Forest Structure,Stand Composition,and Climate-Growth Response in Montane Forests of Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve,China

Montane forests of western China provide an opportunity to establish baseline studies for climate change. The region is being impacted by climate change, air pollution, and significant human impacts from tourism. We analyzed forest stand structure and climate-growth relationships from Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve in northwestern Sichuan province, along the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. We conducted a survey to characterize forest stand diversity and structure in plots occurring between 2050 and 3350 m in elevation. We also evaluated seedling and sapling recruitment and tree-ring data from four conifer species to assess: 1) whether the forest appears in transition toward increased hardwood composition; 2) if conifers appear stressed by recent climate change relative to hardwoods; and 3) how growth of four dominant species responds to recent climate. Our study is complicated by clear evidence of 20^th century timber extraction. Focusing on regions lacking evidence of logging, we found a diverse suite of conifers (Pinus, Abies, Juniperus, Picea, and Larix) strongly dominate the forest overstory. We found population size structures for most conifer tree species to be consistent with self-replacement and not providing evidence of shifting composition toward hardwoods. Climate-growth analyses indicate increased growth with cool temperatures in summer and fall. Warmer temperatures during the growing season could negatively impact conifer growth, indicating possible seasonal climate water deficit as a constraint on growth. In contrast, however, we found little relationship to seasonal precipitation. Projected warming does not yet have a discernible signal on trends in tree growth rates, but slower growth with warmer growing season climates suggests reduced potential future forest growth.     

Consistency of growth response to precipitation by Pseudopiptadenia contorta in two Atlantic Forest remnants

Tree growth sensitivity to climate can vary over space and time. This variability generates inconsistency in growth response to climate, which makes it difficult to assess the effects of past climate and global climate change on tree growth. A previous short-term study of Pseudopiptadenia contorta found a consistent growth response to climate in distinct locations, which raises the question, is the growth response of P. contorta to climate consistent over the long-term? We aimed to assess whether there is a common pattern of variation in tree-ring width, build tree-ring width chronologies, and verify the consistency of the climate-growth response of P. contorta in two Atlantic Forest remnants. Wood samples were collected in Reserva Biológica de Poço das Antas (RBPA) and Reserva Biológica de Tinguá (RBT) in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Conventional dendrochronology methods were used for cross-dating, to build chronologies and to assess the climate-growth relationship. A common growth pattern was detected for P. contorta, and two tree-ring width chronologies were constructed. A congruent growth response was found for trees of RBPA and RBT to annual and spring precipitation as well as precipitation in the rainy months. Other climate-growth relationships were detected with other precipitation and temperature variables. Considering that P. contorta is a widespread species, occurring in other Brazilian biomes and forest formations, it is a promising model for developing further dendrochronological research including regional networks of replicated site chronologies, which could facilitate the reconstruction of historical climatic series and predictions of future impacts of climate change in tropical areas.     

Climate-growth relations of congeneric tree species vary across a tropical vegetation gradient in Brazil

Seasonally dry tropical forests are an important global climatic regulator, a main driver of the global carbon sink dynamics and are predicted to suffer future reductions in their productivity due to climate change. Yet, little is known about how interannual climate variability affects tree growth and how climate-growth responses vary across rainfall gradients in these forests. Here we evaluate changes in climate sensitivity of tree growth along an environmental gradient of seasonally dry tropical vegetation types (evergreen forest – savannah – dry forest) in Northeastern Brazil, using congeneric species of two common neotropical genera: Aspidosperma and Handroanthus. We built tree-ring width chronologies for each species × forest type combinations and explored how growth variability correlated with local (precipitation, temperature) and global (the El Niño Southern Oscillation - ENSO) climatic factors. We also assessed how growth sensitivity to climate and the presence of growth deviations varied along the gradient. Precipitation stimulates tree growth and was the main growth-influencing factor across vegetation types. Trees in the dry forest site showed highest growth sensitivity to interannual variation in precipitation. Temperature and ENSO phenomena correlated negatively with growth and sensitivity to both climatic factors were similar across sites. Negative growth deviations were present and found mostly in the dry-forest species. Our results reveal a dominant effect of precipitation on tree growth in seasonally dry tropical forests and suggest that along the gradient, dry forests are the most sensitivity to drought. These forests may therefore be the most vulnerable to the deleterious effects of future climatic changes. These results highlight the importance of understanding the climatic sensitivity of different tropical forests. This understanding is key to predict the carbon dynamics in tropical regions, and sensitivity differences should be considered when prioritizing conservation measures of seasonally dry topical forests.     

