辽东山区蒙古栎径向生长对林分密度和气候因子的响应

为探究林分密度和气候因子对蒙古栎径向生长的影响,利用树木年代学方法研究了不同林分密度调控(间伐)下次生蒙古栎林径向生长变化,并结合气象数据,分析了蒙古栎生长变化的驱动因子。结果表明: 次生蒙古栎林径向生长受林分密度的影响显著。低密度原始林蒙古栎径向年均增长量为3.12 mm,2个中密度次生蒙古栎林分别为1.55和1.42 mm,高密度次生蒙古栎林为0.96 mm。20%的间伐强度对促进高密度(1900 株·hm^-2以上)栎林径向生长恢复作用有限,而对于中等密度(1600 株·hm^-2)栎林效果显著。该地区蒙古栎径向生长主要对当年1月和2月的降水变化敏感。抚育间伐降低了蒙古栎径向生长对气候因子的敏感性。在未来暖干化的气候情境下,密度调控有利于减缓气候变化对蒙古栎生长的不利影响。     

Factors limiting the recruitment of Quercus schottkyana,a dominant evergreen oak in SW China

Quercus schottkyana is a dominant species of oak in the Asian evergreen broad-leaved forests in southwestern China but seedlings are uncommon and recruitment is rare. Annual acorn production by Q. schottkyana is variable and the acorns are exposed to a series of mortality risks. Understanding the factors that limit recruitment of the oak requires knowledge of the oak's life cycle from acorn production to germination and seedling establishment. In this study, we first tested the effects of acorn density on establishment of seedlings by placing batches of acorns at different densities throughout the study area. Second, we tested the effects of herbivores on seedling survival by erecting fences around both natural and transplanted seedling populations. Our results show that even though the rate of seedling establishment increases as acorn density increases (for 32-8000 acorns·m^-2), survival rates of seedlings in the field were generally low (0-0.6%). We show that seedling recruitment of Q. schottkyana is mainly limited to the acorn stage where 88% of the acorns died from the combined effects of desiccation and predation by weevils (Curculio) and bark beetles (Coccotrypes sp.). Herbivory results in the death of some seedlings and consequently also affects the recruitment of seedlings of Q. schottkyana.     

模拟氮沉降对北京东灵山辽东栎林树木生长的影响

传统的元素限制模型认为氮是温带森林生长的限制元素, 不过该结论更多是从地上生物量以及群落水平进行阐述, 忽视了不同物种以及不同径级树木对外源氮的响应差异。辽东栎(Quercus wutaishanica)林是华北地区常见的森林类型, 该研究以北京东灵山辽东栎林为研究对象, 通过设置3个氮添加水平的实验, 即对照CK (0 kg·hm ^-2·a ^-1), N50 (50 kg·hm ^-2·a ^-1)和N100 (100 kg·hm ^-2·a ^-1), 模拟氮沉降对群落和物种水平以及不同径级树木生长的影响。经过7年氮添加, 实验结果显示: 物种水平上, 氮添加明显促进了优势树种辽东栎的生长; 群落水平上, 树木生长随氮浓度增加有不断上升趋势, 但统计学差异不显著; 氮添加显著抑制了辽东栎以及群落内小径级(3-10 cm)树木生长, 中(10-20 cm)、大径级(>20 cm)树木生长随氮沉降水平增加呈上升趋势, 但统计学差异不显著。表明氮是辽东栎以及温带森林树木生长的限制元素; 不同径级的辽东栎和群落内其他植物对氮添加响应不一致, 氮添加抑制了小径级树木生长, 中、大径级树木生长对氮添加响应不明显。     

