Chronic warming and dry soils limit carbon uptake and growth despite a longer growing season in beech and oak
Journal: bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Year: 2023

Abstract Progressively warmer and drier conditions impact tree phenology and carbon cycling with large consequences for forest carbon balance. However, it remains unclear how individual impacts of warming and drier soils differ from their combined one and how species interactions modulate tree responses. Using mesocosms, we assessed the multi-year impact of continuous air warming and lower soil moisture acting alone or combined on phenology, leaf-level photosynthesis, non-structural carbohydrate