• Energy Research

Warming and drought will occur with increased frequency and intensity at high latitudes in the future. How heat and water stress can influence tree mortality is incompletely understood. The aim of this study was to evaluate how carbon resources, stem hydraulics, and wood anatomy and density determine the ability of black spruce saplings to survive daytime or night-time warming (+ 6 °C in comparison with control) in combination with a drought period. Plant water relations, the dynamics of non-structural carbohydrates and starch, mortality rate, and wood anatomy and density of saplings were monitored. Warming, in conjunction with 25 d of water deficit, increased sapling mortality (10% and 20% in night-time and daytime warming, respectively) compared with the control conditions (0.8%). Drought substantially decreased gas exchange, and also pre-dawn and mid-day leaf water potential to values close to -3MPa which probably induced xylem embolism (xylem air entry point, P₁₂, being on average around -3MPa for this species). In addition, the recovery of gas exchange never reached the initial pre-stress levels, suggesting a possible loss of xylem hydraulic conductivity associated with cavitation. Consequently, mortality may be due to xylem hydraulic failure. Warmer temperatures limited the replenishment of starch reserves after their seasonal minimum. Lighter wood was formed during the drought period, reflecting a lower carbon allocation to cell wall formation, preventing the adaptation of the hydraulic system to drought. Saplings of black spruce experienced difficulty in adapting under climate change conditions, which might compromise their survival in the future.

Wood formation in trees represents a carbon sink that can be modified in the case of stress. The way carbon metabolism constrains growth during stress periods (high temperature and water deficit) is now under debate. In this study, the amounts of non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs) for xylogenesis in black spruce, Picea mariana, saplings were assessed under high temperature and drought in order to determine the role of sugar mobilization for osmotic purposes and its consequences for secondary growth.Four-year-old saplings of black spruce in a greenhouse were subjected to different thermal conditions with respect to the outside air temperature (T0) in 2010 (2 and 5 °C higher than T0) and 2011 (6 °C warmer than T0 during the day or night) with a dry period of about 1 month in June of each year. Wood formation together with starch, NSCs and leaf parameters (water potential and photosynthesis) were monitored from May to September.With the exception of raffinose, the amounts of soluble sugars were not modified in the cambium even if gas exchange and photosynthesis were greatly reduced during drought. Raffinose increased more than pinitol under a pre-dawn water potential of less than -1 Mpa, presumably because this compound is better suited than polyol for replacing water and capturing free radicals, and its degradation into simple sugar is easier. Warming decreased the starch storage in the xylem as well the available hexose pool in the cambium and the xylem, probably because of an increase in respiration.Radial stem growth was reduced during drought due to the mobilization of NSCs for osmotic purposes and due to the lack of cell turgor. Thus plant water status during wood formation can influence the NSCs available for growth in the cambium and xylem.