Plasticity in Dendroclimatic Response across the Distribution Range of Aleppo Pine (Pinus halepensis)

We investigated the variability of the climate-growth relationship of Aleppo pine across its distribution range in the Mediterranean Basin. We constructed a network of tree-ring index chronologies from 63 sites across the region. Correlation function analysis identified the relationships of tree-ring index to climate factors for each site. We also estimated the dominant climatic gradients of the region using principal component analysis of monthly, seasonal, and annual mean temperature and total precipitation from 1,068 climatic gridpoints. Variation in ring width index was primarily related to precipitation and secondarily to temperature. However, we found that the dendroclimatic relationship depended on the position of the site along the climatic gradient. In the southern part of the distribution range, where temperature was generally higher and precipitation lower than the regional average, reduced growth was also associated with warm and dry conditions. In the northern part, where the average temperature was lower and the precipitation more abundant than the regional average, reduced growth was associated with cool conditions. Thus, our study highlights the substantial plasticity of Aleppo pine in response to different climatic conditions. These results do not resolve the source of response variability as being due to either genetic variation in provenance, to phenotypic plasticity, or a combination of factors. However, as current growth responses to inter-annual climate variability vary spatially across existing climate gradients, future climate-growth relationships will also likely be determined by differential adaptation and/or acclimation responses to spatial climatic variation. The contribution of local adaptation and/or phenotypic plasticity across populations to the persistence of species under global warming could be decisive for prediction of climate change impacts across populations. In this sense, a more complex forest dynamics modeling approach that includes the contribution of genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity can improve the reliability of the ecological inferences derived from the climate-growth relationships.     

黄土高原健康和衰退刺槐林径向生长对气候的响应

全球气候变化导致的区域森林生长衰退和死亡普遍发生,并对森林生态系统结构和组成以及主要生态系统服务功能产生重要影响,然而相关研究在国内还显偏少。根据黄土高原延安羊圈沟小流域人工刺槐林健康和衰退个体分别构建了刺槐健康和衰退树轮年表,并对人工刺槐林健康和衰退年表特征及对气候响应敏感性进行了对比分析。结果表明刺槐衰退年表质量较低,其年表统计参量,包括平均敏感度、样芯间相关系数、信噪比和样本群体代表系数均要低于刺槐健康年表。刺槐衰退年表在生活史早期（1985-2007年）与生长健康年表的波动趋势相类似,而在生活史晚期（2008-2016年）与健康年表指数出现生长分离现象,生长速率明显偏低。年表与气候要素响应分析表明刺槐生长衰退年表对气候要素响应敏感性要低于刺槐生长健康年表,但是两者均含有干旱胁迫气候信号,主要体现在与温度呈负相关关系,与降雨和干旱指数的正相关关系。年表与极端气候年份的时序叠加分析表明,生长健康和衰退年表对极端干旱年份响应敏感性均较高,表明极端干旱胁迫条件对刺槐生长健康和衰退个体均有抑制性影响;生长健康年表对极端湿润年份响应敏感性明显高于衰退年表,表明刺槐健康个体比衰退个体更能有效利用湿润年份有利条件,而具有较高的生长速率。研究揭示出黄土高原健康和衰退刺槐个体生长趋势变化及对气候响应敏感性均存在明显差异性,将为气候变化背景下人工刺槐林生长衰退和死亡预测模型建立提供科学依据,因而对黄土高原人工刺槐林生态恢复和保护及可持续经营具有科学价值。     

Increasing temperature sensitivity caused by climate warming,evidence from Northeastern China

