European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) is commercially and ecologically important tree species in Central European forests but its intra-specific variability in drought and temperature tolerance might endanger its future distribution in Europe. Beech phenological and growth traits have been studied in large-scale international beech provenance trials, yet the growth and turnover of its fine roots (FR) has not been included among the observations. FR growth dynamics and FR architectural traits of three beech provenances in the international beech provenance trial Straza/Kamenski hrib, established in Slovenia in 1998, and from a natural beech regeneration site growing at its border, were studied from 2007 to 2010. We studied FR biomass using soil cores (SC), root production using ingrowth soil cores (IC), and root longevity using minirhizotrons (MR). Significant differences in FR biomass (live and dead) between the provenance P37 and other provenances were discovered in SC, FR biomass of P37 being significantly higher than FR biomass of latter, which could be connected with overall excellent growth performance of P37 due to favourable environmental conditions at trial. Values of specific root length (SRL) in IC varied significantly among P37 and P54. The turnover rates in IC were at the end of the experiment close to MR results. Median MR-based longevities of FR varied between 625 and 934 days. Survival curve of the slowest growing provenance (considering its aboveground characteristics) was significantly different from the other two, median longevities of the latter being higher. Death of FR, older than two years, occurred most likely in the winter. Our results suggest that there are significant differences in FR longevity among provenances, which might contribute to their adaptation to future environmental conditions. Furthermore, the calculated annual C investment into FR growth per ha differs up to twofold between provenances, contributing to different C dynamics of their future stands.
COBISS.SI-ID: 5146278
We investigated the levels of genetic diversity and population differentiation among core and peripheral populations of Norway spruce along an altitudinal gradient (from inversions to upper tree line) using isoenzymes (ISO) and nuclear simple-sequence repeats (SSR) markers on overlapping set of populations. Twenty-seven to seventy trees from 11 and 7 populations were genotyped with isoenzymes and SSRs, respectively. The results partially conform to the expectations of the central-peripheral hypothesis (CPH) and are consistent for both marker sets. Genetic differentiation among peripheral populations was low but significantly different from zero (FST-ISO = 0.013, FST-SSR = 0.009) and higher than that among core populations (FST-ISO = 0.007, FST-SSR = 0.005), conforming to central peripheral hypothesis. Contrastingly, levels of genetic diversity assessed by both richness and equitability measures did not significantly differ between peripheral and core populations (AR-ISO = 2.20 vs. 2.14, AR-SSR = 17.16 vs. 17.68, HE-ISO = 0.183 vs. 0.185, and HE-SSR = 0.935 vs. 0.935 for peripheral and core populations, respectively).
COBISS.SI-ID: 4994982
We present BeechCOSTe52; a database of European beech (Fagus sylvatica) phenotypic measurements for several traits related to fitness measured in genetic trials planted across Europe. The dataset was compiled and harmonized during the COST-Action E52 (2006%2010), and subsequently cross-validated to ensure consistency of measurement data among trials and provenances. Phenotypic traits (height, diameter at breast height, basal diameter, mortality, phenology of spring bud burst and autumn%leaf discoloration) were recorded in 38 trial sites where 217 provenances covering the entire distribution of European beech were established in two consecutive series (1993/95 and 1996/98). The recorded data refer to 862,095 measurements of the same trees aged from 2 to 15 years old over multiple years. This dataset captures the considerable genetic and phenotypic intra-specific variation present in European beech and should be of interest to researchers from several disciplines including quantitative genetics, ecology, biogeography, macroecology, adaptive management of forests and bioeconomy.
COBISS.SI-ID: 5157798