Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of Experimental Soil Warming and Water Addition on the Transpiration of Mature Sugar Maple

Ecosystems volume 21, pages 98–111 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Sugar maple (Acer saccharum), an economically important timber and syrup species, is not expected to flourish under projected future climates. The objectives of our study were to (1) tease apart the effects of warming and soil moisture availability on transpiration rates of mature sugar maple trees with a full-factorial soil warming × water addition experiment and (2) determine the primary environmental driver(s) of sugar maple transpiration in the upper Midwestern United States. Over three growing seasons, we monitored sap flux of 33 trees in eight 100-m2 plots, two replicates each of four treatments: (1) heat (soil warmed +4°C), (2) water (1.3 × ambient growing season precipitation, (3) heat + water, and (4) control. As expected, sugar maple transpiration decreased under the heat treatments in all years and increased in water treatments in years 1 and 2, all mediated primarily by soil moisture. However, under the heat + water treatment, supplemental water compensated for the warming-induced soil evaporation only in year 1 (2011), which was the driest year. Despite clear evidence of a soil moisture-mediated treatment effect, light was the dominant driver of seasonal variation in sap flux in this sugar maple-dominated ecosystem with relatively short growing seasons. However, sap flux was reduced with decreases in soil moisture, and therefore, net C gain likely was as well. Overall, our results suggest that even though this northern temperate species is primarily limited by light, sugar maple productivity may be reduced by a warming climate on drier sites within its current range, if warming is not accompanied by a sufficient increase in precipitation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

39,95 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6

References

  • Auclair AND, Heilman WE, Brinkman B. 2010. Predicting forest dieback in Maine, USA: a simple model based on soil frost and drought. Can J For Res/Rev Can Rech For 40:687–702.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey SW, Horsley SB, Long RP, Hallett RA. 2004. Influence of edaphic factors on sugar maple nutrition and health on the Allegheny Plateau. Soil Sci Soc Am J 68:243–52.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bal T, Storer A, Jurgensen M, Doskey P, Amacher M. 2015. Nutrient stress predisposes and contributes to sugar maple dieback across its northern range: a review. Forestry 88:64–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Betsch P, Bonal D, Breda N, Montpied P, Peiffer M, Tuzet A, Granier A. 2011. Drought effects on water relations in beech: the contribution of exchangeable water reservoirs. Agric For Meteorol 151:531–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop D, Beier C, Pederson N, Lawrence G, Stella J. 2015. Regional growth decline of sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and its potential causes. Ecosphere 6(10):179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bovard BD, Curtis PS, Vogel CS, Su HB, Schmid HP. 2005. Environmental controls on sap flow in a northern hardwood forest. Tree Physiol 25:31–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burton A, Jarvey J, Jarvi M, Zak D, Pregitzer K. 2012. Chronic N deposition alters root respiration-tissue N relationship in northern hardwood forests. Glob Change Biol 18:258–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen L, Zhang Z, Zha T, Mo K, Zhang Y. 2014. Soil water affects transpiration response to rainfall and vapor pressure deficit in poplar plantation. New For 45:235–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chevan A, Sutherland M. 1991. Hierarchical partitioning. Am Stat 45:90–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coble A, Cavaleri M. 2014. Light drives vertical gradients of leaf morphology in a sugar maple (Acer saccharum) forest. Tree Physiol 34:146–58.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coble A, Cavaleri M. 2015. Light acclimation optimizes leaf functional traits despite height-related constraints in a canopy shading experiment. Oecologia 177:1131–43.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Copolovici L, Niinemets U. 2010. Flooding induced emissions of volatile signalling compounds in three tree species with differing waterlogging tolerance. Plant Cell Environ 33:1582–94.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dermody O, Weltzin J, Engel E, Allen P, Norby R. 2007. How do elevated [CO2], warming, and reduced precipitation interact to affect soil moisture and LAI in an old field ecosystem? Plant Soil 301:255–66.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ellsworth DS, Reich PB. 1992. Water relations and gas-exchange of acer-saccharum seedlings in contrasting natural light and water regimes. Tree Physiol 10:1–20.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ewers BE, Mackay DS, Tang J, Bolstad PV, Samanta S. 2008. Intercomparison of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) stand transpiration responses to environmental conditions from the Western Great Lakes Region of the United States. Agric For Meteorol 148:231–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farrell M, Stedman R. 2013. Landowner attitudes toward maple syrup production in the northern forest: a survey of forest owners with  ≥ 100 Acres in Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. North J Appl For 30:184–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Filewod B, Thomas S. 2014. Impacts of a spring heat wave on canopy processes in a northern hardwood forest. Glob Change Biol 20:360–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frey BR, Lieffers VJ, Hogg EH, Landhausser SM. 2004. Predicting landscape patterns of aspen dieback: mechanisms and knowledge gaps. Can J For Res/Rev Can Rech For 34:1379–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao Q, Zhao P, Zeng X, Cai X, Shen W. 2002. A model of stomatal conductance to quantify the relationship between leaf transpiration, microclimate and soil water stress. Plant Cell Environ 25:1373–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gebauer T, Horna V, Leuschner C. 2008. Variability in radial sap flux density patterns and sapwood area among seven co-occurring temperate broad-leaved tree species. Tree Physiol 28:1821–30.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Godman RM, Yawney HW, Tubbs CH. 1990. Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.). In: Burns RM, Honkala BH, Eds. Silvics of North America: 2. Hardwoods, Agriculture Handbook 654. Washington, DC: F. S. U.S. Dept. Agric. pp. 78–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldblum D, Rigg LS. 2005. Tree growth response to climate change at the deciduous-boreal forest ecotone, Ontario, Canada. Can J For Res/Rev Can Rech For 35:2709–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granier A. 1985. A new method of sap flow measurement in tree stems. Ann Sci For 42:193–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granier A. 1987. Evaluation of transpiration in a douglas-fir stand by means of sap flow measurements. Tree Physiol 3:309–19.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gunderson CA, Norby RJ, Wullschleger SD. 2000. Acclimation of photosynthesis and respiration to simulated climatic warming in northern and southern populations of Acer saccharum: laboratory and field evidence. Tree Physiol 20:87–96.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hinckley TM, Dougherty PM, Lassoie JP, Roberts JE, Teskey RO. 1979. A severe drought: Impact on tree growth, phenology, net photosynthetic rate and water relations. Am Midl Nat 102:307–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holscher D, Koch O, Korn S, Leuschner C. 2005. Sap flux of five co-occurring tree species in a temperate broad-leaved forest during seasonal soil drought. Trees-Struct Funct 19:628–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horsley SB, Long RP, Bailey SW, Hallett RA, Wargo PM. 2002. Health of eastern North American sugar maple forests and factors affecting decline. North J Appl For 19:34–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Houston, DR. 1998. History of sugar maple decline. In: Sugar maple ecology and health: proceedings of an international symposium—GTR-NE-2661. USDA Northeastern Research Station, Warren, Pennsylvania.