The “Divergence Problem” in northern forests has been confirmed in a large number of empirical studies, especially in North America and Europe, climate warming having been identified as a cause for reduced sensitivity of recent tree-growth and increased tree mortality. However, according to other studies, tree growth patterns are keeping pace with climate warming. Covariation between rising temperatures and tree growth varies regionally. Therefore, extensive evidence is still needed across more geographic areas around the world. In the present study, we examined the sensitivity of Manchurian ash forest growth, which is one of the dominant species in the mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests in the area around Changbai Mountain in Northeastern China. Five Manchurian ash tree-ring width chronologies were constructed from sites ranging along the elevational gradients of 750 m, 800 m, 900 m, 1000 m and 1100 m. We analyzed climate-growth relationships using Pearson correlation coefficients between ring-width indices and climate variables in two separate periods (before 1984 and after 1984), because instrumental temperature data have increased sharply after 1984. Along all of the elevational gradients, the sampled Manchurian ash forests show a higher growth rate and more sensitivity to climatic factors due to climate warming since the beginning of the 1984s. Comparatively, the forest growth at low elevation sites has increased faster than that at high elevation sites. If climate warming continues in northeastern China, further continuous and substantial increase in tree growth would substantially raise forest productivity in mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests.     

Climatic responses of tree-ring width and δ13C signatures of sessile oak (Quercus petraea Liebl.) on soils with contrasting water supply

We investigated climate–growth relationships (in terms of tree-ring width, basal area increment (BAI), and tree-ring δ¹³C signatures) of Quercus petraea in Central Europe (Luxembourg). Tree responses were assessed for 160 years and compared for sites with contrasting water supply (i.e. Cambisols vs. Regosols with 175 and 42 mm available water capacity, respectively). Oak trees displayed very low climate sensitivity, and climatic variables explained only 24 and 21 % of variance in tree-ring width (TRW) (Cambisol and Regosol sites, respectively). Contrary to our expectations, site-related differences in growth responses (i.e. BAI, δ¹³C signatures) to climate shifts were not significant. This finding suggests a high plasticity of oak trees in the study area. Despite a distinct growth depression found for all trees in the decade 1988–1997 (attributable to increasing annual mean temperatures by 1.1 °C), oak trees completely recovered in subsequent years. This indicates a high resilience of sessile oak to climate change. Shifts in δ¹³C_corr signatures were mainly affected by temperature, and peaks in δ¹³C_corr values (corrected for the anthropogenic increase in atmospheric CO₂) coincided with decadal maximum temperatures. Correlations between δ¹³C signatures and TRW (mainly affected by precipitation) were not significant. This finding suggests that wood growth often was disconnected from carbon assimilation (e.g. due to carbon storage in the trunk or allocation to seeds). Since the selection of drought-resistant tree species gains importance within the context of adaptive forest management strategies, Q. petraea proves to be an adaptive tree species in Central Europe’s forests under shifting climatic conditions.     

Increasing climate sensitivity of beech and pine is not mediated by adaptation and soil characteristics along a precipitation gradient in northeastern Germany

Rising temperature and altered precipitation regimes will lead to severe droughts and concomitant extreme events in the future. Forest ecosystems have shown to be especially prone to climate change. In assessing climate change impacts, many studies focus on high altitude or ecological edge populations where a climate signal is supposedly most pronounced. While these studies represent only a fraction of the forest ecosystems throughout Europe, findings on climate sensitivity of lowland core populations remain comparatively underrepresented.By using tree-ring widths of a large region-wide network of European beech and Scots pine populations along a precipitation gradient in northeastern Germany, we identify main climatic drivers and spatio-temporal patterns in climate sensitivity. Further, we analyze the resistance of tree growth towards drought. Detailed data on soil characteristics was used to interpret climate-growth relationships.Beech was found to be most sensitive to summer drought during early summer at dry sites, whereas pine displayed highest sensitivity for winter temperature at wet sites. The resistance to extreme drought was lower for beech. By splitting the observation period (1964–2017) into an early and late period, we found non-stationary climate-growth relationships for both study species with beech showing an increase in drought sensitivity and pine in winter temperature sensitivity.Overall, beech populations seem to be especially endangered by prospective climate changes, whereas climate-growth relationships of pine seem more ambiguous with a possible trade-off between enhanced photosynthetic activity caused by early photosynthesis in late winter and reduced activity due to summer drought.     

