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Stronger influence of growth rate than severity of drought stress on mortality of large ponderosa pines during the 2012–2015 California drought

  • Physiological ecology – original research
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Abstract

Forests in the western United States are being subject to more frequent and severe drought events as the climate warms. The 2012–2015 California drought is a recent example, whereby drought stress was exacerbated by a landscape-scale outbreak of western pine beetle (Dendroctonus brevicomis) and resulted in widespread mortality of dominant canopy species including ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). In this study, we compared pairs of large surviving and beetle-killed ponderosa pines following the California drought in the southern Sierra Nevadas to evaluate physiological characteristics related to survival. Inter-annual growth rates and tree-ring stable isotopes (∆13C and δ18O) were utilized to compare severity of drought stress and climate sensitivity in ponderosa pines that survived and those that were killed by western pine beetle. Compared to beetle-killed trees, surviving trees had higher growth rates and grew in plots with lower ponderosa pine basal area. However, there were no detectable differences in tree-ring ∆13C, δ18O, or stable isotope sensitivity to drought-related meteorological variables. These results indicate that differences in severity of drought stress had little influence on local, inter-tree differences in growth rate and survival of large ponderosa pines during this drought event. Many previous studies have shown that large trees are more likely to be attacked and killed by bark beetles compared to small trees. Our results further suggest that among large ponderosa pines, those that were more resistant to drought stress and bark beetle attacks were in the upper echelon of growth rates among trees within a stand and across the landscape.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory (SSCZO) for maintenance of the Soaproot Saddle field site. We specifically thank Erin Stacy from the CZO and Beverly Bulaon from the Forest Service for their assistance with site selection and sampling, and Mike Goulden for substantial information regarding the ecology and history of Soaproot Saddle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA

    Rachel M. Keen

  2. Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, SUNY ESF, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Steve L. Voelker

  3. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Logan, UT, USA

    Barbara J. Bentz

  4. Department of Plants, Soils and Climate, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

    S.-Y. Simon Wang

  5. Pepperwood Preserve, Santa Rose, CA, USA

    Ryan Ferrell

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  1. Rachel M. Keen
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Contributions

RMK and SLV designed the experiment and collected data with help from BJB. RMK performed laboratory analyses. RMK and SLV performed data analysis, with substantial input and assistance from SYW and BJB. RF provided additional tree cores from Soaproot Saddle and assisted with data interpretation. All authors significantly contributed to data evaluation and manuscript preparation and gave final approval for publication.

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Correspondence to Rachel M. Keen.

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Communicated by Jim Ehleringer.

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Keen, R.M., Voelker, S.L., Bentz, B.J. et al. Stronger influence of growth rate than severity of drought stress on mortality of large ponderosa pines during the 2012–2015 California drought. Oecologia 194, 359–370 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04771-0

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