Recolonisation of four small streams in central Scotland following drought conditions in 1984

Four streams in the Loch Ard Forest in central Scotland dried out almost completely during a drought in the summer of 1984. The recovery of the invertebrate populations in the streams was studied from September 1984 until March 1985 when most of the insect larvae and nymphs were almost full-grown.The appearance of very small larvae belonging to several insect orders within a month of the streams' filling up suggests that they had survived the drought as eggs, or eggs had been laid by adults soon after the drought ended.Statistical analysis showed that with the exception of 3 taxa there was no significant difference between the numbers of animals in November 1984 samples and in samples collected in March 1985.Comparison of samples from March 1984 and March 1985 showed significant difference in population size for a few species; with 2 exceptions the 1984 samples (ie before drought) were larger. In the long term the overall effect of the drought on the invertebrate communities seems to have been limited.     

Effects of drought on nutrient and ABA transport in Ricinus communis

We studied the effects of variations of water flux through the plant, of diurnal variation of water flux, and of variation of vapour pressure deficit at the leaf on compensation pressure in the Passioura-type pressure chamber, the composition of the xylem sap and leaf conductance in Ricinus communis. The diurnal pattern of compensation pressure showed stress relaxation during the night hours, while stress increased during the day, when water limitation increased. Thus compensation pressure was a good measure of the momentary water status of the root throughout the day and during drought. The bulk soil water content at which predawn compensation pressure and abscisic acid concentration in the xylem sap increased and leaf conductance decreased, was high when the water usage of the plant was high. For all xylem sap constituents analysed, variations in concentrations during the day were larger than changes in mean concentrations with drought. Mean concentrations of phosphate and the pH of the xylem sap declined with drought, while nitrate concentration remained constant. When the measurement leaf was exposed to a different VPD from the rest of the plant, leaf conductance declined by 400mmol m^?2 s^?1 when compensation pressure increased by 1 MPa in all treatments. The compensation pressure needed to keep the shoot turgid, leaf conductance and the abscisic acid concentration in the xylem were linearly related. This was also the case when the highly dynamic development of stress was taken into account.     

The relationship between the reduction of nonstructural carbohydrate induced by defoliator and the growth and mortality of trees

Large scale herbivorous insect outbreaks can cause death of regional forests, and the events are expected to be exacerbated with climate change. Mortality of forest and woodland plants would cause a series of serious consequences, such as decrease in vegetation production, shifts in ecosystem structure and function, and transformation of forest function from a net carbon sink into a net carbon source. There is thus a need to better understand the impact of insects on trees. Defoliation by insect pests mainly reduces photosynthesis (source decrease) and increases carbon consumption (sink increase), and hence causes reduction of nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC). When the reduction in NSC reaches to a certain level, trees would die of carbon starvation. External environment and internal compensatory mechanisms can also positively or negatively influence the process of tree death. At present, the research of carbon starvation is a hotspot because the increase of tree mortality globally with climate change, and carbon starvation is considered as one of the dominating physiological mechanisms for explaining tree death. In this study, we reviewed the definition of carbon starvation, and the relationships between the reduction of NSC induced by defoliation and the growth and death of trees, and the relationships among insect outbreaks, leaf loss and climate change. We also presented the potential directions of future studies on insect-caused defoliation and tree mortality.