No systematic effects of sampling direction on climate-growth relationships in a large-scale,multi-species tree-ring data set

Ring-width series are important for diverse fields of research such as the study of past climate, forest ecology, forest genetics, and the determination of origin (dendro-provenancing) or dating of archaeological objects. Recent research suggests diverging climate-growth relationships in tree-rings due to the cardinal direction of extracting the tree cores (i.e. direction-specific effect). This presents an understudied source of bias that potentially affects many data sets in tree-ring research.In this study, we investigated possible direction-specific growth variability based on an international (10 countries), multi-species (8 species) tree-ring width network encompassing 22 sites. To estimate the effect of direction-specific growth variability on climate-growth relationships, we applied a combination of three methods: An analysis of signal strength differences, a Principal Component Gradient Analysis and a test on the direction-specific differences in correlations between indexed ring-widths series and climate variables.We found no evidence for systematic direction-specific effects on tree radial growth variability in high-pass filtered ring-width series. In addition, direction-specific growth showed only marginal effects on climate-growth correlations. These findings therefore indicate that there is no consistent bias caused by coring direction in data sets used for diverse dendrochronological applications on relatively mesic sites within forests in flat terrain, as were studied here. However, in extremely dry, warm or cold environments, or on steep slopes, and for different life-forms such as shrubs, further research is advisable.     

Significant Mean and Extreme Climate Sensitivity of Norway Spruce and Silver Fir at Mid-Elevation Mesic Sites in the Alps

Climate forcing is the major abiotic driver for forest ecosystem functioning and thus significantly affects the role of forests within the global carbon cycle and related ecosystem services. Annual radial increments of trees are probably the most valuable source of information to link tree growth and climate at long-term time scales, and have been used in a wide variety of investigations worldwide. However, especially in mountainous areas, tree-ring studies have focused on extreme environments where the climate sensitivity is perhaps greatest but are necessarily a biased representation of the forests within a region. We used tree-ring analyses to study two of the most important tree species growing in the Alps: Norway spruce (Picea abies) and silver fir (Abies alba). We developed tree-ring chronologies from 13 mesic mid-elevation sites (203 trees) and then compared them to monthly temperature and precipitation data for the period 1846–1995. Correlation functions, principal component analysis and fuzzy C-means clustering were applied to 1) assess the climate/growth relationships and their stationarity and consistency over time, and 2) extract common modes of variability in the species responses to mean and extreme climate variability. Our results highlight a clear, time-stable, and species-specific response to mean climate conditions. However, during the previous-year''s growing season, which shows the strongest correlations, the primary difference between species is in their response to extreme events, not mean conditions. Mesic sites at mid-altitude are commonly underrepresented in tree-ring research; we showed that strong climatic controls of growth may exist even in those areas. Extreme climatic events may play a key role in defining the species-specific responses on climatic sensitivity and, with a global change perspective, specific divergent responses are likely to occur even where current conditions are less limited.     

Individualistic and time-varying tree-ring growth to climate sensitivity

The development of dendrochronological time series in order to analyze climate-growth relationships usually involves first a rigorous selection of trees and then the computation of the mean tree-growth measurement series. This study suggests a change in the perspective, passing from an analysis of climate-growth relationships that typically focuses on the mean response of a species to investigating the whole range of individual responses among sample trees. Results highlight that this new approach, tested on a larch and stone pine tree-ring dataset, outperforms, in terms of information obtained, the classical one, with significant improvements regarding the strength, distribution and time-variability of the individual tree-ring growth response to climate. Moreover, a significant change over time of the tree sensitivity to climatic variability has been detected. Accordingly, the best-responder trees at any one time may not always have been the best-responders and may not continue to be so. With minor adjustments to current dendroecological protocol and adopting an individualistic approach, we can improve the quality and reliability of the ecological inferences derived from the climate-growth relationships.     

