Variations in Leaf Area Index of Quercus brantii Trees in Response to Changing Climate

Authors
P. Attarod 1
S. Miri 1
A. Shirvany 1
V. Bayramnejad 2
1 Department of Forestry and Forest Economics, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Islamic Republic of Iran.
2 Department of Wood Science and Technology, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Abstract
We aimed to find the meteorological parameters that affect variations in Leaf Area Index (LAI) of Persian oak (Quercus brantii var. persica) trees in the Zagros region of western Iran. Canopy developmental stage for five individual trees using a fish eye camera was monitored from August 2015 to August 2016. Meteorological parameters of Temperature (T), Precipitation (P), and Wind Speed (WS) were obtained from the nearest meteorological station during 1986-2016. FAO Penman-Monteith (PM) combination equation was employed to calculate daily reference Evapotranspiration (ET0). The nonparametric Mann–Kendall (MK) test was used to detect significant changes in yearly meteorological parameters and ET0. Over the study period, LAI varied from zero during the LeafLess Period (LLP), when the Woody Area Index (WAI) was 0.88, to 1.65 in Full Leaf Period (FLP). LAI showed relatively strong and significant positive linear correlations with T (R2= 0.71), Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) (R2= 0.58), and ET0 (R2= 0.33), such that higher LAI values were measured in warmer and drier days with higher ET0. No statistically significant trend was detected by MK test during 1986-2016 for yearly T and VPD (MK statistic, ZMK= 0.044 for T, and ZMK= 0.207 for VPD). Significant relationship between leaf area index of oak trees and temperature in the Zagros region can partially confirm the connection between declining oak trees and rising temperature.

