Abstract
The Mexican tropical montane cloud forest trees occur under special and limited climatic conditions; many of these species are particularly more sensitive to drought stress. Hydric transport in leaf veins and wood features are influenced by climatic variations and individual intrinsic factors, which are essential processes influencing xylogenesis. We assessed the plastic response to climatic oscillation in two relict-endangered Magnolia schiedeana Schltdl. populations and associated the architecture of leaf vein traits with microenvironmental factors and wood anatomy features with climatic variables. The microenvironmental factors differed significantly between the two Magnolia populations and significantly influenced variation in M. schiedeana leaf venation traits. The independent chronologies developed for the two study forests were dated back 171–190 years. The climate-growth analysis showed that M. schiedeana growth is strongly related to summer conditions and growth responses to Tmax, Tmin, and precipitation. Our study highlights the use of dendroecological tools to detect drought effects. This association also describes modifications in vessel traits recorded before, during, and after drought events. In conclusion, our results advance our understanding of the leaf vein traits and wood anatomy plasticity in response to microenvironmental fluctuations and climate in the tropical montane cloud forest.
Highlights
The tropical montane cloud forests (TMCFs) represent one of the most important biodiversity hotspots on Earth due their high proportions of relict-endemic and endangered species [1,2,3,4,5].deforestation, habitat fragmentation are creating unprecedented pressures on the natural resources in most ecosystems [6,7,8].drought events are expected to be greater in rate and magnitude than what has occurred far [2,9]
Our results show that M. schiedeana develops annual growth rings that can be used in wood anatomy and xylogenesis studies and are relevant to assess the plasticity of vessel-related drought events
This study provides the first evidence linking that leaf vein traits and wood anatomy plasticity in populations of Magnolia schiedeana respond to microenvironmental and climate fluctuations
Summary
Drought events are expected to be greater in rate and magnitude than what has occurred far [2,9]. These climate events are considered to play a significant role in limiting TMCF tree. Fog and/or mist can play a unique and varied role in TMCF plant ecology during drought events [5], partially affecting leaf vascular system adaptations (vein length, leaf shape, vein density, among others), growth rates (growth ring width and/or vessel modifications), and altering the resilience during specific climate events such as El. Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) [11,12,13,14]. The resilience of some TMCF trees to drought events may constitute an indirect response of the relict-tree species that depend on high moisture conditions
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