松栎林天然更新模拟与不确定性分析

森林天然更新的复杂性和不确定性是森林生态系统动态预测中的关键问题。本研究引入贝叶斯技术和全局敏感性分析,构建基于竞争、气候和地形3类因子的秦岭松栎林天然更新模型。备选模型形式以泊松(Poisson)模型、负二项(negative binomial,NB)模型、零膨胀泊松(zero-inflated Poisson,ZIP)模型和零膨胀负二项(zero-inflated negative binomial,ZINB)模型为基础。同时,根据模型参数传递的不确定性量化分析结果,阐释影响森林更新小概率事件的主导因子。结果表明: ZINB模型在油松和锐齿栎更新模拟中均优于其他模型。林分总断面积、光截留、坡位和生长季最低温是影响松栎林中油松天然更新的最关键因子;而林分总断面积、坡向与海拔的组合、年均温和最热季节降水量则是影响松栎林中锐齿栎天然更新的关键因子。油松更新模拟中,各类因子对模型输出的不确定性贡献率从小到大依次为: 竞争因子(25%)＜气候因子(29%)＜地形因子(46%);锐齿栎更新模拟中为: 气候因子(12%)＜竞争因子(24%)＜地形因子(64%)。油松天然更新数量对生长季最低温和最干季节降水量为正响应,对最干季节均温为负响应;锐齿栎天然更新数量对年均温、生长季最低温和最热季节降水量为正响应,对最干季节均温为负响应。基于贝叶斯技术的ZINB模型可以量化森林更新的影响因子,并解释参数传递的不确定性,是预测森林天然更新的有力工具。     

树木年轮揭示的东灵山主要树种间干旱耐受性差异

近年来北京地区的森林随极端干旱加剧表现出脆弱性特征,为了解气候变化下不同树种的干旱耐受性,选择北京东灵山森林内3个乔木树种(华北落叶松、油松和辽东栎),利用树木年轮生态学方法分析了径向生长与气候的关系,以及对极端干旱事件的抵抗力和弹性。结果表明: 华北落叶松和油松与5—6月气温呈显著负相关,辽东栎与5月气温呈显著负相关;华北落叶松与6月降水量、5—6月和8—9月相对湿度呈显著正相关,油松与6—8月降水量和相对湿度呈显著正相关,辽东栎与2月和5月降水量、5月相对湿度呈显著正相关;所有树种均与当年5—7月标准化降水蒸散指数(SPEI)呈显著正相关。华北落叶松是干旱耐受性最弱的树种,径向生长在所选极端干旱事件中(1994年、2001—2002年和2007年)下降幅度最大(46.6%～69.6%),抵抗力(0.534、0.304、0.530)和弹性(0.686、0.570、0.753)显著低于辽东栎和油松,辽东栎在2007年抵抗力显著高于油松,弹性无显著差异。生长季持续的高温或降水减少引起的极端干旱是树木径向生长下降的主要原因,树种间各异的生理生态策略是干旱耐受性差异的可能原因。研究结果可为未来造林树种选择和森林管护措施制定提供新依据,以在气候压力持续增加背景下维持森林生态系统功能和服务。     

Identifying effective tree planting schemes to restore forest carbon and biodiversity in Shiretoko National Park,Japan

Growing interest in ecosystem restoration has recently turned the focus on tree planting, one of the most widely used restoration tools globally. Here, we study the restoration potential of tree planting in a cool-temperate forest in Shiretoko National Park, northern Japan. We used simulation modeling to investigate the long-term success of tree planting in restoring biodiversity and the climate change mitigation function relative to intact natural forests. Specifically, we investigated 31 different restoration scenarios, consisting of five planting densities (1,000–10,000 trees/ha) × six levels of planted tree species richness (one to six species) + one no-planting scenario. We examined these scenarios at different distances from natural forests serving as a seed source (0–300 m) to quantify the potential for natural regeneration. In restoration areas in close proximity to a natural forest, species-rich high-density planting scenario performed best, reaching >50% of the reference values from intact natural forests within 33 years for both restoration goals. However, variation in restoration outcomes was small when >2,500 trees/ha of more than four species were planted, regardless of distance to seed source. In contrast, biodiversity restoration was considerably delayed in scenarios where planted species richness was low as well as in restoration areas that were far from a seed source yet relied solely on natural regeneration. We here demonstrate how forest landscape simulation can be used to identify viable restoration options for managers across multiple restoration goals as an important step to bridge the research–implementation gap in forest restoration.     

