Forest@ (Jan 2005)
Application of isotope discrimination techniques to evaluate the functional response of Mediterranean coppices to high-forest conversion cut
Abstract
Discrimination of stable isotopes of carbon and hydrogen provides an effective tool for interpreting time-integrated responses of plants to environmental conditions and delineate sources of plant water uptake. In this work, isotopic analyses were carried out in two Mediterranean oak forests in which a thinning experiment on replicated plots has been performed. Changes in carbon isotope discrimination suggests an increase of water use efficiency soon after thinning. Together with changes in the hydrogen isotopic composition in xylem sap, this may suggest that trees are able of a rather prompt physiological acclimation to cope effectively to new environmental conditions and changes in resource availability.