The effect of anthropogenic activities on the reduction of urban tree sensitivity to climatic change: dendrochronological evidence from Chinese pine in Shenyang city

To understand how urban tree growth has responded to the accelerating expansion in population and urbanization, an understanding of the tree-climate–urban ecosystem relationship is necessary. To this end, a metropolitan, suburban, and rural forest stand in and near Shenyang; and a rural forest stand in Weichang, were sampled in southern Northeast China. Radial growth variability of 109 Chinese pines (Pinus tabulaeformis Carr.), established before 1900 within and around the city, was measured. The contents of trace elements in tree rings were also examined to detect the possible relationship to urban environmental contamination. All sampled trees crossdated well, indicating a homogeneous common influence of regional climate. For the common period of 1901–2000, the radial growth of all trees was significantly affected by local and regional climate, especially temperature and precipitation in winter and spring, respectively. From the rural to the metropolitan areas, a significant decreasing relationship in the response of trees to climatic factors was detected. These decreases occurred over time and in tree stands within the same location or between different sites, and also corresponded with the increasing influence of local urbanization and industrialization on the urban environment during the last century. Particularly strong influences are the increase of population, urban built-up area, and urban agricultural and industrial activities. Decreases in mean sensitivity of Chinese pines were also found and are most likely related to the intensification of anthropogenic activities and environmental change. Based on tree-ring width growth in rural areas, a growth pattern of urban trees without anthropogenic disturbances was established. After removing the climate-related signals from actual urban tree growth, the impact of anthropogenic disturbances was chronologically developed. The results indicate that the periods of heaviest disturbances occurred from 1914 to 1922, 1932 to 1935, 1943 to 1946, 1955 to 1969, and 1973 to 2000.     

中国北部不同地点樟子松人工林径向生长对气候响应的差异

通过树木年代学方法,测定了毛乌素和塞罕坝相同密度樟子松(Pinus sylvestris var.mongolica)全木(Ringwood,RW)、早材(Earlywood,EW)和晚材(Latewood,LW)宽度,计算胸高断面积增量(Basal area increment,BAI),并建立了樟子松年轮宽度年表,分析其对气候响应的差异。结果显示,毛乌素(Mu Us)樟子松轮宽随树龄呈"升-降"的曲线变化,塞罕坝(Saihanba)呈线性下降,两地樟子松BAI变化相似,呈"升-降"的曲线变化,EW占RW的65%—70%,表明EW对RW贡献较大。生长期间,毛乌素樟子松早晚材比例保持平稳,塞罕坝EW/RW值下降,LW/RW值上升,两地干旱事件均使LW/RW值下降,EW/RW值上升。差值年表(Residual chronology,RES)相关性分析显示,毛乌素樟子松径向生长主要与4、7月平均降雨,7月标准化降水蒸散发指数(Standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index,SPEI),3、8月平均温度及上年12月和当年3月最低温度呈正...     

Age structure and climate sensitivity of a high Andean relict forest of Polylepis rodolfo-vasquezii in central Peru

For a better understanding of forest ecology, tree-ring studies can provide information on climate sensitivity, tree growth patterns and population age structure that can inform about stand dynamics such as recruitment of new individuals, and other interspecific interactions related to competition and facilitation. Little is known about the ecology of the recently identified high Andean tree species Polylepis rodolfo-vasquezii. Here, we analyzed the relationship between tree size and age of two P. rodolfo-vasquezii forest stands located in the central Peruvian Andes at 11°S in latitude, and compared their growth patterns and climate sensitivity. We measured the height and diameter of each individual tree and collected tree core samples of living trees and cross sections of dead standing trees to generate two centennial tree-ring chronology at Toldopampa (1825–2015 CE) and at Pomamanta (1824–2014 CE) sites. The dendrochronological dates were evaluated by ¹⁴C analysis using the bomb-pulse methods analyzing a total of 9 calendar years that confirm the annual periodicity of this tree species. At the Toldopampa stand most trees ranged from 70 to 80 years old, with a 190-year old individual, being an older and better preserve forest than Pomamanta, with younger trees, probably because more human disturbances due to closer village proximity. No significant relationships were found between tree age and size in the oldest stand alerting that tree diameter should not be used as a metric for estimating tree ages as a general rule. The distinct growth patterns and the size-age relationship observed at the two forests may reflect distinct histories regarding human activities such as fire and logging. Nevertheless, both the Toldopampa and the Pomamanta tree-ring width chronologies exhibited common growth patterns and shared a similar positive response to temperature of the current growing season. Overall, our study confirmed the annual radial growth periodicity in P. rodofolfo-vasquezii trees using an independent method such as ¹⁴C analyses and a strong climate sensitivity of this tree species. These findings encourage the development of an extensive P. rodolfo-vasquezii tree-ring network for ecological and paleoclimate studies in the tropical Andes in South America.     

