Decades-old carbon reserves are widespread among tree species, constrained only by sapwood longevity

Abstract

• Carbon reserves are distributed throughout plant cells allowing past photosynthesis to fuel current metabolism. In trees, comparing the radiocarbon (Δ¹⁴C) of reserves to the atmospheric bomb spike can trace reserve ages.
• We synthesized Δ¹⁴C observations of stem reserves in nine tree species, fitting a new process model of reserve building. We asked how the distribution, mixing, and turnover of reserves vary across trees and species. We also explored how stress (drought and aridity) and disturbance (fire and bark beetles) perturb reserves.
• Given sufficient sapwood, young (< 1 yr) and old (20–60+ yr) reserves were simultaneously present in single trees, including ‘prebomb’ reserves in two conifers. The process model suggested that most reserves are deeply mixed (30.2 ± 21.7 rings) and then respired (2.7 ± 3.5-yr turnover time). Disturbance strongly increased Δ¹⁴C mean ages of reserves (+15–35 yr), while drought and aridity effects on mixing and turnover were species-dependent. Fire recovery in Sequoia sempervirens also appears to involve previously unobserved outward mixing of old reserves.
• Deep mixing and rapid turnover indicate most photosynthate is rapidly metabolized. Yet ecological variation in reserve ages is enormous, perhaps driven by stress and disturbance. Across species, maximum reserve ages appear primarily constrained by sapwood longevity, and thus old reserves are probably widespread.