Background and aims Swiss stone pine ( Pinus cembra ) is dominant tree species in the treeline ecotone of the European Alps. Ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi are often used in treeline reestablishment with Pinus cembra , yet our understanding of natural EM communities is limited. Methods In three alpine regions of the Austrian Alps on both silicate and calcareous bedrocks we determined the EM communities on roots of Pinus cembra and...

Mixed‐species forestry is a promising approach to enhance productivity, increase carbon sequestration, and mitigate climate change. Diverse forests, composed of species with varying structures and functional trait profiles, may have higher functional and structural diversity, which are attributes relevant to a number of mechanisms that can influence productivity. However, it remains unclear whether the context‐dependent roles...

Mixed‐species forests are proposed to enhance tree resistance and resilience to drought. However, growing evidence shows that tree species richness does not consistently improve tree growth responses to drought. The underlying mechanisms remain uncertain, especially under unprecedented multiyear droughts. We used a network of planted tree diversity experiments to investigate how neighborhood tree diversity and species' functio...

Increasing tree diversity is considered a key management option to adapt forests to climate change. However, the effect of species diversity on a forest's ability to cope with extreme drought remains elusive. In this study, we assessed drought tolerance (xylem vulnerability to cavitation) and water stress (water potential), and combined them into a metric of drought–mortality risk (hydraulic safety margin) during extreme 2021...

We evaluated whether changes in fine root non-structural carbohydrate reserves of Fagus sylvatica and Pinus sylvestris trees influence potential enzymatic activities of their ectomycorrhizal symbionts from winter towards spring reactivation, and whether these changes influence potential soil enzymatic activities. We analyzed sugar and starch concentrations in the fine roots of Fagus sylvatica and Pinus sylvestris and potential...

The area of forest plantations is increasing worldwide helping to meet timber demand and protect natural forests. However, with global change, monospecific plantations are increasingly vulnerable to abiotic and biotic disturbances. As an adaption measure we need to move to plantations that are more diverse in genotypes, species, and structure, with a design underpinned by science. TreeDivNet, a global network of tree diversity...

As a consequence of land‐use change and the burning of fossil fuels, atmospheric concentrations of CO 2 are increasing and altering the dynamics of the carbon cycle in forest ecosystems. In a number of studies using single tree species, fine root biomass has been shown to be strongly increased by elevated CO 2 . However, natural forests are often intimate mixtures of a number of co‐occurring species. To investigate the interac...

Cold water woodland streams, where terrestrially derived organic matter fuels aquatic food webs, can be affected by increases in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, as these are predicted to lead to increases in water temperature and decreases in organic matter quality. In fact, elevated CO 2 (580 ppm) decreased the initial phosphorus concentration of birch litter by 30% compared with litter grown under ambient conditions (380 pp...