长白山北坡不同年龄红松年表及其对气候的响应

运用树木年轮气候学方法,研究了长白山北坡红松(Pinus koraiensis)不同年龄年表特征及其与气候因子间的关系,以期揭示年龄因素对年表的潜在影响。结果表明,平均年龄为63a的红松低龄年表与平均年龄为184a的高龄年表对气候的响应明显不同:低龄红松径向生长与当年1、2月月平均温度负相关(P<0.05),同时也受到上年及当年多个月份的月平均最高温度或最低温度的影响,但与降水的相关性未达到显著水平;高龄红松径向生长则与月平均温度间的关系不明显,而与当年1、2、4、6、7、9月的月平均最高温度正相关,与当年4月、9月的月平均最低温度负相关,同时受到上年5月及当年5月月总降水量的影响。因此,年龄因素对红松年表的气候响应方面存在一定影响,且高龄年表对气候响应的敏感性更高,包含有更多的气候信息。     

Climatic factors controlling Pinus sylvestris radial growth along a transect of increasing continentality in southern Siberia

The forest-steppe ecotone in southern Siberia is characterized by a strong dependence of tree growth on summer drought, which is expected to increase under ongoing climate change, with potential consequences for regional and global water and carbon cycles. Since climate conditions control tree secondary growth throughout the growing season, it is assumed that climate change will differently impact the formation of particular tree-ring sectors.In this study, we evaluated spatiotemporal trends in Pinus sylvestris L. tree-ring traits: tree-ring (RW), earlywood (EW) and latewood (LW) widths, as well as their climate response in order to understand potential reactions of P. sylvestris radial growth to climate change along a 4900 km longitudinal transect of increasing continentality in southern Siberia.Results indicated an increasing tree radial growth from the West to the East along the transect. Tree-ring parameters were sensitive to drought, showing a temporal delay in the climatic signals of LW (summer) relative to EW (spring). Climate control of tree growth was stronger at the western site, while it was alleviated over time in eastern sites.This study highlighted the wide plasticity of P. sylvestris to thrive within a wide range of climatic conditions, also suggesting that future drought, as predicted by climate change simulations, will potentially impact P. sylvestris growth differently along the studied gradient, being more susceptible at the western sites due to the current growth limitation.     

江西大岗山林区樟树年轮对气候变化的响应

采用ARSTAN软件对江西大岗山林区樟树年轮生长趋势进行去除和指数化后,建立了樟树年表,并研究了樟树年轮宽度对气候变化的响应.结果表明：所建樟树年表包含了丰富的环境气候信息,适于进行树木年轮生态学分析研究;研究区樟树年轮宽度与生长季的月均温度呈正相关,其中,与4、5月的平均温度呈显著相关关系（P<0.05）;樟树年轮宽度与月降水量的相关性较复杂,与当年5月（P<0.01）及上年12月（P<0.05）降水量呈显著负相关,与当年6月和8月降水量呈显著正相关（P<0.05）;樟树年轮宽度与当年5、6、8和9月湿润度指数的相关性较好.温度和降水的综合影响显著作用于大岗山樟树年轮生长.     