Time lag and negative responses of forest greenness and tree growth to warming over circumboreal forests

The terrestrial forest ecosystems in the northern high latitude region have been experiencing significant warming rates over several decades. These forests are considered crucial to the climate system and global carbon cycle and are particularly vulnerable to climate change. To obtain an improved estimate of the response of vegetation activity, e.g., forest greenness and tree growth, to climate change, we investigated spatiotemporal variations in two independent data sets containing the dendroecological information for this region over the past 30 years. These indices are the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI3g) and the tree‐ring width index (RWI), both of which showed significant spatial variability in past trends and responses to climate changes. These trends and responses to climate change differed significantly in the ecosystems of the circumarctic (latitude higher than 67°N) and the circumboreal forests (latitude higher and lower than 50°N and 67°N, respectively), but the way in which they differed was relatively similar in the NDVI3g and the RWI. In the circumarctic ecosystem, the climate variables of the current summer were the main climatic drivers for the positive response to the increase in temperatures showed by both the NDVI3g and the RWI indices. On the other hand, in the circumboreal forest ecosystem, the climate variables of the previous year (from summer to winter) were also important climatic drivers for both the NDVI3g and the RWI. Importantly, both indices showed that the temperatures in the previous year negatively affected the ecosystem. Although such negative responses to warming did not necessarily lead to a past negative linear trend in the NDVI3g and the RWI over the past 30 years, future climate warming could potentially cause severe reduction in forest greenness and tree growth in the circumboreal forest ecosystem.     

黄河上游甘蒙柽柳生长对极端旱涝的响应

青藏高原黄河上游河岸带是典型的生态脆弱区, 然而近年来气候变暖加剧了该地极端旱涝事件的频繁发生, 高原河岸带生态脆弱区植被是否能够应对极端旱涝事件的干扰成为流域生态环境管理工作所关注的重点问题。为了研究黄河上游河岸林中主要树种对极端旱涝的响应, 该研究选取青海省同德县和兴海县3处河岸林中的47株甘蒙柽柳(Tamarix austromongolica), 分别从树干面向邻近山体一侧及与之垂直的一侧分别获取1根树轮样本, 分析其历史生长。通过对比两个方向上的生长速率判断甘蒙柽柳是否受到地质灾害影响从而将其划分为受伤组和对照组, 分析两组甘蒙柽柳在过去63年中径流极值年的抵抗力状况及两个方向的生长差异。研究发现, 甘蒙柽柳对干旱和洪涝均有着很强的抵抗力, 河岸带多样化的水分来源有助于甘蒙柽柳在极端干旱环境中较好地生长; 但洪涝伴随泥石流等地质灾害的频发使甘蒙柽柳面向山体侧面受到严重的生长抑制, 表现出显著的方向性差异, 从而影响甘蒙柽柳的形态。较长的创伤恢复期带来的遗留效应可能造成甘蒙柽柳对外界干扰的较高敏感性。研究黄河上游甘蒙柽柳生长对极端旱涝的响应, 将有助于评估生态脆弱区生态弹性过程, 同时为高原河岸带生态建设和恢复提供科学依据。     

