Two dominant Mediterranean shrub species, Erica multiflora and Globularia alypum grown in the same drought conditions showed contrasting phenology indicating its effects to be species-specific. For instance, some authors reported a drought decreases the lumen area leading to decline in stem hydraulic conductivity, whereas others found the opposite. Īfterwards, many studies have explored the long-term effects of climate variability on the corresponding year-to-year change in wood anatomical traits and its consequence for gymnosperm and angiosperm physiology and growth. This allows the researcher in studying inter-annual variability of vessels/tracheids lumen area or cell wall thickness retrospectively analyzing the cambium phenology with changing environment. The advancement in sample processing and image analysis allows studying the detailed measurement of multiple traits in wood at decadal to centennial time scales. Dendroanatomy is defined as the analysis of xylem-cell features along dated tree rings which provide a long-term perspective on the wood formation process. Recent advancements in dendroecology, namely dendroanatomy aim at deciphering the effects of climate on the whole xylogenetic process, i.e., complex process of differentiation and division of cambium with environmental input and formation of new woody tissues. Thus, there is an increasing interest of researcher in analyzing tree-ring characteristic to better understand tree growth responses to environmental variability and extreme events. Therefore, trees are considered as the most valuable natural archives of past environmental conditions showing a unique source for annual variability in forest biomass and carbon allocation. This climatic change interacts with trees during their life leaving a permanent imprint in the woody tissues. An increase in global temperature (≈0.2 ☌/decade) along with the rise in CO 2 (2.5 + / − 0.8 ppm/year) in the atmosphere with the change in precipitation regime may have effects on the structure and function of trees. Also, more studies can be conducted to assess the synergetic and antagonistic effects among different tree-ring proxies and to determine the specific roles and contributions of major climatic factors during different periods of tree-ring formation.Ĭlimate change is the biggest challenge of this century and is exerting pressure on both plants and animals. Based on the literature, I then purpose to explore the temporal and spatial variations in the anatomical characteristics of xylem tree rings with environmental changes. This paper discusses the relationship between the anatomical features of angiosperm and gymnosperm xylem with climatic factors. In this paper, I review and synthesize literature on the influence of climatic parameters on wood anatomy from the different geographical regions using recent (2015–2020) published articles on the topic. Therefore, studying the relationship between anatomical traits and environmental changes not only provide physiological explanations, but also provide a new vision of studying the adaptation process and response strategies of tree growth to climate. Wood anatomical traits of xylem are the characteristics of tree rings at cellular and subcellular scales providing important insights on structural features and their linkage to the environment.
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