Organized Oral Session

OOS 56 - Plant Carbon Allocation Under Climate Change: How Does Stress Affect Non-structural Carbohydrate Dynamics?

Organizer(s)

• SH

  Sean Hoy-Skubik

  Montana State University
  Bozeman, Montana, United States

Co-Organizer(s)

• 

  Danielle Ulrich

  Assistant Professor
  Montana State University Ecology
  Bozeman, Montana, United States

Climate change-induced stressors will continue to increase plant mortality and alter global vegetation dynamics over the coming century. Climate change increases abiotic stress such as heat and drought events, as well as creates more favorable conditions for biotic stress such as insects and pathogens. Non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs), the primary products of photosynthesis, can mitigate the consequences of these stressors. NSC reserves can be used to maintain hydraulic function during drought, invest in chemical defenses against insects and pathogens, repair damaged tissues, and to increase water and nutrient uptake through mutualistic relationships with belowground microbial/fungal communities via root exudates. Plant C allocation to these functional roles can vary based on climate, species, developmental stage and historical disturbances. To understand and predict plant mortality and vegetation responses to climate change, as well as the impacts on ecosystem services these responses will have, it is critical that we integrate our understanding of plant C allocation and NSC dynamics in response to varied stressors.
This session emphasizes a range of plant stress responses with NSC dynamics, with the goal of furthering our understanding of the impacts of C allocation on future vegetation dynamics. We will share findings from speakers whose research centers on plant C relations under stress, and how those relations may affect ecosystem processes across multiple spatial and temporal scales. This session will identify successes, opportunities, and challenges in using NSCs to understand to ecological consequences of climate change.

Presentations:

• 10:00 AM – 10:15 AM PDT

  Plant carbon dynamics predict seedling mortality during drought
  

  Presenting Author: Sean Hoy-Skubik – Montana State University

  Co-author: Danielle E. M. Ulrich – Montana State University Ecology
• 10:15 AM – 10:30 AM PDT

  A neutral theory of plant carbon allocation
  

  Presenting Author: R. Alex Thompson – Washington State University
• 10:30 AM – 10:45 AM PDT

  Ecophysiological drivers of the mixing of new and old reserve carbon in tree sapwood
  

  Presenting Author: Drew MP Peltier – Northern Arizona University

  Co-author: Mariah Carbone – Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University

  Co-author: Henry D. Adams, PhD – Washington State University

  Co-author: William T. Pockman – University of New Mexico

  Co-author: Andrew D. Richardson, PhD – Northern Arizona University

  Co-author: Kiona Ogle, Ph.D. – Northern Arizona University

  Co-author: George Koch – Northern Arizona University

  Co-author: Amy M. Trowbridge – University of Wisconsin - Madison
• 10:45 AM – 11:00 AM PDT

  Non-structural carbohydrate depletion impairs forest tree water relations in the field
  

  Presenting Author: Alex Goke – University of Montana

  Coauthor: Jacob Kleimann – University of Montana

  Coauthor: Gerard Sapes – University of Florida

  Coauthor: Ylva Lekberg – MPG Ranch/University of Montana

  Coauthor: Roger Koide – Brigham Young University

  Coauthor: Anna Sala – University of Montana
• 11:00 AM – 11:15 AM PDT

  A global examination of NSCs relationship with climate
  

  Presenting Author: Meghan Blumstein – MIT

  Co-Author: Jess Gersony – Smith College

  Co-Author: Jordi Martínez-Vilalta – CREAF

  Co-Author: Anna Sala – University of Montana