长白山蒙古栎次生林群落结构特征及优势树种空间分布格局

群落结构特征研究是揭示植物群落维持机制和演替动态的基础,是合理安排森林经营活动的基本前提.以吉林省汪清林业局2块1 hm²的蒙古栎阔叶混交林固定样地为对象,研究了长白山蒙古栎次生林的群落结构特征,并采用点格局O-ring统计法对群落内优势树种的空间分布格局进行分析.结果表明: 两块样地都是以蒙古栎为优势树种的群落类型,都具有明显的层次结构,主要伴生树种存在差异,样地Ⅰ以大青杨、白桦、红松为主,样地Ⅱ以红松、紫椴和色木槭为主.且样地Ⅰ的树种数量、Shannon多样性指数高于样地Ⅱ.两块样地中所有个体的径级分布呈倒“J”型,蒙古栎径级结构呈近似正态型,红松呈倒J型,其他主要伴生树种径级结构存在一定差异.两块样地0～50 m尺度上蒙古栎呈现小尺度聚集、中大尺度随机分布的格局,红松呈先聚集、后随机的分布格局,但样地Ⅰ内红松聚集的尺度和强度均大于样地Ⅱ.样地Ⅰ白桦和大青杨均在0～17 m尺度上呈聚集分布、且聚集强度显著高于其他树种,而在18～50 m尺度分别呈现随机分布和均匀-随机分布.样地Ⅱ中紫椴基本呈现随机分布,色木槭在中大尺度上呈随机或均匀分布,聚集分布集中在小尺度.两块样地处于演替早期阶段的不同发育阶段,相比样地Ⅰ,样地Ⅱ的演替阶段更高、群落相对更加稳定.     

Pliocene intraspecific divergence and Plio‐Pleistocene range expansions within Picea likiangensis (Lijiang spruce), a dominant forest tree of the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau

A knowledge of intraspecific divergence and range dynamics of dominant forest trees in response to past geological and climate change is of major importance to an understanding of their recent evolution and demography. Such knowledge is informative of how forests were affected by environmental factors in the past and may provide pointers to their response to future environmental change. However, genetic signatures of such historical events are often weak at individual loci due to large effective population sizes and long generation times of forest trees. This problem can be overcome by analysing genetic variation across multiple loci. We used this approach to examine intraspecific divergence and past range dynamics in the conifer Picea likiangensis, a dominant tree of forests occurring in eastern and southern areas of the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau (QTP). We sequenced 13 nuclear loci, two mitochondrial DNA regions and three plastid (chloroplast) DNA regions in 177 individuals sampled from 22 natural populations of this species, and tested the hypothesis that its evolutionary history was markedly affected by Pliocene QTP uplifts and Quaternary climatic oscillations. Consistent with the taxonomic delimitation of the three morphologically divergent varieties examined, all individuals clustered into three genetic groups with intervariety admixture detected in regions of geographical overlap. Divergence between varieties was estimated to have occurred within the Pliocene and ecological niche modelling based on 20 ecological variables suggested that niche differentiation was high. Furthermore, modelling of population‐genetic data indicated that two of the varieties (var. rubescens and var. linzhiensis) expanded their population sizes after the largest Quaternary glaciation in the QTP, while expansion of the third variety (var. likiangensis) began prior to this, probably following the Pliocene QTP uplift. These findings point to the importance of geological and climatic changes during the Pliocene and Pleistocene as causes of intraspecific diversification and range shifts of dominant tree species in the QTP biodiversity hot spot region.     

Reconstruction of forest ecosystem Holocene dynamics in the left bank of Kas River (Krasnoyarsk Region)

A reconstruction of forest-cover dynamics in the northern part of the Kas River basin has been done for the first time. This study based on a palynological analysis of the peat profile. Six pollen zones and respective phases of forest evolution are distinguished. It is inferred that changes in the forest species composition over the last 8000 years were determined by variations in the global and regional climate. The warm and humid climate of the Atlantic period promoted the development of dark coniferous birch-spruce-fir forests. Cooling and smaller precipitation in the Subboreal period led to a change in dominant species to Scotch pine and birch-Siberian pine forests with an admixture of spruce and fir. In the Subatlantic period, closed coniferous forests eventually evolved, with Siberian pine-pine remaining dominant.     

