Work

Regulatory stress memory and physiological legacy across temporal scales in long-lived trees

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Forest trees are increasingly exposed to recurrent, sequential, and combined climatic stresses, particularly drought and heatwaves. Because of their long lifespan, responses to environmental extremes are shaped not only by current conditions but also by prior stress exposure and post-stress recovery. History-dependent responses may therefore arise from regulatory stress memory, which modifies responses to subsequent stress, or from physiological legacies of incomplete recovery, residual damage, and resource limitation; these processes may interact, but physiological persistence alone does not demonstrate stress memory. This review integrates molecular, physiological, and ecological evidence to clarify how these processes interact across temporal and biological scales in long-lived trees. Evidence from Populus, Pinus , and other forest taxa highlights roles for transcriptional and epigenetic regulation, hormonal and metabolic reprogramming, hydraulic function, and carbon dynamics, while also revealing substantial gaps linking molecular persistence to long-term field performance. Within-generation stress memory is further distinguished from maternal, clonal, and potential transgenerational persistence, which are frequently conflated in the literature. An integrative framework is proposed in which stress history, recovery dynamics, and physiological state jointly determine whether prior exposure promotes acclimation, produces neutral carryover effects, or accelerates cumulative decline. Incorporating stress history into experimental designs, predictive models, breeding strategies, and forest management programs will improve assessments of forest resilience under accelerating climate change.

Source: Plant Stress

DOI: 10.1016/j.stress.2026.101586

Authors: Attaullah Mian, Yi Zhang, Patricio R. De los Rios-Escalante

Institutions: Northwest A&F University, Universidad Católica de Temuco

Language: English

Topic: Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Life on land

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,310