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Picea abies (L.) Karst. and Fagus sylvatica (L.) are important tree species in Europe, and the foreseen increase in temperature and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) could increase the vulnerability of these species. However, their physiological performance under climate change at temperate and productive sites is not yet fully understood, especially in uneven-aged stands. Therefore, we investigated tree-ring width and stable isotope chronologies (δ13C/δ18O) of these two species at 10 sites along a climate gradient in Central Europe. In these uneven-aged stands, we compared the year-to-year variability of dominant and suppressed trees for the last 80 years in relation to the sites' spatial distribution and climate. δ18O and δ13C were generally consistent across sites and species, showing high sensitivity to summer VPD, whereas climate correlations with radial growth varied much more and depended on mean local climate. We found no significant differences between dominant and suppressed trees in the response of stable isotope ratios to climate variability, especially within the annual high-frequency signals. In addition, we observed a strikingly high coherence of the high-frequency δ18O variations across long distances with significant correlations above 1500 km, whereas the spatial agreement of δ13C variations was weaker (~700 km). We applied a dual-isotope approach that is based on known theoretical understanding of isotope fractionations to translate the observed changes into physiological components, mainly photosynthetic assimilation rate and stomatal conductance. When separating the chronologies in two time windows and investigating the shifts in isotopes ratios, a significant enrichment of either or both isotope ratios over the last decades can be observed. These results, translated by the dual-isotope approach, indicate a general climate-driven decrease in stomatal conductance. This improved understanding of the physiological mechanisms controlling the short-term variation of the isotopic signature will help to define the performance of these tree species under future climate., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Northern forests at the leading edge of their distributions may not show increased primary productivity under climate warming, being limited by climatic extremes such as drought. Looking beyond tree growth to underlying physiological mechanisms is fundamental for accurate predictions of forest responses to climate warming and drought stress. Within a 32-year genetic field trial, we analyze relative contributions of xylem plasticity and inferred stomatal response to drought tolerance in regional populations of a widespread conifer. Genetic adaptation leads to varying responses under drought. Trailing-edge tree populations produce fewer tracheids with thicker cell walls, characteristic of drought-tolerance. Stomatal response explains the moderate drought tolerance of tree populations in central areas of the species range. Growth loss of the northern population is linked to low stomatal responsiveness combined with the production of tracheids with thinner cell walls. Forests of the western boreal may therefore lack physiological adaptations necessary to tolerate drier conditions.

Tree-ring stable isotopes, providing insight into drought-induced eco-physiological mechanisms, are frequently used to reconstruct past changes in growing season temperature and precipitation. Their climatic response is, however, still not fully understood, particularly for data originating from non-extreme, mid-latitude environments with differing ecological conditions. Here, we assess the response of δ(13)C, δ(18)O and tree-ring width (TRW) from a temperate mountain forest in the Austrian pre-Alps to climate and specific drought events. Variations in stem growth and isotopic composition of Norway spruce, common beech and European larch from dry, medium and moist sites are compared with records of sunshine, temperature, moisture, precipitation and cloud cover. Results indicate uniform year-to-year variations in δ(13)C and δ(18)O across sites and species, but distinct differences in TRW according to habitat and species. While the climate sensitivity of TRW is overall weak, the δ(13)C and δ(18)O chronologies contain significant signals with a maximum sensitivity to cloud cover changes (r = -0.72 for δ(18)O). The coherent inter-annual isotopic variations are accompanied by substantial differences in the isotopic signatures with offsets up to ∼3‰ for δ(13)C, indicating species-specific physiological strategies and varying water-use efficiencies. During severe summer drought, beech and larch benefit from access to deeper and moist soils, allowing them to keep their stomata open. This strategy is accompanied by an increased water loss through transpiration, but simultaneously enables enhanced photosynthesis. Our findings indicate the potential of tree-ring stable isotopes from temperate forests to reconstruct changes in cloud cover, and to improve knowledge on basic physiological mechanisms of tree species growing in different habitats to cope with soil moisture deficits., (© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The increasing carbon dioxide (CO2 ) concentration in the atmosphere in combination with climatic changes throughout the last century are likely to have had a profound effect on the physiology of trees: altering the carbon and water fluxes passing through the stomatal pores. However, the magnitude and spatial patterns of such changes in natural forests remain highly uncertain. Here, stable carbon isotope ratios from a network of 35 tree-ring sites located across Europe are investigated to determine the intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE), the ratio of photosynthesis to stomatal conductance from 1901 to 2000. The results were compared with simulations of a dynamic vegetation model (LPX-Bern 1.0) that integrates numerous ecosystem and land-atmosphere exchange processes in a theoretical framework. The spatial pattern of tree-ring derived iWUE of the investigated coniferous and deciduous species and the model results agreed significantly with a clear south-to-north gradient, as well as a general increase in iWUE over the 20th century. The magnitude of the iWUE increase was not spatially uniform, with the strongest increase observed and modelled for temperate forests in Central Europe, a region where summer soil-water availability decreased over the last century. We were able to demonstrate that the combined effects of increasing CO2 and climate change leading to soil drying have resulted in an accelerated increase in iWUE. These findings will help to reduce uncertainties in the land surface schemes of global climate models, where vegetation-climate feedbacks are currently still poorly constrained by observational data., (© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)