At present the study of functional and ecological wood anatomy enjoys a vigorous renaissance and plays a pivotal role in plant and ecosystem biology, plant evolution, and global change research. This book contains a selection of papers presented at the successful meetings of the International Association of Wood Anatomists and the Cost-Action STReESS (Studying Tree Responses to extreme Events: a Synthesis) held in Naples in April 2013. Four review papers address (1) the hydraulic architecture of the earliest land plants, (2) the general phenomenon of axial conduit tapering in trees, (3) the hydraulic and biomechanical optimization in one of the most important plantation grown tree species, Norway Spruce, and (4) cellular and subcellular changes in the cambium in response to environmental factors. Three papers review or introduce new tools to observe the 3-D structure and functioning of wood, and novel tools for quantitative image analysis in tree ring series. Finally, five papers report original research on environmental effects on wood structure, including studies on plastic responses in European beech, effects of fire or late summer rains on Mediterranean Aleppo Pine, and the potential for using arctic shrubs or tropical deciduous trees in dendrochronological and climatological studies. Reprinted from IAWA Journal 34 (4), 2013.

The primary aim of Wood Structure and Environment is to reveal the hidden ecological richness in stems and roots from trees, shrubs and herbs. The detailed, lucid text will inspire researchers to consider the anatomic microcosm of wood plants and use it as a retrospective source of information, solving problems related to ecophysiology, competition, site conditions, population biology, earth science, wood quality and even human history.

Climate change has shaped life in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Understanding the interactions between climate and biodiversity is a complex challenge to science. With contributions from 60 key researchers, this book examines the ongoing impact of climate change on the ecology and diversity of life on earth. It discusses the latest research within the fields of ecology and systematics, highlighting the increasing integration of their approaches and methods. Topics covered include the influence of climate change on evolutionary and ecological processes such as adaptation, migration, speciation and extinction, and the role of these processes in determining the diversity and biogeographic distribution of species and their populations. This book ultimately illustrates the necessity for global conservation actions to mitigate the effects of climate change in a world that is already undergoing a biodiversity crisis of unprecedented scale.

Forest trees and shrubs play vital ecological roles, reducing the carbon load from the atmosphere by using carbon dioxide in photosynthesis and by the storage of carbon in biomass and wood as a source of energy. Autoecology deals with all aspects of woody plants; the dynamism of populations, physiological traits of trees, light requirements, life history patterns, and physiological and morphological characters. Ecophysiology is defined by various plant growth parameters such as leaf traits, xylem water potential, plant height, basal diameter, and crown architecture which are, in turn, influenced by physiological traits and environmental conditions in the forest ecosystem. In short, this book details research advances in various aspects of woody plants to help forest scientists and foresters manage and protect forest trees and plan their future research. Autoecology and Ecophysiology of Woody Shrubs and Trees is intended to be a guide for students of woody plant autoecology and ecophysiology, as well as for researchers in this field. It is also an invaluable resource for foresters to assist in effective management of forest resources.

Millions of trees live and grow all around us, and we all recognize the vital role they play in the world’s ecosystems. Publicity campaigns exhort us to plant yet more. Yet until recently comparatively little was known about the root causes of the physical changes that attend their growth. Since trees typically increase in size by three to four orders of magnitude in their journey to maturity, this gap in our knowledge has been a crucial issue to address. Here at last is a synthesis of the current state of our knowledge about both the causes and consequences of ontogenetic changes in key features of tree structure and function. During their ontogeny, trees undergo numerous changes in their physiological function, the structure and mechanical properties of their wood, and overall architecture and allometry. This book examines the central interplay between these changes and tree size and age. It also explores the impact these changes can have, at the level of the individual tree, on the emerging characteristics of forest ecosystems at various stages of their development. The analysis offers an explanation for the importance of discriminating between the varied physical properties arising from the nexus of size and age, as well as highlighting the implications these ontogenetic changes have for commercial forestry and climate change. This important and timely summation of our knowledge base in this area, written by highly respected researchers, will be of huge interest, not only to researchers, but also to forest managers and silviculturists.

This atlas gives a unique assemblage of microscopic slides of wood anatomy and of the respective species in nature and demonstrates the reaction of stem anatomy to environments in which plants form woody stems. It provides insight into the evolution of wood, to the variation of wood anatomy in response to climate and disturbances, and it gives an introduction to the methodology used to study wood. Special attention has been given to the unique feature of secondary growth. In color throughout and with more than 700 both beautiful and instructive illustrations, the wide-ranging scientific content of this book makes it both attractive and unique.

With more than 500 species distributed all around the Northern Hemisphere, the genus Quercus L. is a dominant element of a wide variety of habitats including temperate, tropical, subtropical and mediterranean forests and woodlands. As the fossil record reflects, oaks were usual from the Oligocene onwards, showing the high ability of the genus to colonize new and different habitats. Such diversity and ecological amplitude makes genus Quercus an excellent framework for comparative ecophysiological studies, allowing the analysis of many mechanisms that are found in different oaks at different level (leaf or stem). The combination of several morphological and physiological attributes defines the existence of different functional types within the genus, which are characteristic of specific phytoclimates. From a landscape perspective, oak forests and woodlands are threatened by many factors that can compromise their future: a limited regeneration, massive decline processes, mostly triggered by adverse climatic events or the competence with other broad-leaved trees and conifer species. The knowledge of all these facts can allow for a better management of the oak forests in the future.