J Integr Plant Biol.

• Invited Expert Review • Previous Articles    

Tree growth response and adaptation to climate change and climate extremes: From canopy to stem

Feiyu Yang1†, Leyao Zhu1†, Jiahao Cao1†, Fei Yang1, Borbála Codogno1, Qianqian Ma2, Hanxue Liang3, Wenjin Wang4 and Jian‐Guo Huang1*   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory for Vegetation Structure, Function and Construction (VegLab), MOE Key Laboratory of Biosystems Homeostasis and Protection, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China

    2. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, the Chinese Academy of Sciences,Guangzhou 510650, China

    3. Institute of Loess Plateau, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China

    4. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland

    These authors contributed equally to this work.

    *Correspondence: Jian‐Guo Huang (jianguo.huang@zju.edu.cn)

  • Received:2025-11-28 Accepted:2025-12-26 Online:2026-01-20
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the Key R&D Program of Zhejiang (grant number 2024C03244), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 42471052,32401377, and W2512090), and Zhejiang University (grantnumber 108000*1942222R1).

Abstract: Ongoing climate warming has altered precipitation patterns and increased the frequency and intensity of climate extremes such as droughts, heatwaves, floods, and frosts. These changes have significantly influenced tree growth and development processes, including canopy phenology, intra-annual wood formation dynamics, and annual stem growth. However, these processes are affected by various climatic factors, and their responses are highly species-specific and vary across temporal and spatial scales. Beyond these rapid growth responses, trees may also undergo long-term genetic adaptation to climate change. This review synthesizes how canopy phenology, intra-annual wood formation dynamics, and annual stem growth respond to climate change and climate extremes. We summarize the response and adaptation of these growth processes to various climatic drivers and highlight the interactions among them in determining tree growth. Concepts and mechanisms of rapid response and heritable genetic adaptation in trees under climate change are also reviewed. We identify the key knowledge gaps in tree growth response and adaptation, such as integrative multiple organ and growth process monitoring and genetic-level studies, which are critical to further improve our understanding of tree growth to support sustainable forest management and enhance forest carbon storage under ongoing climate warming.

Key words: adaptation, annual stem growth, canopy phenology, climate change, climate extremes, intra‐annual wood formation, response, tree growth

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