Phenological variation and frost damage in a European beech

provenance trial

Dušan Gömöry & Ladislav Paule

Technical University in Zvolen, Faculty of Forestry, TG Masaryka 24, SK-96053 Zvolen, Slovakia

European beech provenance trial 1995 and 1998(coordinated by Federal Forestry Research Institute,Grosshansdorf, Germany)

Provenances

Trial plots

S2 > 100 seed sources

S1 < 100 seed sources

Provenances represented in the Slovak trial plot

HeightSurvivalBudburst phenology (01/04–01/06, 13 dates)

1. dormant buds2. buds swollen and elongated3. buds begin to burst, first green is visible4. folded and hairy leaves begin to appear5. individually visible folded and hairy leaves6. leaves unfolded, still fan-shaped, pale scales present7. leaves unfolded, smooth and bright

Autumn discoloration (05/09–01/11, 6 dates)1. green leaves2. beginning of autumn coloured of individual leaves3. beginning of autumn leaves colouring on a mass scale (5-

10 % of leaves coloured)4. mass autumn leaves colouring (about 50 % of leaves coloured)5. completed leaves colouring6. leaves started to be brown and dried.

Frost damage (23/04, 01/05)0. no damaged leaves (less than 5%)1. < 1/3 of leaves damaged2. < 2/3 of leaves damaged3. < 95% leaves damaged4. all leaves (> 95%) damaged

Scoredtraits

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

day

phen

olog

ical

sta

ge

sigmoid

data

center

width

2

21widthcenterday

pheno

tanh

Phenological stages fitted to the sigmoid function

assessed: mid stage duration

Vegetation period = mid stage cessation (Julian day) – mid stage flushing (Julian day)

Variable Height Diameter

d0.2

Frost damage

Flushing

mid stage

-0.342***

-0.195

-0.236***

-0.152

-0.786***

-0.903***

Flushing

duration

0.068**

0.211

0.111***

0.340*

-0.065**

0.004

Cessation

mid stage

0.217***

0.431**

0.290***

0.392*

NA

Cessation

duration

0.066**

0.020

0.137***

0.074

NA

Vegetation

period

0.462***

0.504***

0.414***

0.429**

NA

Frost damage 0.147***

0.045

0.045*

0.051

NA

Results Correlations (single tree level / provenance level)

Results Rangewide altitudinal trends in adaptive traits

Flushing mid stage = 36.05 – .0075 alt P<.0001 R2=.287Cessation mid stage = 40.75 – .0036 alt P=.0006 R2=.119Cessation duration = 44.28 – .0091 alt P<.0001 R2=.413Frost damage = .311 + .00087 alt P<.0001 R2=.290

No significant models for survival and flushing durationNo significant non-linear models

Results Rangewide geographic trends

Frost damageFlushing mid-stageFlushing durationCessation mid-stageCessation durationSurvivalVegetation period flush_dur = –10.149 + 1.593*flush_mid – 0.025*flush_mid2

max = 127.44 days P=0.0001 R2=0.1829

cess_dur = 20.913 + 0.472 cess_midP<0.0001 R2=0.0947

Results Rangewide geographic trends

00.005

0.010.015

0.020.025

0.030.035

0.040.045

0.05

0 200 400 600 800 1000

distance class (m)

Va

r (s

urv

iva

l)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

0 200 400 600 800 1000

distance class (m)

Va

r (f

lus

hin

g_

mid

sta

ge

)

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

0 200 400 600 800 1000

distance class (m)

Va

r (f

lus

hin

g_

du

rati

on

)

02468

101214161820

0 200 400 600 800 1000

distance class (m)

Va

r (c

es

sa

tio

n_

mid

sta

ge

)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

0 200 400 600 800 1000

distance class (m)

Va

r (c

es

sa

tio

n_

du

rati

on

)SurvivalDay of leaf-discoloration mid-stageDuration of flushingDuration of leaf discolorationDay of flushing mid-stage

Conclusions

• stationary patterns rather than rangewide geographic trends in most traits• flushing date is the main determinant of late frost damage