栓皮栎人工林灌木层植物多样性的空间分布及其与光环境的关系

采用地统计学方法,对栓皮栎纯林和栓皮栎-侧柏混交林2种林分类型灌木层植物物种多样性空间异质性及其与光环境的关系进行研究。结果表明: 栓皮栎纯林灌木层植物Shannon(H)、Simpson(D_s)、Margalef(M_a)物种多样性指数均显著小于栓皮栎-侧柏混交林。栓皮栎纯林灌木层植物物种多样性指数的变程和空间自相关距离均大于栓皮栎-侧柏混交林,其空间均一性较差,空间依赖性较强。栓皮栎纯林灌木层植物H、D_s、M_a结构比为44.2%～49.7%,具有中等强度的空间自相关性;栓皮栎-侧柏混交林中H、D_s、M_a结构比为1.5%～3.3%,具有强烈的空间自相关性。栓皮栎纯林灌木层植物物种多样性指数的空间分布主要呈明显的条带状梯度变化,而栓皮栎-侧柏混交林则呈明显的斑块状梯度变化,说明栓皮栎混交林灌木层植物较栓皮栎纯林空间连续性差,空间变异更为显著。相关与逐步回归分析表明,对栓皮栎纯林和栓皮栎-侧柏混交林灌木层植物多样性影响最为显著的光环境指标分别是林下总光照和冠层开度,冠层结构所形成的光环境在维持及形成灌木层植物多样性方面起到重要作用。     

间伐强度对黄桥林区辽东栎林结实规律的影响

为了阐明抚育间伐强度对辽东栎林结实规律的影响,以黄土高原南部黄龙山和桥山林区辽东栎中龄林为研究对象,对不同间伐强度(对照、10%、20%、30%)近自然经营抚育间伐5年后的林分密度与结实母树比例、平均单株结实与单位面积林分总结实量、种子在树冠上空间分布特征及种子特征等进行调查分析.结果表明: 辽东栎林结实母树的比例、平均单株结实量及发育种子比例均随着间伐强度的增大而增大,表现为30%>20%>10%>对照;而单位面积林分总结实量在20%强度间伐时达到最大,表现为20%>30%>对照>10%.从辽东栎种子在树冠上的空间分布来看,73.6%的种子集中分布于树冠上层,26.4%分布于下层.树冠阳面结实量占总结实量的65.8%,树冠阴面仅占34.2%,间伐强度对树冠下层、阴面结实量的提升幅度分别大于树冠上层和阳面.辽东栎种子的长径、短径及千粒重均随间伐强度的增大而增大,在30%间伐强度时达到最大.10%强度间伐对辽东栎林结实影响不显著,间伐强度达到20%时,才能显著提高辽东栎种子的数量和品质,继续提高间伐强度到30%时,并不能有效提高其结实,而其林分总结实量却下降.建议在对该林区进行抚育间伐时,应选择20%的间伐强度(保留郁闭度0.7),可有效提高辽东栎种群的结实量和品质.     

Improving predictions of tropical forest response to climate change through integration of field studies and ecosystem modeling

Tropical forests play a critical role in carbon and water cycles at a global scale. Rapid climate change is anticipated in tropical regions over the coming decades and, under a warmer and drier climate, tropical forests are likely to be net sources of carbon rather than sinks. However, our understanding of tropical forest response and feedback to climate change is very limited. Efforts to model climate change impacts on carbon fluxes in tropical forests have not reached a consensus. Here, we use the Ecosystem Demography model (ED2) to predict carbon fluxes of a Puerto Rican tropical forest under realistic climate change scenarios. We parameterized ED2 with species‐specific tree physiological data using the Predictive Ecosystem Analyzer workflow and projected the fate of this ecosystem under five future climate scenarios. The model successfully captured interannual variability in the dynamics of this tropical forest. Model predictions closely followed observed values across a wide range of metrics including aboveground biomass, tree diameter growth, tree size class distributions, and leaf area index. Under a future warming and drying climate scenario, the model predicted reductions in carbon storage and tree growth, together with large shifts in forest community composition and structure. Such rapid changes in climate led the forest to transition from a sink to a source of carbon. Growth respiration and root allocation parameters were responsible for the highest fraction of predictive uncertainty in modeled biomass, highlighting the need to target these processes in future data collection. Our study is the first effort to rely on Bayesian model calibration and synthesis to elucidate the key physiological parameters that drive uncertainty in tropical forests responses to climatic change. We propose a new path forward for model‐data synthesis that can substantially reduce uncertainty in our ability to model tropical forest responses to future climate.     

