Linking stem growth respiration to the seasonal course of stem growth and GPP of Scots pine

Abstract

Current methods to study relations between stem respiration and stem growth have been hampered by problems in quantifying stem growth from dendrometer measurements, particularly on a daily time scale. This is mainly due to the water-related influences within these measurements that mask growth. A previously published model was used to remove water-related influences from measured radial stem variations to reveal a daily radial growth signal (ΔGm). We analysed the intra- and inter-annual relations between ΔGm and estimated growth respiration rates (Rg) on a daily scale for 5 years. Results showed that Rg was weakly correlated to stem growth prior to tracheid formation, but was significant during the early summer. In the late summer, the correlation decreased slightly relative to the early summer. A 1-day time lag was found of ΔGm preceding Rg. Using wavelet analysis and measurements from eddy covariance, it was found that Rg followed gross primary production and temperature with a 2 and 3 h time lag, respectively.This study shows that further in-depth analysis of in-situ growth and growth respiration dynamics is greatly needed, with a focus on cellular respiration at specific developmental stages, its woody tissue costs and linkages to source–sink processes and environmental drivers.