  • James SA, Clearwater MJ, Meinzer FC, Goldstein G. 2002. Heat dissipation sensors of variable length for the measurement of sap flow in trees with deep sapwood. Tree Physiol 22:277–83.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jarvi MP 2015. Ecophysiological responses of sugar maple roots to climatic conditions. (Doctoral dissertation). Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI.

  • Jarvi MP, Burton AJ. 2013. Acclimation and soil moisture constrain sugar maple root respiration in experimentally warmed soil. Tree Physiol 33:949–59.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kagawa A, Sack L, Duarte KE, James S. 2009. Hawaiian native forest conserves water relative to timber plantation: species and stand traits influence water use. Ecol Appl 19:1429–43.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kratz CJ. 2013. Impacts of climate change on soil microorganisms in northern hardwood forests (doctoral dissertation). Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI.

  • Kuster T, Arend M, Guenthardt Goerg M, Schulin R. 2013. Root growth of different oak provenances in two soils under drought stress and air warming conditions. Plant Soil 369:61–71.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lu P, Urban L, Zhao P. 2004. Granier’s thermal dissipation probe (TDP) method for measuring sap flow in trees: theory and practice. Acta Bot Sin 46:631–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCulloh K, Winter K, Meinzer F, Garcia M, Aranda J, Lachenbruch B. 2007. A comparison of daily water use estimates derived from constant-heat sap-flow probe values and gravimetric measurements in pot-grown saplings. Tree Physiol 27:1355–60.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McDowell N. 2011. Mechanisms linking drought, hydraulics, carbon metabolism, and vegetation mortality. Plant Physiol 155:1051–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin S, Percy K. 1999. Forest health in North America: some perspectives on actual and potential roles of climate and air pollution. Water Air Soil Pollut 116:151–97.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meinzer F, Woodruff D, Eissenstat D, Lin H, Adams T, McCulloh K. 2013. Above- and belowground controls on water use by trees of different wood types in an eastern US deciduous forest. Tree Physiol 33:345–56.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Melillo J, Butler S, Johnson J, Mohan J, Steudler P, Lux H, Burrows E, Bowles F, Smith R, Scott L, Vario C, Hill T, Burton A, Zhou Y-M, Tang J. 2011. Soil warming, carbon-nitrogen interactions, and forest carbon budgets. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108:9508–12.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Millers I, Shriner DD, Rizzo D. 1989. History of hardwood decline in the Eastern United States- NE-126. USDA Northeastern Experiment Station.

  • Moore G, Bond B, Jones J, Meinzer F. 2010. Thermal-dissipation sap flow sensors may not yield consistent sap-flux estimates over multiple years. Trees 24:165–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morrison JA, Mauck K. 2007. Experimental field comparison of native and non-native maple seedlings: natural enemies, ecophysiology, growth and survival. J Ecol 95:1036–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murray K, Conner M. 2009. Methods to quantify variable importance: implications for the analysis of noisy ecological data. Ecology 90:348–55.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ni BR, Pallardy SG. 1991. Response of gas-exchange to water-exchange to water-stress in seedlings of woody angiosperms. Tree Physiol 8:1–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Norby RJ, Luo YQ. 2004. Evaluating ecosystem responses to rising atmospheric CO(2) and global warming in a multi-factor world. New Phytol 162:281–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oishi AC, Oren R, Stoy P. 2008. Estimating components of forest evapotranspiration: a footprint approach for scaling sap flux measurements. Agric For Meteorol 148:1719–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips N, Oren R, Zimmermann R. 1996. Radial patterns of xylem sap flow in non-, diffuse- and ring-porous tree species. Plant Cell Environ 19:983–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prasad AM, Iverson LR, Matthews S, Peters M. 2014. A climate change atlas for 134 forest tree species of the Eastern United States [database]. http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/atlas/tree, Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service. Delaware, Ohio.