Keywords

Subjects

1. Allen, R.G., Pereira, L.S., Raes, D. and Smith, M. 1998. Crop Evapotranspiration– Uidelines for Computing Crop Water requirements. Rome, FAO, 326 PP.
2. Attarod, P., Rostami, F., Dolatshahi, A., Sadeghi, S. M. M., Zahedi Amiri, G. and Bayramzadeh, V. 2016. Do Changes in Meteorological Parameters and Evapotranspiration Affect Declining Oak Forests of Iran? J. For. Sci., 62(12): 553-561. DOI:10.17221/83/2016-JFS
3. Bertin, R. I. 2008. Plant Phenology and Distribution in Relation to Recent Climate Change. J. Torrey Bot. Soc., 135(1): 126–146.
4. Costanza, R. and Jorgensen, S. E. 2002 Understanding and Solving Environmental Problems in the 21st Century. First Edition. ISBN: 0-08-044111-4, Elsevier.
5. Chuine, I. and Beaubien, E. G. 2001. Phenology Is a Major Determinant of Tree Species Range. Ecol. Lett., 4(5): 500–510.
6. Croitoru, A., Piticar, A., Mircea Imbroane, A. and Burada, D. C. 2012. Spatiotemporal Distribution of Aridity Indices Based on Temperature and Precipitation in the Extra-Carpathian Regions of Romania. Theor. Appl. Climatol., 112 (3-4): 597-607, doi 10.1007/s00704-012-0755-2.
7. Fathizadeh, O., Attarod, P., Pypker, T. G, Darvishsefat, A. A. and Zahedi Amiri, G. 2013. Seasonal Variability of Rainfall Interception and Canopy Storage Capacity Measured under Individual Oak (Quercus brantii) Trees in Western Iran. J. Agr. Sci. Tech., 15: 175–188.
8. Frazer, G. W., Canham, C. D. and Lertzman, K. P. 1999. Gap Light Analyzer (GLA), Version 2.0: Imaging Software to Extract Canopy Structure and Gap Light Transmission Indices from True-Color Fisheye Photographs: User's Manual and Program Documentation. 36. Simon Fraser Univ. Burn Br Columbia Inst Ecosyst Stud, Millbrook New York: (Available: http://rem.sfu.ca/forestry/ downloads/Files/GLAV2UsersManual.pdf).
9. Golian, S., Mazdiyasni, O. and AghaKouchak, A. 2015. Trends in Meteorological and Agricultural Droughts in Iran. Theor. Appl. Climatol., 119: 679-688.
10. Goyal, R. K. 2004. Sensitivity of Evapotranspiration to Global Warming: A Case Study of Arid Zone of Rajasthan (India). Agr. Water Manage., 69: 1-11.
11. Hacisalihoğlu S., Misir M., Misir N., Yücesan Z., Oktan E., Gümüş S. and Kezik, U. 2017. The Effects of Land Use Change on Soil Loss and Carbon Stock Amounts, Fresenius Environ. Bull., 26: 1-13.
12. Heiskanen, J., Korhonen, L., Hietanen, J. and Pellikka, P. K. E. 2015. Use of Airborne Lidar for Estimating Canopy Gap Fraction and Leaf Area Index of Tropical Montane Forests. Int. J. Remote Sens., 36 (10): 2569–2583.
13. Houghton, J. 1997. Global Warming: The Complete Briefing. Cambridge University Press.
14. Huntington, T. G. 2006. Evidence for Intensification of the Global Water Cycle: Review and Synthesis. J. Hydrol., 319:83-95.
15. IPCC (2013). The Physical Science Basis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
16. Kezik U. and Kocaçınar F. 2015. Eco-Physiological Functioning of Oak Coppices in Southeast Terrestrial Ecosystems in Turkey. Poster Presentation: 33, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Symposium, 6-7 August 2015, Ankara, Turkey.
17. Liu, Z., Chen, J. M., Jin, G. and Qi, Y. 2015. Estimating Seasonal Variations of Leaf Area Index Using Litterfall Collection and Optical Methods in Four Mixed Evergreen-Decidious Forests. Agric. For. Meteorol., 209–210: 36–48.
18. Mann, H. 1945. Nonparametric Tests against Trend. Econometrica, 13: 245- 259.
19. Menzel, A., Sparks, T.H., Estrella, N., et al. 2006. European Phenological Response to Climate Change Matches the Warming Pattern. Glob. Change Biol., 12: 1969-1976.
20. Menzel, A. and Fabian, P. 1999, Growing Season Extended in Europe. Nature, 397: 659.
21. Murray, M. B., Cannell, M. G. R. and Smith, R. I. 1989. Date of Budburst of Fifteen Tree Species in Britain Following Climatic Warming. J. Appl. Ecol., 26(2): 693-700.
22. Parmesan, C. 2006. Ecological and Evolutionary Responses to Recent Climate Change. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Evol. S., 37: 637-669.
23. Parmesan, C., and Yohe, G. 2003. A Globally Coherent Fingerprint of Climate Change Impacts across Natural Systems. Nature, 421: 37-42.
24. Patra, J. P., Mishra, A., Singh, R. and Raghuwanshi, N. S. 2012. Detecting Precipitation Trends in Twentieth Century (1871–2006) over Orissa State, India. Climatic Change, 111: 801-817.
25. Pingale, S. M., Khare, D., Jat, M. K. and Adamowski, J. 2014. Spatial and Temporal Trends of Mean and Extreme Precipitation and Temperature for the 33 Urban Centers of the Arid and Semi-Arid state of Rajasthan, India. Atmos. Res., 138:73-90.
26. Rathcke, B. and Lacey, E. P. 1985. Phenological Patterns of Terrestrial Plants. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Evol. S., 16: 179-214.
27. Sagheb Talebi, K., Sajedi, T. and Pourhashemi, M. 2014. Forests of Iran: A Treasure from the Past, a Hope for the Future. Plant and Vegetation 10, Springer, 149 PP. DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-7371-4-1.
28. Schwartz, M. D. and Reiter, B. E. 2000. Changes in North American Spring. Int. J. Climatol., 20: 929-932.
29. Tabari, H. and Hosseinzadeh Talaee, P. 2011. Temporal Variability of Precipitation over Iran: 1966–2005. J. Hydrol., 396:313-320.
30. Tabari, H., Taye, M. T. and Willem, P. 2015. Statistical Assessment of Precipitation Trends in the upper Blue Nile River Basin. Stoch. Env. Res. Risk A., 29:1751-1761.
31. Wang, Y. H., Yu, P., Feger, K. H., Wei, X., Sun, G., Bonell, M., Xiong, W., Zhang, S., and Xu, L. 2011. Annual Runoff and Evapotranspiration of Forestlands and Non-Forestlands in Selected Basins of the Loess Plateau of China. Ecohydrol., 4: 277-287.
32. White, M. A. and Nemani, R. R. 2003. Canopy Duration Has Little Influence on Annual Carbon Storage in the Deciduous Broad Leaf Forest. Glob. Change Biol., 9: 967-972.
33. White, A., Cannell, M. G. R. and Friend, A. D. 1999. Climate Change Impacts on Ecosystems and the Terrestrial Carbon Sink: A New Assessment. Glob. Env. Change, 9: 21-30.
34. Yoshifuji N., Kumagai, T., Tanaka, K., Tanaka, N., Komatsu, H., Suzuki, M. and Tantasirin, C. 2006. Inter-Annual Variation in Growing Season Length of a Tropical Seasonal Forest in Northern Thailand. Forest Ecol. Manag., 229: 333-339. DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2006.04.013.
35. Zhang, X. B., Zwiers, F. W. and Li, G. L. 2004. Monte Carlo Experiments on the Direction of Trends in Extreme Values. J. Climate, 17: 1945-1952.
36. Zhang, X., Aguilar, E., Sensoy, S., Melkonyan, H., Tagiyeva, U., Ahmed, N., Kutaladze, N., Rahimzadeh, F., Taghipour, A., Hantosh, T. H., Albert, P., Semawi, M., Karam Ali, M., Halal Said Al-Shabibi, M., Al-Oulan, Z., Zatari, T., Al Dean Khelet, I., Hammoud, S., Demircan, M., Eken, M., Adiguzel, M., Alexander, L., Peterson, T. and Wallis, T. 2005a. Trends in Middle East Climate Extremes Indices during 1930–2003. J. Geophys. Res., 110(D22): 104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006181.
37. Zhang, Y., Chen, J. M. and Miller, J. R. 2005b. Determining Digital Hemispherical Photograph Exposure for Leaf Area Index Estimation. Agric. For. Meteorol., 133: 166–181.
Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology
Volume 20, Issue 7
November and December 2018
Pages 1417-1429