First-year seedlings respond to a 21-day summer water deficit: morphological and physiological insights of two populations of five Mediterranean Quercus species

doi:10.3832/ifor4928-019

First-year seedlings respond to a 21-day summer water deficit: morphological and physiological insights of two populations of five Mediterranean Quercus species

Lucia Mondanelli⁽¹⁾ , Barbara Mariotti⁽¹⁾, Alberto Maltoni⁽¹⁾, Fabio Salbitano⁽²⁾, Maria Laura Traversi⁽³⁾, Alessio Giovannelli^(3-4), Bianca Elena Maserti⁽⁵⁾, Claudia Cocozza⁽¹⁾

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 19, Issue 2, Pages 149-156 (2026)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor4928-019
Published: Apr 19, 2026 - Copyright © 2026 SISEF

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Geo-mapping

In the Mediterranean basin, extreme drought events are expected to become more frequent due to climate change. Consequently, selecting and registering forest reproductive material (FRM) adapted to such conditions is crucial to support effective forest restoration. This study aims to identify whether certain seed sources of Quercus exhibit traits potentially advantageous under ongoing climate change. An initial screening of seedlings from five ecologically diverse species from Puglia (southern Italy) was performed to evaluate early-stage responses to drought conditions simulating extreme Mediterranean summer events. Under semi-controlled conditions in a nursery, we evaluated the effect of water removal for 21 days on the growth, physiological, and metabolomic performance of FRM of two seed sources per five Mediterranean Quercus species. Morphological, physiological (SPAD, chlorophyll fluorescence), and metabolic traits (pigments and malondialdehyde) were measured throughout the experimental period and at its end. All Quercus species and their seed sources survived the water deficit and exhibited positive morphological and physiological responses. The effects of seed source were more pronounced in the “Cerris” section than in the evergreen “Ilex” section, making the former species good candidates for afforestation or restoration in Mediterranean areas and valuable material for further research. The high performance of Q. cerris, a species generally considered less drought-tolerant, highlights the Puglia region as a promising source of southern Mediterranean provenances with enhanced resistance to arid conditions.

Keywords

Seed Sources, Tolerance, Water Deficiency, Seedlings, Morphology, Functionality

Authors’ address

(1)

0009-0005-9768-9442
0000-0003-3779-2104
0000-0002-9057-1266
0000-0002-0167-8863
Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI), University of Florence, Florence (Italy)

(2)

0000-0002-3592-9632
Department of Agricultural Science, University of Sassari, Sassari (Italy)

(3)

0009-0006-7170-6918
0000-0002-7217-7177
CNR - Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET), Sesto Fiorentino, FI (Italy)

(4)

0000-0002-7217-7177
NBFC - New Biodiversity Future Center, 90133, Palermo (Italy)

(5)

0000-0003-2872-2235
CNR - Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection (IPSP), Sesto Fiorentino, FI (Italy)

Corresponding author

Lucia Mondanelli
lucia.mondanelli@unifi.it

Citation

Mondanelli L, Mariotti B, Maltoni A, Salbitano F, Traversi ML, Giovannelli A, Maserti BE, Cocozza C (2026). First-year seedlings respond to a 21-day summer water deficit: morphological and physiological insights of two populations of five Mediterranean Quercus species. iForest 19: 149-156. - doi: 10.3832/ifor4928-019

Academic Editor

Michele Colangelo

Paper history

Received: Jun 18, 2025
Accepted: Feb 24, 2026

First online: Apr 19, 2026
Publication Date: Apr 30, 2026
Publication Time: 1.80 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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