Studying intra-annual wood formation dynamics provides valuable information on how tree growth and forests are affected by environmental changes and climatic extreme events. This study has the aim to ...evaluate and to quantify synergetic potentials emerging from a combination of current state of the art techniques used to monitor intra-annual wood formation processes. Norway spruce trees were studied in detail during the growing season 2009 with weekly sampling of microcores, high resolution point-dendrometers and wood anatomical analysis. The combination of the applied techniques allowed us to convert the spatial scales of radial tracheid diameter profiles to seasonal time scales and to synchronize fluctuations in intra-annual cell diameter profiles. This spatiotemporal information was used to validate the recently introduced software MICA (Multiple interval-based curve alignment). In comparison to the conventional approach of averaging profiles of tree ring variables, the MICA aligned profiles exhibit a significantly higher synchronicity of the averaged data points. We also demonstrate two new features in the MICA application that enable to extrapolate spatiotemporal information between intra-annual profiles for the construction of robust mean (consensus) profiles that are representative for the population dynamics. By using a set of complementary techniques in an integrated approach, this study highlights a new methodological framework that can contribute to a better understanding of the environmental control of wood formation during the growing season.
In boreal ecosystems, an increase in soil temperature can stimulate plant growth. However, cambium phenology in trees was better explained by air than soil temperature, which suggested that soil ...temperature is not the main limiting factor affecting xylogenesis. Since soil temperature and snowmelt are correlated to air temperature, the question whether soil temperature directly limits xylogenesis in the stem will remain unresolved without experiments disentangling air and soil temperatures. This study investigated the effects of an increase of 4 °C in soil temperature and a consequent 1-week earlier snowmelt on growth of black spruce Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP in the boreal forest of Quebec, Canada. The soil of two natural stands at different altitudes was warmed up with heating cables during 2008–2010 and cambial phenology and xylem production were monitored weekly from April to October. The results showed no significant effect of the treatment on the phenological phases of cell enlargement and wall thickening and lignification. The number of cells produced in the xylem also did not differ between control and heated trees. These findings allowed the hypothesis of a direct influence of soil temperature on stem growth to be rejected and supported the evidence that, in the short term, air temperature is the main limiting factor for xylogenesis in trees of these environments.
In the Nordic countries, growth of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) is generally limited by low availability of nutrients, especially nitrogen. Optimizing forest management requires better ...insight on how growth responds to the environmental conditions and their manipulation. The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of nutrient optimization on timing and the rate of tracheid formation of Norway spruce and to follow the differentiation of newly formed tracheids. The study was performed during two growing seasons in a long-term nutrient optimization experiment in northern Sweden, where all essential macro- and micronutrients were supplied in irrigation water every second day from mid-June to mid-August. The control plots were without additional nutrients and water. Tracheid formation in the stem was monitored throughout the growing season by weekly sampling of microcores at breast height. The onset of xylogenesis occurred in early June, but in early summer there were no significant between-treatment differences in the onset and relative rate of tracheid formation. In both treatments, the onset of secondary cell wall formation occurred in mid-June. The maximum rate of tracheid formation occurred close to the summer solstice and 50% of the tracheids had been accumulated in early July. Optimized nutrition resulted in the formation of ∼50% more tracheids and delayed the cessation of tracheid formation, which extended the tracheid formation period by 20-50%, compared with control trees. The increased growth was mainly an effect of enhanced tracheid formation rate during the mid- and later-part of the growing season. In the second year, the increased growth rate also resulted in 11% wider tracheids. We conclude that the onset and rate of tracheid formation and differentiation during summer is primarily controlled by photoperiod, temperature and availability of nutrients, rather than supply of carbohydrates.
La malformation d'Arnold Chiari de type 1 est définie par une hernie des tonsilles cérébelleuses dans le foramen magnum de plus de 5 mm. Les symptômes sont dominés par les céphalées surtout ...occipitales, les torticolis, et parfois des troubles de déglutition. Sur le plan ophtalmologique les anomalies de convergences, les paralysies oculomotrices et la diplopie sont les principaux signes cliniques retrouvés. Nous rapportons le cas d'un enfant de 9 ans, qui consulte pour une baisse d'acuité visuelle évoluant depuis 6 mois. L'examen ophtalmologique objective une acuité visuelle chiffrée à 4/10ème aux deux yeux. Une motilité oculaire conservée ainsi qu'un nystagmus rotatoire. L'examen du segment antérieur montre une mégalocornée, sans goniodysgénésie, un iridodonesis associé à une atrophie du muscle dilatateur, et une microcorie avec un reflex photo-moteur paresseux. Le tonus oculaire est correct à 14 mmHg. Le fond d'éil, malgré la difficulté de le réaliser, objective la présence d'un édème papillaire bilatéral stade II. L'examen général retrouve un torticolis, une scoliose et un syndrome tétra-pyramidal. L'imagerie par résonance magnétique a mis en évidence une malformation de CHIARI type I, associée à une hydrocéphalie et une syringomyélie. Une intervention neurochirurgicale reposant sur une dérivation interne du LCR avec décompression ostéodurale cervico occipitale est proposée. L'évolution est favorable avec une régression des signes cliniques. Sur le plan ophtalmologique, on note une régression de l'édème papillaire, mais l'acuité visuelle est restée stationnaire. La survenue d'un édème papillaire est rare dans la malformation de Chiari type 1, il n'a été décrit que chez 2% des patients symptomatiques. Sa physiopathologie est encore mal élucidée. L'originalité de notre observation consiste en l'association de malformations cérébelleuses avec des malformations oculaires à type de mégalocornée et de microcorie rendant l'examen ophtalmologique encore plus difficile à réaliser.
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