Mature spruce and beech were exposed to five drought and three recovery years in the KROOF experiment. Compared to beech showing only stomatal regulation, spruce more strongly reduced their water use by stronger stomatal control together with a reduction in total leaf area. After drought release, spruce fully recovered C transport speed and preferentially allocated recent and stored C to regrow their fine roots. Whole-tree C uptake and water use of spruce did not fully recover in contrast to beech due to slow recovery of leaf area, which, however, may be advantageous during next drought.
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Mature spruce and beech were exposed to five drought and three recovery years in the KROOF experiment. Compared to beech showing only stomatal regulation, spruce more strongly reduced their water use by stronger stomatal control together with a reduction in total leaf area. After drought release, spruce fully recovered C transport speed and preferentially allocated recent and stored C to regrow their fine roots. Whole-tree C uptake and water use of spruce did not fully recover in contrast to bee...
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