ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Functional Plant Ecology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1563051
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring Wood Structure and Tree-Ring Dynamics in Ecological ResearchView all 7 articles
Xylogenesis under future climates: enhanced growth of balsam fir in a warming boreal forest
Provisionally accepted
- 1Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Canada
- 2Direction de la recherche forestière (DRF), Québec, Canada
- 3Hydrology, Climate and Climate Change Laboratory, École de Technologie Supérieure, Montréal, Canada
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Understanding the effects of climate variability on tree growth is crucial to predict forest carbon sequestration under global climate change. This study investigates the dynamics of wood formation in balsam fir in response to historical climatic data and projected variations. Weekly microcores were collected from 33 permanent plots in a boreal forest in Quebec, Canada, over five growing seasons from 2018 to 2022.Warmer spring temperatures were associated with earlier cell enlargement initiation and increased cell production, whereas precipitation exerted a limited effect. An advancement in the onset of cell enlargement by 14-42 days and a 25-85% increase in cell production from 2051-2080 relative to the reference period (1981-2010) were predicted. Our results reveal potential shifts in growth dynamics and xylem production that could modify the growth processes in balsam fir, including carbon sequestration in the boreal forest ecosystems of Eastern Canada.
Keywords: Cambial activity, Cell Enlargement, Secondary wall thickening, Cell production, Warming trend
Received: 18 Jan 2025; Accepted: 23 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 He, Sylvain, Silvestro, Drolet, Arsenault and Rossi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Minhui He, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Canada
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