajikistan are a promising tool for investigating inter-annual climate variations. Furthermore, the stable carbon isotopes of tree rings have proven to be powerful evidence of climatic signals. The moisture-sensitive tree-ring isotope provides opportunities for complex investigations of changes in atmospheric circulation patterns and timing of seasonal rainfall. Our results highlight the need for more detailed studies of tree growth responses to changing climate and tree-ring isotopes to understand source water variations (especially baseflow) of the juniper tree forest. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Stable Isotope Applications in Forest Ecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 4360 KiB  
Article
Chronically Low Nutrient Concentrations in Tree Rings Are Linked to Greater Tree Vulnerability to Drought in Nothofagus dombeyi
by Ester González de Andrés, María Laura Suárez, José Ignacio Querejeta and J. Julio Camarero
Forests 2021, 12(9), 1180; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12091180 - 31 Aug 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2266
Abstract
Forest dieback and mortality episodes triggered by droughts are receiving increasing attention due to the projected increases in these extreme climate events. However, the role played by nutrient impairment in dieback is understudied, despite interactions among carbon-water balances and nutrition. Here, we followed [...] Read more.
Forest dieback and mortality episodes triggered by droughts are receiving increasing attention due to the projected increases in these extreme climate events. However, the role played by nutrient impairment in dieback is understudied, despite interactions among carbon-water balances and nutrition. Here, we followed a comparative analysis of long-term growth, intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE), oxygen isotopes (δ18O) and wood-nutrient composition patterns between living (L) and dead (D) trees of a Nothofagus dombeyi population, showing dieback in Argentina. The onset of the growth decline of D trees occurred ca. 40 years before death. These trees showed higher iWUE, pointing to higher drought stress. Their lower δ18O values, together with the uncoupling between δ18O and leaf-level processes, suggested a deeper source of water uptake for this vigor class. D trees showed a poorer nutritional status than L trees that likely amplified the dieback. This was supported by numerous positive associations of P- and K-concentrations in wood and related ratios with iWUE, δ18O and tree growth. Therefore, drought-related nutrient deterioration can significantly contribute to dieback and be an early warning signal of impending tree death. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Stable Isotope Applications in Forest Ecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 3282 KiB  
Article
Oak Competition Dominates Interspecific Interactions in Growth and Water-Use Efficiency in a Mixed Pine–Oak Mediterranean Forest
by Juan Pedro Ferrio, Tatiana A. Shestakova, Jorge del Castillo and Jordi Voltas
Forests 2021, 12(8), 1093; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12081093 - 16 Aug 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2747
Abstract
In the Mediterranean, mixed forests of Aleppo pine and holm oak are widespread. Generally considered a transition stage in the succession towards climax oak communities, niche segregation may also contribute to the prevalence of these communities. So far, there is increasing evidence of [...] Read more.
In the Mediterranean, mixed forests of Aleppo pine and holm oak are widespread. Generally considered a transition stage in the succession towards climax oak communities, niche segregation may also contribute to the prevalence of these communities. So far, there is increasing evidence of hydrological niche segregation, with the two species showing complementary water use and seasonal growth patterns. However, it remains unknown whether interspecific interactions affect the response to climate and the mid-term (decadal) growth and water-use efficiency of pines and oaks in mixed stands. Here, we combined tree-ring chronologies, built on different competition classes within a mixed stand, with a spatially explicit assessment of individual growth and wood carbon isotope discrimination (∆13C), as a proxy of intrinsic water-use efficiency, and compared these results with previously reported water uptake patterns. We found that competition with pines modulated the climate response of oaks, whereas pine climate response was insensitive to competition. On the other hand, pine density affected only pine growth, whereas oak competition affected both species. We conclude that the presence of pines had negligible or even positive effects on the oaks, but competition with neighbor oaks limited their ability to recover after drought. Conversely, pines experienced greater drought stress under competition, with both oaks and pines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Stable Isotope Applications in Forest Ecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 2238 KiB  
Article
Calcium Biogeochemical Cycle in a Typical Karst Forest: Evidence from Calcium Isotope Compositions
by Guilin Han, Anton Eisenhauer, Jie Zeng and Man Liu
Forests 2021, 12(6), 666; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12060666 - 25 May 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2623
Abstract
In order to better constrain calcium cycling in natural soil and in soil used for agriculture, we present the δ44/40Ca values measured in rainwater, groundwater, plants, soil, and bedrock samples from a representative karst forest in SW China. The δ44/40 [...] Read more.