Warming induced growth decline of Himalayan birch at its lower range edge in a semi-arid region of Trans-Himalaya,central Nepal

Changes in the position of altitudinal treelines and timberlines are considered useful indicators of climatic changes on tree growth and forest dynamics. We sought to determine if recent warming is driving contrasting growth responses of Himalayan birch, at moist treeline (Lete Lekh) and semi-arid timberline (Chimang Lekh) sites in the Trans-Himalayan zone of central Nepal. We used dendrochronological techniques to measure tree ring width (TRW) and basal area increment (BAI) of birch trees from climatically contrasting but nearby sites. The TRW series were correlated with climate records from nearby meteorological stations, and BAI was compared between populations to explore growth trends over recent decades. We found contrasting precipitation trends between nearby sites such that the wet site (Lete) is getting warmer and wetter, and the dry site (Chimang) is getting warmer and drier in recent decades. The radial growth of birch in both moist and semi-arid sites are positively correlated to spring (March–May) rainfall, and negatively correlated to mean and maximum temperature for the same period. The growth climate analysis indicated that moisture availability in early growing season is crucial for birch growth at these locations. The BAI of birch is declining more rapidly at the dry timberline than at the moist treelines in the recent decades, indicating that climatic warming might negatively impact birch radial growth where warming interacts with increasing spring drought in the region. Our work highlights contrasting growth response of birch to climate change at moist and semi-arid forests indicating that local climatic variation must be accounted for when assessing and forecasting regional patterns of tree growth in topographically complex regions like Trans-Himalaya, in order to make accurate predictions of vegetation responses to climate change.     

阿尔泰山主要针叶树种树木径向生长及其对气候变化的响应

本研究以阿尔泰山富蕴地区的西伯利亚云杉和西伯利亚落叶松为对象,获取2个树种基部断面生长增量和树轮宽度年表与气候因子的相关系数,对比分析了相似生境下2个树种的径向生长特征及其对气候变化的响应。结果表明: 西伯利亚云杉基部断面生长增量总体高于西伯利亚落叶松,但西伯利亚落叶松的径向生长增加趋势更为显著。近60年来,上年快速生长期的高温对研究区内西伯利亚云杉的径向生长有限制作用,而当年6月较高的气温则有利于西伯利亚落叶松生长。西伯利亚落叶松的径向生长与当年1月气温呈负相关。分段相关分析显示,这种情况在1980年代中期气候变暖以后表现得更为明显。滑动相关分析表明,在气候变化背景下研究区内西伯利亚云杉和西伯利亚落叶松径向生长对气温和降水量的响应在近年来均有所增强。     

European beech in its northeasternmost stands in Europe: Varying climate-growth relationships among generations and diameter classes

Age, genetics and social status of trees affect their sensitivity to environmental factors, and information about such effects is needed for comprehensive assessment of growth potential. Climatic sensitivity of radial increment (i.e., tree-ring width) of introduced European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) of different generations and social status, growing in its northeasternmost stands in Europe, was studied by dendroclimatological methods. At present, the studied stands occur outside of the natural distribution area of the species, providing opportunity to study adaptability and potential growth of beech in novel environments under changing climate. The sensitivity of radial growth to climatic factors was modulated by the generation and social status (size) of trees. The first generation trees, which were propagated from the material transferred from the northern Germany, were highly sensitive to climatic factors and showed wide spectrum of responses. The dominant trees were particularly sensitive to June precipitation, indicating sensitivity to water deficit in summer. The suppressed trees were mainly sensitive to temperature in the dormant period. Tree-ring width of the second generation trees, which were propagated from the first generation stands, was mainly affected by water deficit in summer, yet the local factors, modulated the mechanisms of response. In one stand, tree-ring width was affected by conditions during the formation of tree-ring, indicating direct influence of weather conditions on xylogenesis. In the other stand, tree-ring width was correlated to weather conditions in the preceding year, suggesting influence via carbohydrate reserves. The effect of social status on climatic sensitivity in the second generation stands was considerably weaker, likely due to the natural and anthropogenic selection of the material best adapted for local conditions. The effect of climatic factors on radial growth of beech has shifted during the 20th century. The effect of autumn temperature has weakened, likely due to warming; the effect of factors related to water deficit in summer has intensified that could be related to both, changes in climate and ageing. The observed climate-growth relationships suggested that conditions in winter have become suitable for beech, yet careful selection of sites/regions with appropriate hydrological conditions appear necessary to counteract the increasing effect of water deficit, hence to ensure productivity of future beech sites in Latvia.