3 - Picea abies
 

A very late freezing event in spring (June) killed the fragile current year (new) shoots of Picea abies near the treeline in Tyrol at 1960 m elevation. Old needles and dormant buds remain unaffected. Given that ca. 80 % of the photosynthetic machinery is in old leaves, which are resistant to such stress, the loss of one spring flush in one out of several years is not a big problem. Treeline trees are commonly packed with reserves and not short in photosynthates.

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