Does It Make Sense to Restore Wildland Fire in Changing Climate?

Forest restoration guided by historical reference conditions of fire regime, forest structure, and composition has been increasingly and successfully applied in fire‐adapted forests of western North America. But because climate change is expected to alter vegetation distributions and foster severe disturbances, does it make sense to restore the ecological role of wildland fire through management burning and related activities such as tree thinning? I suggest that some site‐ and date‐specific historical conditions may be less relevant, but reference conditions in the broad sense are still useful. Reference conditions encompass not only the recent past but also evolutionary history, reflecting the role of fire as a selective force over millennia. Taking a long‐term functional view of historical reference conditions as the result of evolutionary processes can provide insights into past forest adaptations and migrations under various climates. As future climates change, historical reference data from lower, southerly, and drier sites may be useful in places that are higher, northerly, and currently wetter. Almost all models suggest that the future will have substantial increases in wildfire occurrence, but prior to recent human‐caused fire exclusion, fire‐adapted pine forests of western North America were among the most frequently burned in the world. Restoration of patterns of burning and fuels/forest structure that reasonably emulate historical conditions prior to fire exclusion is consistent with reducing the susceptibility of these ecosystems to catastrophic loss. Priorities may include fire and thinning treatments of upper elevation ecotones to facilitate forest migration, whereas vulnerable low‐elevation forests may merit less management investment.     

Predicting tree biomass growth in the temperate–boreal ecotone: Is tree size,age, competition,or climate response most important?

As global temperatures rise, variation in annual climate is also changing, with unknown consequences for forest biomes. Growing forests have the ability to capture atmospheric CO₂ and thereby slow rising CO₂ concentrations. Forests’ ongoing ability to sequester C depends on how tree communities respond to changes in climate variation. Much of what we know about tree and forest response to climate variation comes from tree‐ring records. Yet typical tree‐ring datasets and models do not capture the diversity of climate responses that exist within and among trees and species. We address this issue using a model that estimates individual tree response to climate variables while accounting for variation in individuals’ size, age, competitive status, and spatially structured latent covariates. Our model allows for inference about variance within and among species. We quantify how variables influence aboveground biomass growth of individual trees from a representative sample of 15 northern or southern tree species growing in a transition zone between boreal and temperate biomes. Individual trees varied in their growth response to fluctuating mean annual temperature and summer moisture stress. The variation among individuals within a species was wider than mean differences among species. The effects of mean temperature and summer moisture stress interacted, such that warm years produced positive responses to summer moisture availability and cool years produced negative responses. As climate models project significant increases in annual temperatures, growth of species like Acer saccharum, Quercus rubra, and Picea glauca will vary more in response to summer moisture stress than in the past. The magnitude of biomass growth variation in response to annual climate was 92–95% smaller than responses to tree size and age. This means that measuring or predicting the physical structure of current and future forests could tell us more about future C dynamics than growth responses related to climate change alone.     

Long‐term forest resilience to climate change indicated by mortality,regeneration, and growth in semiarid southern Siberia

Several studies have documented that regional climate warming and the resulting increase in drought stress have triggered increased tree mortality in semiarid forests with unavoidable impacts on regional and global carbon sequestration. Although climate warming is projected to continue into the future, studies examining long‐term resilience of semiarid forests against climate change are limited. In this study, long‐term forest resilience was defined as the capacity of forest recruitment to compensate for losses from mortality. We observed an obvious change in long‐term forest resilience along a local aridity gradient by reconstructing tree growth trend and disturbance history and investigating postdisturbance regeneration in semiarid forests in southern Siberia. In our study, with increased severity of local aridity, forests became vulnerable to drought stress, and regeneration first accelerated and then ceased. Radial growth of trees during 1900–2012 was also relatively stable on the moderately arid site. Furthermore, we found that smaller forest patches always have relatively weaker resilience under the same climatic conditions. Our results imply a relatively higher resilience in arid timberline forest patches than in continuous forests; however, further climate warming and increased drought could possibly cause the disappearance of small forest patches around the arid tree line. This study sheds light on climate change adaptation and provides insight into managing vulnerable semiarid forests.     

