OOS 50 - Carbon or Sinks: The Causes of Tree Growth Limitation

Friday, August 10, 2012: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM
A105, Oregon Convention Center
Organizer:
Erin T. Wiley, University of Alberta
Co-organizer:
Shinichi Asao, Colorado State University
Moderator:
David L. Hoover, U.S. Geological Survey
Tree growth is limited by either carbon availability (carbon limitation) or the ability to use available carbon (sink limitation); when and where each mechanism prevails remains unclear despite the importance to population/community dynamics and ecosystem functioning. Recently, debate over carbon versus sink limitation to tree growth has increased in many specific cases: the causes of reduced growth and survival during drought, the lack of tree growth above alpine treelines, and reduced growth with tree height or forest stand age. The purpose of this session is to draw all these separate debates together to consider the general case for carbon or sink limitation. We hope that by doing so, these similar cases can add valuable insight to each other, as well as help us to build a more comprehensive understanding of carbon and sink limitation. The first half of the session will be devoted to talks about sink versus carbon limitation under specific conditions and in particular ecosystems. Confirmed speakers will present original work addressing whether trees are carbon or sink limited (or both) under water stress, at alpine treelines, in mature forest stands, and under future CO2 levels. The second half of the session will address carbon and sink limitation more generally with discussions of how carbon and sink limitation can (or cannot) be distinguished from each other, why they occur, and the implications of these two types of growth limitations to other areas of study (such as ecosystem carbon cycling). Confirmed speakers will address how the stored carbohydrate pool in trees (commonly used as evidence for or against carbon limitation) relates to growth and growth limitation, and whether it can be used as a reliable indicator of limitation. Finally, speakers will discuss how incorporating both sink and source mechanisms for growth limitation into ecosystem flux models can improve model performance and predictions.
8:00 AM
 Old-growth redwood forests II: Accurately quantifying the endpoint of above-ground carbon accumulation
Robert Van Pelt, Humboldt State University; Stephen C. Sillett, Humboldt State University; William A. Kruse, Kruse Imaging
8:20 AM
 Is root maintenance limited by carbon availability?
Doug P. Aubrey, Georgia Southern University; Robert O. Teskey, University of Georgia; Robert J. Mitchell, Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center
8:40 AM
 Water stress and the transport of carbohydrates: Phloem sap and sieve cell characteristics along a height and water stress gradient in a tall conifer
David R. Woodruff, USDA Forest Service; Frederick C. Meinzer, USDA Forest Service; Kristen R. Falk, Oregon State University
9:00 AM
 The biology of alpine treelines in a carbon source-sink context
Christian Körner, University of Basel; Günter Hoch, Institute of Botany, University of Basel
9:40 AM
9:50 AM
10:10 AM
 What do nonstructural carbohydrate concentrations of trees indicate about plant carbon balance?
Michael G. Ryan, Colorado State University; Maurizio Mencuccini, ICREA - CREAF and University of Edinburgh
10:30 AM
 Experimental defoliation in black oak: Can storage allocation increase in response to carbon limitation?
Erin T. Wiley, University of Alberta; Brenda B. Casper, University of Pennsylvania; Brent Helliker, University of Pennsylvania
10:50 AM
 Cross-site analysis of tree carbon reserves in Eastern US forests
Joshua A. Mantooth, Boston University; Michael C. Dietze, University of Illinois
11:10 AM
 Incorporating sink and source dynamics to improve the performance of a forest ecosystem model
Shinichi Asao, Colorado State University; Michael G. Ryan, Colorado State University; William J. Parton, Colorado State University
See more of: Organized Oral Session