Radiation, Air Temperature, and Soil Water Availability Drive Tree Water Deficit Across Temporal Scales in Canada's Western Boreal Forest

Changes are projected for the boreal biome with complex and variable effects on forest vegetation including drought-induced tree mortality and forest loss. With soil and atmospheric conditions governing drought intensity, specific drivers of trees water stress can be difficult to disentangle across temporal scales. We used wavelet analysis and causality detection to identify potential environmental controls (evapotranspiration, soil moisture, rainfall, vapor pressure deficit, air temperature and photosynthetically active radiation) on daily tree water deficit and on longer periods of tree dehydration in black spruce and tamarack. Daily tree water deficit was controlled by photosynthetically active radiation, vapor pressure deficit, and air temperature, causing greater stand evapotranspiration. Prolonged periods of tree water deficit (multi-day) were regulated by photosynthetically active radiation and soil moisture. We provide empirical evidence that continued warming and drying will cause short-term increases in black spruce and tamarack transpiration, but greater drought stress with reduced soil water availability. This research explores how climate change could impact the water stress experienced by black spruce and tamarack trees in the western boreal forest of Canada. We focused on a key measure called "tree water deficit" to understand if the trees were under stress due to insufficient water. We examined how tree water deficit relates to environmental factors such as temperature, sunlight, and soil moisture. The findings revealed that, on a daily basis, factors like sunlight and temperature cause trees to release more water into the air. However, over longer periods (days to weeks), the amount of water in the soil becomes crucial, suggesting that trees might face water stress during dry spells. So, while trees could grow more on hotter, sunnier days, they could also experience water stress and reduced growth if the soil becomes too dry for an extended period. This study helps us grasp how various factors interact to influence tree water stress in the boreal forest, providing insights important for managing these ecosystems in a changing climate. A novel approach to determine environmental controls of tree water deficit across time scales with wavelet analysis and Granger causality Soil moisture emerges as a significant control of tree water deficit in boreal trees at longer scales (multi-days) Daily productivity gains with warming will be mitigated by decreased soil water availability in longer periods of tree water deficit