Maintaining or increasing stand productivity is the concern of forest land managers worldwide. Consequently, there is increasing interest in understanding the impact of environmental stress on productivity and the development of management strategies that ameliorate or reduce the deleterious effects. Invited scientists gathered in Fort Collins, Colorado on July 30, 1985, to present the current state of knowledge regarding the impact of environmental stress on forest stand productivity. Particular attention was given to elucidating the mode of action by which individual stress elements reduce productivity. Environmental factors and the levels that constitute stressed (suboptimal) conditions in forest stands were identified, and the effects of stress intensity and duration on key stand parameters, including photosynthesis, respiration, assimilate partitioning, senescence and mortality, were emphasized. The role of genetics and silvicultural treatments in lessening the stress impact on stand productivity was presented, particularly in regards to alternative methods for environmental stress management. Modeling of stand dynamics in response to environmental stress was explored as an effective research and management tool. VIII Improved forest management practices will develop as we improve our understanding of the nature of important environmental stresses and as we comprehend their impact on tree and stand performance, manifested through physiological processes and genetic potential. This book is dedicated to such an understanding and comprehension.

As sessile organisms, plants have to cope with a multitude of natural and anthropogenic forms of stress in their environment. Due to their longevity, this is of particular significance for trees. As a consequence, trees develop an orchestra of resilience and resistance mechanisms to biotic and abiotic stresses in order to support their growth and development in a constantly changing atmospheric and pedospheric environment. The objective of this Special Issue of Forests is to summarize state-of-art knowledge and report the current progress on the processes that determine the resilience and resistance of trees from different zonobiomes as well as all forms of biotic and abiotic stress from the molecular to the whole tree level.

Process-based models open the way to useful predictions of the future growth rate of forests and provide a means of assessing the probable effects of variations in climate and management on forest productivity. As such they have the potential to overcome the limitations of conventional forest growth and yield models, which are based on mensuration data and assume that climate and atmospheric CO2 concentrations will be the same in the future as they are now. This book discusses the basic physiological processes that determine the growth of plants, the way they are affected by environmental factors and how we can improve processes that are well-understood such as growth from leaf to stand level and productivity. A theme that runs through the book is integration to show a clear relationship between photosynthesis, respiration, plant nutrient requirements, transpiration, water relations and other factors affecting plant growth that are often looked at separately. This integrated approach will provide the most comprehensive source for process-based modelling, which is valuable to ecologists, plant physiologists, forest planners and environmental scientists. - Includes explanations of inherently mathematical models, aided by the use of graphs and diagrams illustrating causal interactions and by examples implemented as Excel spreadsheets - Uses a process-based model as a framework for explaining the mechanisms underlying plant growth - Integrated approach provides a clear and relatively simple treatment

Completely updated from the successful first edition, this book provides a timely update on the recent progress in our knowledge of all aspects of plant perception, signalling and adaptation to a variety of environmental stresses. It covers in detail areas such as drought, salinity, waterlogging, oxidative stress, pathogens, and extremes of temperature and pH. This second edition presents detailed and up-to-date research on plant responses to a wide range of stresses Includes new full-colour figures to help illustrate the principles outlined in the text Is written in a clear and accessible format, with descriptive abstracts for each chapter. Written by an international team of experts, this book provides researchers with a better understanding of the major physiological and molecular mechanisms facilitating plant tolerance to adverse environmental factors. This new edition of Plant Stress Physiology is an essential resource for researchers and students of ecology, plant biology, agriculture, agronomy and plant breeding.

Global climate change is bound to create a number of abiotic and biotic stresses in the environment, which would affect the overall growth and productivity of plants. Like other living beings, plants have the ability to protect themselves by evolving various mechanisms against stresses, despite being sessile in nature. They manage to withstand extremes of temperature, drought, flooding, salinity, heavy metals, atmospheric pollution, toxic chemicals and a variety of living organisms, especially viruses, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, insects and arachnids and weeds. Incidence of abiotic stresses may alter the plant-pest interactions by enhancing susceptibility of plants to pathogenic organisms. These interactions often change plant response to abiotic stresses. Plant growth regulators modulate plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, and regulate their growth and developmental cascades. A number of physiological and molecular processes that act together in a complex regulatory network, further manage these responses. Crosstalk between autophagy and hormones also occurs to develop tolerance in plants towards multiple abiotic stresses. Similarly, biostimulants, in combination with correct agronomic practices, have shown beneficial effects on plant metabolism due to the hormonal activity that stimulates different metabolic pathways. At the same time, they reduce the use of agrochemicals and impart tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress. Further, the use of bio- and nano-fertilizers seem to hold promise to improve the nutrient use efficiency and hence the plant yield under stressful environments. It has also been shown that the seed priming agents impart stress tolerance. Additionally, tolerance or resistance to stress may also be induced by using specific chemical compounds such as polyamines, proline, glycine betaine, hydrogen sulfide, silicon, β-aminobutyric acid, γ-aminobutyric acid and so on. This book discusses the advances in plant performance under stressful conditions. It should be very useful to graduate students, researchers, and scientists in the fields of botanical science, crop science, agriculture, horticulture, ecological and environmental science.

Growth and structure. Photosynthesis. Carbohydrate metabolism. Nitrogen relations of trees. Fats, oils, terpenes, and related substances. Assimilation and respiration. Translocation and accumulation. Mineral nutrition and sakt absorption. Water relation and transpiration. Absorption of water and ascent of sap. Internal water relations. Reproduction. Physiology of seeds and seed germination. Internal factors afecting growth. Environmental factors affecting growth.

This is the third annual compendium of a Technical Session of the Physiology Working Group of the Society of American Foresters held at the National Convention. Specialists in a dedicated area of tree physiology were invited to prepare chapter contributions synthesizing the status of knowledge in their area of expertise. Plant growth regulators (PGRs) was selected as the topic for in-depth examination at the 1986 Technical Session because a knowledge of how these "secondary messengers" regulate tree morphogenesis is vital to applications of biocontrol and biotechnology. Plant growth regulators have been the subject of numerous reviews in recent years. However, few have dealt specifically with woody perennials, and they are generally confined to single processes and/or organs. This volume attempts to provide a more comprehensive treatise of PGRs as they influence various ontogenetic events in forest trees. Reproductive physiology, both sexual and asexual, is emphasized because of its relevance to current efforts directed at increasing efficiency in the breeding and production of genetically improved trees for reforestation. The chapters on vegetative growth will be of interest to silviculturists and urban foresters as they consider cultural treatments in the management of forests and individual trees for specific products and purposes. This book should serve as a valuable text and source of reference for students, researchers and other professionals interested in gaining a better understanding of PGRs. The reader, however, who expects definitive answers to how PGRs function or can be used to control specific processes is likely to be disappointed.