Background and Aims Conifers are key components of many temperate and boreal forests and are important for forestry, but species differences in stem growth responses to climate are still poorly understood and may hinder effective management of these forests in a warmer and drier future. Methods We studied 19 Northern Hemisphere conifer species planted in a 50-year-old common garden experiment in the Netherlands to (1) assess the effect of temporal dynamics in climate on stem growth, (2) test for a possible positive relationship between the growth potential and climatic growth sensitivity across species, and (3) evaluate the extent to which stem growth is controlled by phylogeny. Key results Eighty-nine per cent of the species showed a significant reduction in stem growth to summer drought, 37 % responded negatively to spring frost and 32 % responded positively to higher winter temperatures. Species differed largely in their growth sensitivity to climatic variation and showed, for example, a four-fold difference in growth reduction to summer drought. Remarkably, we did not find a positive relationship between productivity and climatic sensitivity, but instead observed that some species combined a low growth sensitivity to summer drought with high growth potential. Both growth sensitivity to climate and growth potential were partly phylogenetically controlled. Conclusions A warmer and drier future climate is likely to reduce the productivity of most conifer species. We did not find a relationship between growth potential and growth sensitivity to climate; instead, some species combined high growth potential with low sensitivity to summer drought. This may help forest managers to select productive species that are able to cope with a warmer and drier future.

中文翻译：

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19种针叶树的生长对冬季变暖、春季霜冻和夏季干旱高度敏感


背景和目标针叶树是许多温带和北方森林的关键组成部分，对林业很重要，但茎生长对气候的反应的物种差异仍然知之甚少，并且可能会阻碍在温暖和干燥的未来对这些森林的有效管理。方法 我们研究了在荷兰一个有 50 年历史的普通花园实验中种植的 19 种北半球针叶树品种，目的是 (1) 评估气候的时间动态对茎生长的影响，(2) 测试生长之间可能存在的正相关关系。跨物种的潜在和气候生长敏感性，以及（3）评估茎生长受系统发育控制的程度。主要结果 89% 的物种对夏季干旱表现出茎生长显着减少，37% 对春季霜冻有负面反应，32% 对较高的冬季温度有积极反应。不同物种的生长对气候变化的敏感性差异很大，例如，夏季干旱导致的生长减少有四倍的差异。值得注意的是，我们没有发现生产力和气候敏感性之间存在正相关关系，而是观察到一些物种将对夏季干旱的低生长敏感性与高生长潜力结合起来。生长对气候的敏感性和生长潜力都部分受到系统发育的控制。结论 未来气候变暖和干燥可能会降低大多数针叶树物种的生产力。我们没有发现生长潜力和生长对气候的敏感性之间存在关系；相反，一些物种将高生长潜力与对夏季干旱的低敏感性结合起来。这可能有助于森林管理者选择能够应对更温暖、更干燥的未来的生产性物种。