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Johannes Edvardsson

Johannes Edvardsson

Researcher

Johannes Edvardsson

Disentangling intra-annual Pinus sylvestris growth responses to hydro-climatic conditions : Insights from quantitative wood anatomy in peatlands

Author

  • Silvia Piccinelli
  • Johannes Edvardsson
  • Veiko Lehsten
  • Lenka Slamova
  • Lianne Gouma
  • Loïc Francon
  • Karolina Janecka
  • Christophe Corona
  • Markus Stoffel

Summary, in English

Peatlands are vital ecosystems that regulate global carbon storage and hydrology, driven by waterlogged conditions that foster organic matter accumulation. However, disentangling the interactions between climate, hydrology, and tree growth in peatlands remains challenging. To investigate these relationships, we developed a 117-year ring width (RW) chronology (1902–2019) and complementary intra-annual quantitative wood anatomical (QWA) records for Pinus sylvestris from the Mycklemossen peatland, Sweden. Using QWA and principal component analysis, radial cell lumen diameter (Drad) and cell wall thickness (CWTrad) emerged as key indicators to understand links between climate, hydrology, and tree growth, due to their functional roles in water transport and structural stability. Compared to RW, QWA parameters demonstrated significantly higher sensitivity to hydro-climatic variability, revealing distinct intra-seasonal growth patterns. Earlywood Drad correlated positively with prior growing-season temperatures (r = 0.52, March–August) and winter water table levels (WTL; r = 0.41, February–March), while latewood Drad correlated negatively with autumn temperatures (r = −0.49, September–October) and WTL (r = −0.44, October–March). Latewood CWTrad exhibited strong positive correlations with maximum temperatures (r = 0.66, March–May) and winter WTL (r = 0.50, November–March). Categorization of WTL and temperature into discrete classes revealed that both excessively shallow and deep WTL negatively impact xylem traits, while temperature showed linear effects, with high temperatures enhancing earlywood cell expansion and latewood cell wall thickening. These findings demonstrate the superior precision of QWA in capturing peatland tree growth responses to local (WTL) and regional (temperature) hydro-climatic variability, thereby enhancing our understanding of peatland ecosystem resilience to climate fluctuations and supporting conservation efforts in the face of global environmental change.

Department/s

  • Department of Geology
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Quaternary Sciences
  • Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
  • MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system

Publishing year

2025-10

Language

English

Publication/Series

Science of the Total Environment

Volume

998

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Climate Science
  • Forest Science

Keywords

  • Environmental reconstructions
  • Hydro-climatic variability
  • Peatland ecosystems
  • Pinus sylvestris
  • Quantitative wood anatomy (QWA)
  • Tree growth dynamics
  • Water table levels (WTL)

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0048-9697