Are vessel traits of earlywood storing effect of hydroclimatic factors on radial growth of European ash? The case study of a floodplain forest

Abstract

Radial growth of trees is highly determined by environmental conditions. Wood can preserve environmental effects at different levels of its structure, regardless if tree-ring level, seasonal wood, subseasonal or cell structures are considered. We decided to
employ vessel cell parameters of earlywood to investigate how hydroclimatic parameters   affect the development of earlywood structures of European ash growing on active terrace of medium size European river  under the influence of river regime. The main conclusions of our research are : vessel cell parameters of earlywood of European ash, particularly average area of cell, seams to bear relatively strong hydroclimatic signal for trees growing in floodplain forests; the strongest relation between hydroclimatic parameters and vessel cell traits of European ash can be observed for the vessels of earlywood except the first row of vessel cells or the entire extent of earlywood rather than for the zone of the first row of vessel cells; the positive relation between precipitation or streamflow and all the investigated vessels parameters  of earlywood was identified,  the negative relation between temperature and all the investigated  vessels  parameters   of  earlywood  was  identified;  the  hydroclimatic  parameters  of  the  previous  year  seem  to  have predominant effect on development of traits of vessel cells in earlywood rather than parameters of current year; streamflow could be considered as the parameter that substitutes well, or even is more important than precipitation, as far as water availability for development of vessel cells of ash trees growing on active terrace of river valley is concerned. The results presented in this paper should rather be considered as preliminary. These results will be verified and challenged, in the course of currently continued studies,
while farther empirical material is available.

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