Tree canopy temperature response under experimental warming and drought

Tree mortality associated with rising temperatures and drought has been observed in numerous locations across the globe. Simulated global climate change experiments, such as increased air temperature and reduced precipitation, can help us understand tree response to altered climate regimes and identify key physiological mechanisms involved in tree stress response. We collected canopy-level leaf temperature measurements from several piñon (Pinus edulis) and one-seed juniper (juniperus monosperma) subjected to experimental warming, drought, combined warming and drought treatments, and control conditions in a field-based experiment in northern New Mexico beginning June 2012. We examined leaf temperature responses to the treatments by using continuous measurements from infrared thermocouples located above the tree canopy. We found that leaf temperatures were approximately 5 degrees warmer in heated chambers compared to leaf temperatures of trees outside chambers. Comparisons within each treatment demonstrated that, on average, piñon had higher absolute differences between leaf temperature and air temperature values compared to juniper trees. Stomatal conductance, measured with a leaf porometer showed that within each treatment, juniper had higher stomatal conductance relative to piñon, and that heated trees had lower stomatal conductance relative to non-heated trees. These differences may be attributable to the fact that piñon trees are isohydric, meaning that they have a lower tolerance to water stress. To date, we have not observed a significant drought effect on leaf temperature, however, this is likely due to the short duration of the drought treatment to date. We expect that as the experiment progresses, a drought effect will emerge. One of the key questions that we hope to answer as data continues to be collected is how tree physiology responds to drought, heat, and the interaction between both variables. Although this case study is being conducted in northern New Mexico, our results will be useful for understanding forest physiological response to climate change in other parts of the world. The treatments in this experiments changed variables such as VPD, stomatal conductance, and leaf temperature, thus leaf temperature rather than air temperature should be further researched in climate change experiments.