title: Climatic influences on wood anatomy and tree-ring features of Great Basin conifers at a new mountain observatory.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A network of mountain observing stations has been installed in the Great Basin of North America. NevCAN (Nevada Climate-ecohydrological Assessment Network), which spans a latitudinal range of 2.5° and two elevation ranges of about 2000 m each, enabled us to investigate tree growth in relation to climate. •
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed wood anatomy and tree-ring characteristics of four conifer species in response to different levels of water availability by comparing a low- and a high-elevation population. Chronologies of earlywood and latewood widths, as well as cellular parameters, were developed from the year 2000 to 2012. •
  
  
  RESULTS
  At the southern (drier and warmer) sites, Pinus monophylla had smaller cell lumen, tracheid diameter, and cell wall thickness. Pinus monophylla and P. flexilis showed bigger cellular elements at the higher elevations, whereas the opposite pattern was found in Picea engelmannii and Pinus longaeva. When all species and sites were pooled together, stem diameter was positively related with earlywood anatomical parameters. •
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have provided a glimpse of the applications that NevCAN, as a new scientific tool, could allow in the general field of botany. In particular, we were able to investigate how differences in water stress related to elevation lead to changes in xylem anatomy.
authors.affiliation: DendroLab, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557 USA.
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ziaco
authors.affiliation: DendroLab, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557 USA ; Harvard Forest, Petersham, Massachusetts 01366 USA.
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Biondi
authors.affiliation: Département des Sciences Fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Québec G7H2B1, Canada.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: Département des Sciences Fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Québec G7H2B1, Canada.
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deslauriers
keywords: NevCAN; Picea engelmannii; Pinus flexilis; Pinus longaeva; Pinus monophylla; elevation-latitude gradients; tracheid size