Global climate change is expected to further raise the frequency and severity of extreme events, such as droughts. The effects of extreme droughts on trees are difficult to disentangle given the inherent complexity of drought events (frequency, severity, duration, and timing during the growing season). Besides, drought effects might be modulated by trees’ phenotypic variability, which is, in turn, affected by long‐term local selective pressures and management legacies. Here we investigated the magnitude and the temporal changes of tree‐level resilience (i.e., resistance, recovery, and resilience) to extreme droughts. Moreover, we assessed the tree‐, site‐, and drought‐related factors and their interactions driving the tree‐level resilience to extreme droughts. We used a tree‐ring network of the widely distributed Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) along a 2,800 km latitudinal gradient from southern Spain to northern Germany. We found that the resilience to extreme drought decreased in mid‐elevation and low productivity sites from 1980–1999 to 2000–2011 likely due to more frequent and severe droughts in the later period. Our study showed that the impact of drought on tree‐level resilience was not dependent on its latitudinal location, but rather on the type of sites trees were growing at and on their growth performances (i.e., magnitude and variability of growth) during the predrought period. We found significant interactive effects between drought duration and tree growth prior to drought, suggesting that Scots pine trees with higher magnitude and variability of growth in the long term are more vulnerable to long and severe droughts. Moreover, our results indicate that Scots pine trees that experienced more frequent droughts over the long‐term were less resistant to extreme droughts. We, therefore, conclude that the physiological resilience to extreme droughts might be constrained by their growth prior to drought, and that more frequent and longer drought periods may overstrain their potential for acclimation.

The National Forest Soil Inventory (NFSI) provides the Greenhouse Gas Reporting in Germany with a quantitative assessment of organic carbon ( C ) stocks and changes in forest soils. Carbon stocks of the organic layer and the mineral topsoil (30 cm) were estimated on the basis of ca. 1.800 plots sampled from 1987 to 1992 and resampled from 2006 to 2008 on a nationwide grid of 8 × 8 km. Organic layer C stock estimates were attributed to surveyed forest stands and CORINE land cover data. Mineral soil C stock estimates were linked with the distribution of dominant soil types according to the Soil Map of Germany (1 : 1 000 000) and subsequently related to the forest area. It appears that the C pool of the organic layer was largely depending on tree species and parent material, whereas the C pool of the mineral soil varied among soil groups. We identified the organic layer C pool as stable although C was significantly sequestered under coniferous forest at lowland sites. The mineral soils, however, sequestered 0.41 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. Carbon pool changes were supposed to depend on stand age and forest transformation as well as an enhanced biomass input. Carbon stock changes were clearly attributed to parent material and soil groups as sandy soils sequestered higher amounts of C , whereas clayey and calcareous soils showed small gains and in some cases even losses of soil C . We further showed that the largest part of the overall sample variance was not explained by fine‐earth stock variances, rather by the C concentrations variance. The applied uncertainty analyses in this study link the variability of strata with measurement errors. In accordance to other studies for Central Europe, the results showed that the applied method enabled a reliable nationwide quantification of the soil C pool development for a certain period.

Effects of temperature on growth and wood anatomy were studied in young European beech (Fagus sylvaticaL.) grown in 7-l pots for 2.5 years in field-phytotron chambers supplied with an ambient (∼400 μmol mol⁻¹) or elevated (∼700 μmol mol⁻¹) carbon dioxide concentration ([CO₂]). Temperatures in the chambers ranged in increments of 2 °C from −4 °C to +4 °C relative to the long-term mean monthly (day and night) air temperature in Berlin-Dahlem. Soil was not fertilized and soil water and air humidity were kept constant. Data were evaluated by regression analysis. At final harvest, stem diameter was significantly greater at increased temperature (Δ1 °C: 2.4%), stems were taller (Δ1 °C: 8.5%) and stem mass tree⁻¹ (Δ1 °C: 10.9%) and leaf area tree⁻¹(Δ1 °C: 6.5%) were greater. Allocation pattern was slightly influenced by temperature: leaf mass ratio and leaf area ratio decreased with increasing temperature (Δ1 °C: 2.3% and 2.2% respectively), whereas stem mass/total mass increased (Δ1 °C: 2.1%). Elevated [CO₂] enhanced height growth by 8.8% and decreased coarse root mass/total mass by 10.3% and root/shoot ratio by 11.7%. Additional carbon was mainly invested in aboveground growth. At final harvest a synergistic interaction between elevated [CO₂] and temperature yielded trees that were 3.2% taller at −4 °C and 12.7% taller at +4 °C than trees in ambient [CO₂]. After 2.5 seasons, cross-sectional area of the oldest stem part was ∼32% greater in the +4 °C treatment than in the −4 °C treatment, and in the last year ∼67% more leaf area/unit tree ring area was produced in the highest temperature regime compared with the lowest. Elevated [CO₂] decreased mean vessel area of the 120 largest vessels per mm² by 5.8%, causing a decrease in water conducting capacity. There was a positive interaction between temperature and elevated [CO₂] for relative vessel area, which was ∼38% higher at +4 °C than at −4 °C in elevated [CO₂] compared with ambient [CO₂]. Overall, temperature had a greater effect on growth than [CO₂], but elevated [CO₂] caused quantitative changes in wood anatomy.