Integrative Biology Journals

JOURNAL OF FORESTRY RESEARCH ›› 2023, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (1): 1-5.DOI: 10.1007/s11676-023-01596-4

• Editorial •     Next Articles

Tree ecophysiology in the context of climate change

Yanbo Hu1,a, Raul Antonio Sperotto2,3, Georgios Koubouris4, Srđan Stojnić5, Nacer Bellaloui6   

  1. 1 Northeast Forestry University, 150040, Harbin, People’s Republic of China
    2 Graduate Program in Biotechnology, Life Sciences Area, University of Taquari Valley - Univates, Lajeado, Brazil
    3 Graduate Program in Plant Physiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil
    4 Laboratory of Olive Cultivation, Institute of Olive Tree, Subtropical Crops and Viticulture, Hellenic Agricultural Organization DIMITRA, Leoforos Karamanli 167, 73134, Chania, Crete, Greece
    5 Institute of Lowland Forestry and Environment, University of Novi Sad, Antona Čehova 13d, Novi Sad, Serbia
    6 Crop Genetics Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, 141 Experiment Station Road, 38776, Stoneville, MS, USA
  • Received:2022-12-06 Accepted:2022-12-26 Online:2024-10-16
  • Contact: Yanbo Hu

Abstract:

Forest structure and function strongly depend on and concurrently influence environmental conditions. Tree performance is generally governed by its genetics and environment; thus, recent hotspots in this field include tree genotype × environment, phenotype × environment, and functional trait × environment interactions. The editorial, review, and 22 original research articles in this Special Issue, “Tree ecophysiology in the context of climate change”, highlight ecophysiological phenomena (e.g., climate hormesis, seed germination, tree mortality), processes (e.g., tree metabolism, photosynthate allocation, nutrient uptake and transport), indicators (e.g., carbon sequestration, pollutants), measurements (e.g., thermal time methods, soil quality indices, vegetation spectral index, and near-infrared leaf reflectance), and modeling (e.g., climate correlations with tree growth, photosynthetic phenology, hydraulic strategies, OliveCan model) in the context of global climate change. Understanding forest–environment interactions from an ecophysiological perspective as climate changes provides insights into species fitness in suboptimal environments, species competition for limited resources, and phylogenetic divergence or convergence of species, and predicting species distributions.

Key words: Tree ecophysiology, Climate change, Climate hormesis, Phenology, Thermostability, Forest resilience, Hydraulics