Drought Response and Genetic Variation in Scots Pine Seedlings' Provenances: Insights From High‐Throughput Phenotyping for Climate‐Resilient Forestry

ABSTRACT Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) is characterized by considerable intraspecific adaptive variability in response to environmental stress factors due to its wide geographical range. Adaptability is key for forestry, promising resilience against upcoming Europe's climate‐driven droughts. We studied three provenances of pedigreed Scots pine seedlings from distinct upland and lowland habitats in the Czech Republic. A water deficit was induced in 2‐year‐old, potted seedlings in a greenhouse. Their physiological responses to drought were investigated at the beginning of growing season during the development of new shoots, and after subsequent summer rewatering. (1) We analyzed several physiological traits to assess their effectiveness in detecting treatment effects: steady‐state quantum yield of PSII (QY Lss), maximum quantum yield of PSII (QY max), steady‐state non‐photochemical quenching (NPQ Lss), needle chlorophyll fluorescence ratio (SFR_R), and needle temperature normalized to ambient temperature (∆T), using a high‐throughput phenotyping unit. The divergence in SFR_R, QY max, QY Lss, NPQ Lss, and ΔT suggests that drought stress significantly impacts photosynthetic efficiency and heat dissipation, with recovery occurring after rewatering. (2) We detected differences within and among provenances utilizing a single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping array and linear mixed models integrating estimated genomic relationships to investigate genetic variation in needle functional traits in time. Throughout the experiment, heritability ( h 2 ) varied widely among traits—with QY max and QY Lss showing the greatest variability (from 0 to 0.37), NPQ Lss exhibiting a narrower range aside from two outlier peaks, and SFR_R and ∆T displaying lower variability and lower h 2 values (0–0.24). The photosynthesis‐related traits (QY max, QY Lss) showed the highest genetic variation, underscoring their potential for early‐age phenotyping and selection of drought‐tolerant genotypes. These findings address practical problems in forest management, particularly in light of changing weather patterns and climate variability, and provide a foundation for advanced optically based, early‐age phenotyping to enhance forest resilience.