Trees talk tremor-wood anatomy and δ13C content reveal contrasting tree-growth responses to earthquakes
- Large earthquakes can increase the amount of water feeding stream flows, raise groundwater levels, and thus grant plant roots more access to water in water-limited environments. We examine growth and photosynthetic responses of Pine plantations to the Maule M-w 8.8 earthquake in headwater catchments of Chile's Coastal Range. We combine high-resolution wood anatomic (lumen area) and biogeochemical (delta 13C of wood cellulose) proxies of daily to weekly tree growth sampled from trees on floodplains and close to ridge lines. We find that, immediately after the earthquake, at least two out of six tree trees on valley floors had increased lumen area and decreased delta 13C, while trees on hillslopes had a reverse trend. Our results indicate a control of soil water on this response, largely consistent with models that predict how enhanced postseismic vertical soil permeability causes groundwater levels to rise on valley floors, but fall along the ridges. Statistical analysis with boosted regression trees indicates that streamflow dischargeLarge earthquakes can increase the amount of water feeding stream flows, raise groundwater levels, and thus grant plant roots more access to water in water-limited environments. We examine growth and photosynthetic responses of Pine plantations to the Maule M-w 8.8 earthquake in headwater catchments of Chile's Coastal Range. We combine high-resolution wood anatomic (lumen area) and biogeochemical (delta 13C of wood cellulose) proxies of daily to weekly tree growth sampled from trees on floodplains and close to ridge lines. We find that, immediately after the earthquake, at least two out of six tree trees on valley floors had increased lumen area and decreased delta 13C, while trees on hillslopes had a reverse trend. Our results indicate a control of soil water on this response, largely consistent with models that predict how enhanced postseismic vertical soil permeability causes groundwater levels to rise on valley floors, but fall along the ridges. Statistical analysis with boosted regression trees indicates that streamflow discharge gained predictive importance for photosynthetic activity on the ridges, but lost importance on the valley floor after the earthquake. We infer that earthquakes may stimulate ecohydrological conditions favoring tree growth over days to weeks by triggering stomatal opening. The weak and short-lived signals that we identified, however, show that such responses are only valid under water-limited, rather than energy-limited tree, growth. Hence, dendrochronological studies targeted at annual resolution may overlook some earthquake effects on tree vitality.…
Author details: | Christian H. MohrORCiDGND, Michael Manga, Gerhard Helle, Ingo HeinrichORCiD, Laura GieseORCiD, Oliver KorupORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006385 |
ISSN: | 2169-8953 |
ISSN: | 2169-8961 |
Title of parent work (English): | JGR / AGU, American Geophysical Union. Biogeosciences |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Place of publishing: | Hoboken, NJ |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2021/10/17 |
Publication year: | 2021 |
Release date: | 2024/09/17 |
Tag: | Chile; earthquake; isotope; tree rings; vegetation; wood anatomy |
Volume: | 126 |
Issue: | 10 |
Article number: | e2021JG006385 |
Number of pages: | 17 |
Funding institution: | U.S. National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (NSF) [1344424]; German Federal Ministry of Education and ResearchFederal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF) [01DN13060]; Projekt DEAL; Potsdam Graduate School |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Geowissenschaften |
Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Umweltwissenschaften und Geographie | |
DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Open Access / Hybrid Open-Access |
License (German): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |