Abstract
Understanding the factors controlling the expression of longevity in trees is still an outstanding challenge for tree biologists and forest ecologists. We gathered tree-ring data and literature for broadleaf deciduous (BD) temperate trees growing in closed-canopy old-growth forests in the Northern Hemisphere to explore the role of geographic patterns, climate variability, and growth rates on longevity. Our pan-continental analysis, covering 32 species from 12 genera, showed that 300-400 years can be considered a baseline threshold for maximum tree lifespan in many temperate deciduous forests. Maximum age varies greatly in relation to environmental features, even within the same species. Tree longevity is generally promoted by reduced growth rates across large genetic differences and environmental gradients. We argue that slower growth rates, and the associated smaller size, provide trees with an advantage against biotic and abiotic disturbance agents, supporting the idea that size, not age, is the main constraint to tree longevity. The oldest trees were living most of their life in subordinate canopy conditions and/or within primary forests in cool temperate environments and outside major storm tracks. Very old trees are thus characterized by slow growth and often live in forests with harsh site conditions and infrequent disturbance events that kill much of the trees. Temperature inversely controls the expression of longevity in mesophilous species (Fagus spp.), but its role in Quercus spp. is more complex and warrants further research in disturbance ecology. Biological, ecological and historical drivers must be considered to understand the constraints imposed to longevity within different forest landscapes.
Highlights
Identifying the biological and ecological drivers of forest tree longevity is a long-standing challenge
The aims of our study are to: (1) make a review of the longevity of the main genera of broadleaf deciduous (BD) trees living in closed-canopy temperate forests of different parts of the Northern Hemisphere using available tree-ring data; (2) identify the mechanisms controlling the expressed range of variation in tree longevity; and (3) explore the role of climate in controlling the expression of the realized maximum lifespan at biome scale
A wide variability in maximum age emerged within this large range of climatic conditions, either for the same species in different locations or for different species growing within the same forest (Figure 2)
Summary
Identifying the biological and ecological drivers of forest tree longevity is a long-standing challenge. Recent literature has revealed that withinspecies variation in traits is greater than previously supposed (Richardson et al, 2013), and such large within-species variation is observed with tree longevity (Di Filippo et al, 2012). It is generally considered fixed for each species in ecological modeling, longevity appears to be tightly related to environmental features (e.g., Rotheli et al, 2012). Tree longevity’s ecological counterpart is forest mortality, for which the causes of geographic variation have been explored only in a handful of studies (Stephenson et al, 2011)
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