Unravelling resilience mechanisms in forests: role of non-structural carbohydrates in responding to extreme weather events

Extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and intensity due to global climatechange. We hypothesized that these have a strong impact on the stem radial growth and thedynamic of non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs).oIn order to assess the effects on mature trees of a late frost occurred in spring 2016 and adrought event characterizing the summer 2017, we monitored the phenology, the radialgrowth and the dynamic of starch and soluble sugars in a Mediterranean beech forest.oGrowth was much more reduced by spring late frost than by summer drought, while NSCsdynamic was deeply involved in counteracting the negative effects of both events,supporting plant survival and buffering source-sink imbalances under such stressfulconditions, resulting in a strong trade-off between growth and NSCs dynamic in trees.oOverall, our results highlight the key role of NSCs on trees resilience to extreme weatherevents, confirming the relevant adaptability to stressful conditions. Such an insight is usefulto assess how forests may respond to the potential impacts of climate change on ecosystemprocesses and to define how future management strategies can help adaptation of beechforests in the Mediterranean area.