  • Roman DT, Novick KA, Brzostek ER, Dragoni D, Rahman F, Phillips RP. 2015. The role of isohydric and anisohydric species in determining ecosystem-scale response to severe drought. Oecologia 179:641–54.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ruehr N, Gast A, Weber C, Daub B, Arneth A. 2016. Water availability as dominant control of heat stress responses in two contrasting tree species. Tree Physiol 36:164–78.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rustad L. 2008. The response of terrestrial ecosystems to global climate change: towards an integrated approach. Sci Total Environ 404:222–35.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rustad LE, Campbell JL, Marion GM, Norby RJ, Mitchell MJ. 2001. A meta-analysis of the response of soil respiration, net nitrogen mineralization, and aboveground plant growth to experimental ecosystem warming. Oecologia 126:543–62.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt-Walter P, Richter F, Herbst M, Schuldt B, Lamersdorf N. 2014. Transpiration and water use strategies of a young and a full-grown short rotation coppice differing in canopy cover and leaf area. Agric For Meteorol 195:165–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steppe K, Doody T, Teskey R. 2010. A comparison of sap flux density using thermal dissipation, heat pulse velocity and heat field deformation methods. Agric For Meteorol 150:1046–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang J, Bolstad P, Ewers B, Desai A, Davis K. 2006. Sap flux-upscaled canopy transpiration, stomatal conductance, and water use efficiency in an old growth forest in the Great Lakes region of the United States. J Geophys Res 111:1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tschaplinski TJ, Stewart DB, Hanson PJ, Norby RJ. 1995. Interactions between drought and elevated CO2 on growth and gas-exchange of seedlings of 3 deciduous tree species. New Phytol 129:63–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Usda NASS. 2014. Maple syrup production. Harrisburg, PA: Northeastern Regional Field Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watmough SA, McNeely R, Lafleur PM. 2001. Changes in wood and foliar delta C-13 in sugar maple at Gatineau Park, Quebec, Canada. Glob Change Biol 7:955–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitney GG, Upmeyer MM. 2004. Sweet trees, sour circumstances: the long search for sustainability in the North American maple products industry. For Ecol Manag 200:313–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wullschleger SD, Hanson PJ. 2006. Sensitivity of canopy transpiration to altered precipitation in an upland oak forest: evidence from a long-term field manipulation study. Glob Change Biol 12:97–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Q, Manzoni S, Katul G, Porporato A, Yang D. 2014. The hysteretic evapotranspiration—Vapor pressure deficit relation. J Geophys Res Biogeosci 119:125–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang SB, Zhou ZK, Hu H, Xu K, Yan N. 2005. Photosynthetic performances of Quercus pannosa vary with altitude in the Hengduan Mountains, southwest China. For Ecol Manag 212:291–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao JB, Hartmann H, Trumbore S, Ziegler W, Zhang YP. 2013. High temperature causes negative whole-plant carbon balance under mild drought. New Phytol 200:330–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Y, Tang J, Melillo J, Butler S, Mohan J. 2011. Root standing crop and chemistry after six years of soil warming in a temperate forest. Tree Physiol 31:707–17.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Tom Pypker and Dr. Veronica Webster for their collaboration. We also thank Dr. Mickey Jarvi, Dr. Adam Coble, Michael Stanley, David Kossak, Dr. Bryan Murray, Dr. Wilfred Previant, and Joe Shannon for their assistance in the field and lab. We would also like to thank Dave Stimac for his services at the research site.

Funding

Research was sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Joint Venture Agreement (#10-JV-11242307-067), the USDA McIntire-Stennis program, and the Ecosystem Science Center, Center for Water and Society, and School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science at Michigan Technological University.

Author information

Author notes

  1. AC, AB, and MC conceived the work. AC carried out the field work with assistance from MC. AC analyzed the data and wrote the paper under supervision from AB and MC.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Michigan Technological University, U.J. Noblet Building, 1400 Townsend Dr., Houghton, Michigan, 49931, USA

    Alex R. Collins, Andrew J. Burton & Molly A. Cavaleri

Authors
  1. Alex R. Collins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andrew J. Burton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Molly A. Cavaleri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alex R. Collins.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 527 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Collins, A.R., Burton, A.J. & Cavaleri, M.A. Effects of Experimental Soil Warming and Water Addition on the Transpiration of Mature Sugar Maple. Ecosystems 21, 98–111 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-017-0137-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-017-0137-9

Keywords

  • sap flux
  • transpiration
  • climate change
  • warming
  • water addition
  • sugar maple

Search

Navigation