Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38618738›Full record

ArticleTree physiology2024

Different responses of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in leaf and tree-ring organic matter to lethal soil drought.

Marco M Lehmann, Haoyu Diao, Shengnan Ouyang, Arthur Gessler

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Tree physiology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
1.4field-weighted citation impact, top 21% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Time-integrated δThe New phytologist · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Marco M LehmannForest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0003-2962-3351
Haoyu DiaoForest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0002-8404-1998
Shengnan OuyangForest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0002-0794-3058
Arthur GesslerForest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0002-1910-9589
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research · CHGuizhou University · CN

Funding

Swiss National Science Foundation PZ00P2_179978
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition (δ18O, δ2H) of plant tissues are key tools for the reconstruction of hydrological and plant physiological processes and may therefore be used to disentangle the reasons for tree mortality. However, how both elements respond to soil drought conditions before death has rarely been investigated. To test this, we performed a greenhouse study and determined predisposing fertilization and lethal soil drought effects on δ18O and δ2H values of organic matter in leaves and tree rings of living and dead saplings of five European tree species. For mechanistic insights, we additionally measured isotopic (i.e. δ18O and δ2H values of leaf and twig water), physiological (i.e. leaf water potential and gas-exchange) and metabolic traits (i.e. leaf and stem non-structural carbohydrate concentration, carbon-to-nitrogen ratios). Across all species, lethal soil drought generally caused a homogenous 2H-enrichment in leaf and tree-ring organic matter, but a low and heterogenous δ18O response in the same tissues. Unlike δ18O values, δ2H values of tree-ring organic matter were correlated with those of leaf and twig water and with plant physiological traits across treatments and species. The 2H-enrichment in plant organic matter also went along with a decrease in stem starch concentrations under soil drought compared with well-watered conditions. In contrast, the predisposing fertilization had generally no significant effect on any tested isotopic, physiological and metabolic traits. We propose that the 2H-enrichment in the dead trees is related to (i) the plant water isotopic composition, (ii) metabolic processes shaping leaf non-structural carbohydrates, (iii) the use of carbon reserves for growth and (iv) species-specific physiological adjustments. The homogenous stress imprint on δ2H but not on δ18O suggests that the former could be used as a proxy to reconstruct soil droughts and underlying processes of tree mortality.

Indexed as

DroughtsOxygen IsotopesPlant LeavesSoilTreesDeuteriumPlant StemsWaterDeuteriumOxygen IsotopesSoilWateraridityassimilatesnutrientssoil moisturestable isotopessugar

Identifiers

PMID38618738
PMCPMC11093129
OpenAlexW4394820148

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.