In order to better constrain calcium cycling in natural soil and in soil used for agriculture, we present the δ44/40Ca values measured in rainwater, groundwater, plants, soil, and bedrock samples from a representative karst forest in SW China. The δ44/40Ca values are found to differ by ≈3.0‰ in the karst forest ecosystem. The Ca isotope compositions and Ca contents of groundwater, rainwater, and bedrock suggest that the Ca of groundwater primarily originates from rainwater and bedrock. The δ44/40Ca values of plants are lower than that of soils, indicating the preferential uptake of light Ca isotopes by plants. The distribution of δ44/40Ca values in the soil profiles (increasing with soil depth) suggests that the recycling of crop-litter abundant with lighter Ca isotope has potential effects on soil Ca isotope composition. The soil Mg/Ca content ratio probably reflects the preferential plant uptake of Ca over Mg and the difference in soil maturity. Light Ca isotopes are more abundant in mature soils than nutrient-depleted soils. The relative abundance in the light Ca isotope (40Ca) is in the following order: farmland > burnt grassland > forests > grassland > shrubland. Our results further indicate that biological fractionation in a soil–plant system is a vital factor for Ca–geochemical transformations in soil surface systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Stable Isotope Applications in Forest Ecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 3062 KiB  
Article
Continuous Measurements of Temporal and Vertical Variations in Atmospheric CO2 and Its δ13C in and above a Subtropical Plantation
by Changhua Chen, Xuefa Wen, Jingyuan Wang and Qingjun Guo
Forests 2021, 12(5), 584; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12050584 - 07 May 2021
Viewed by 1553
Abstract
Atmospheric CO2 dynamics in forest ecosystems are dependent on interactions between photosynthesis, respiration, and turbulent mixing processes; however, the carbon isotopic composition of atmospheric CO2 (δ13C) is not well established due to limited measurement reports. In this study, a [...] Read more.
Atmospheric CO2 dynamics in forest ecosystems are dependent on interactions between photosynthesis, respiration, and turbulent mixing processes; however, the carbon isotopic composition of atmospheric CO2 (δ13C) is not well established due to limited measurement reports. In this study, a seven-inlet profile system with a Picarro analyzer was developed to conduct continuous in situ measurements of CO2 and its δ13C in and above a subtropical plantation from 2015 to 2017. Results showed that ecosystem CO2 concentration was the lowest in the afternoon and reached its peak at dawn, which mirrored variations in its δ13C in and above the canopy. Inverse seasonal variations were apparent between CO2 and its δ13C in and above the canopy, and δ13C was positive during the peak growing season and negative at other times. Diel and seasonal variations in ecosystem CO2 and its δ13C were mainly affected by the vapor pressure deficit, followed by photosynthetic active radiation, temperature, and the enhanced vegetation index in and above the canopy; however, environmental and physiological factors had reverse or no effects near the forest floor. Nocturnal gradients of vertical variations in atmospheric CO2 and its δ13C were greater than diurnal variations due to weak turbulent mixing under more stable atmospheric conditions overnight. These results implicate that photosynthesis and respiration dominated CO2 dynamics above the canopy, while CO2 recycling by photosynthesis and turbulent mixing changed CO2 dynamics in the canopy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Stable Isotope Applications in Forest Ecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5
Back to TopTop