Recent experiments have underlined the potential of δ2H in tree-ring cellulose as a physiological indicator of shifts in autotrophic versus heterotrophic processes (i.e., the use of fresh versus stored non-structural carbohydrates). However, the impact of these processes has not yet been quantified under natural conditions. Defoliator outbreaks disrupt tree functioning and carbon assimilation, stimulating remobilization, therefore providing a unique opportunity to improve our understanding of changes in δ2H. By exploring a 700-year tree-ring isotope chronology from Switzerland, we assessed the impact of 79 larch budmoth (LBM, Zeiraphera griseana [Hübner]) outbreaks on the growth of its host tree species, Larix decidua [Mill]. The LBM outbreaks significantly altered the tree-ring isotopic signature, creating a 2H-enrichment and an 18O- and 13C-depletion. Changes in tree physiological functioning in outbreak years are shown by the decoupling of δ2H and δ18O (O-H relationship), in contrast to the positive correlation in non-outbreak years. Across the centuries, the O-H relationship in outbreak years was not significantly affected by temperature, indicating that non-climatic physiological processes dominate over climate in determining δ2H. We conclude that the combination of these isotopic parameters can serve as a metric for assessing changes in physiological mechanisms over time.

Climate and Environmental Physics Division and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research University of Bern Sidlerstrasse 5 Bern CH 3012 Switzerland

Department of Dendrosciences Forest Dynamics Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL Birmensdorf CH 8903 Switzerland

Department of Geography Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno 611 37 Czech Republic

Department of Geography University of Cambridge Downing Place Cambridge CB2 3EN UK

Global Change Research Institute Czech Academy of Sciences Brno 603 00 Czech Republic

Physiological Plant Ecology Department of Environmental Sciences University of Basel Schönbeinstrasse 6 Basel CH 4056 Switzerland

Stable Isotope Research Centre Ecosystem Ecology Forest Dynamics Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL Birmensdorf CH 8903 Switzerland

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