Nationally Representative Plot Network Reveals Contrasting Drivers of Net Biomass Change in Secondary and Old-Growth Forests

Uncertainty about the mechanisms driving biomass change at broad spatial scales limits our ability to predict the response of forest biomass storage to global change. Here we use a spatially representative network of 874 forest plots in New Zealand to examine whether commonly hypothesised drivers of forest biomass and biomass change (diversity, disturbance, nutrients and climate) differ between old-growth and secondary forests at a national scale. We calculate biomass stocks and net biomass change for live above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, deadwood and litter pools. We combine these data with plot-level information on forest type, tree diversity, plant functional traits, climate and disturbance history, and use structural equation models to identify the major drivers of biomass change. Over the period 2002–2014, secondary forest biomass increased by 2.78 (1.68–3.89) Mg ha^?1 y^?1, whereas no significant change was detected in old-growth forests (+0.28; ?0.72 to 1.29 Mg ha^?1 y^?1). The drivers of biomass and biomass change differed between secondary and old-growth forests. Plot-level biomass change of old-growth forest was driven by recent disturbance (large tree mortality within the last decade), whereas biomass change of secondary forest was determined by current biomass and past anthropogenic disturbance. Climate indirectly affected biomass change through its relationship with past anthropogenic disturbance. Our results highlight the importance of disturbance and disturbance history in determining broad-scale patterns of forest biomass change and suggest that explicitly modelling processes driving biomass change within secondary and old-growth forests is essential for predicting future changes in global forest biomass.     

Dendrochronological potential of four neotropical dry-forest tree species: Climate-growth correlations in northeast Brazil

Tropical dry forests (TDF) are highly important tropical forest ecosystems. Yet, these forests are highly threatened, usually neglected and only poorly studied. Understanding the long-term influences of environmental conditions on tree growth in these forests is crucial to understand the functioning, carbon dynamics and potential responses to future climate change of these forests. Dendrochronology can be used as a tool to provide these insights but has only scantly been applied in (dry) tropical forests. Here we evaluate the dendrochronological potential of four Caatinga neotropical dry forest tree species – Aspidosperma pyrifolium, Ziziphus joazeiro, Tabebuia aurea, and Libidibia ferrea – collected in two locations in northeastern Brazil (Sergipe state). We provide an anatomical characterization of the ring boundaries for the four species and investigate correlations of their growth with local and regional climatic variables. All four species form annual rings and show high inter-correlation (up to 0.806) and sensitivity (up to 0.565). Growth of all species correlated with local precipitation as well as with sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and/or tropical Pacific oceans. We also show teleconnections between growth and the El Niño South Oscillation. The strong dependence of tree on precipitation is worrisome, considering that climate change scenarios forecast increased drought conditions in the Caatinga dry forest. Including more species and expanding dendrochronological studies to more areas would greatly improve our understanding of tree growth and functioning in TDFs. This type of knowledge is essential to assist the conservation, management and restoration of these critical tropical ecosystems.     

邻域竞争对长白山阔叶红松林关键树种生长的影响

林木间的竞争是影响树木生长、形态和死亡的主要因素.单木邻域竞争分析能够反映个体间相互作用规律及其距离范围,对于减缓林木竞争、促进林木生长具有重要意义.为弄清竞争对阔叶红松林林木生长的影响,本研究基于Hegyi单木竞争指数和邻域分析方法,探讨了长白山原始阔叶红松林中的5个关键树种——红松、紫椴、水曲柳、蒙古栎和春榆(胸高断面积合计占80%)竞争的邻域半径,并分析了竞争对关键树种生长和死亡的影响.结果表明:红松、紫椴、水曲柳和蒙古栎4个树种单木竞争的邻域半径均为11 m,春榆为13 m.关键树种单木邻域竞争强度与其生长量的对数呈显著负相关,与树木个体的大小呈显著正相关;竞争强度对树木生长影响的相对重要性随着个体的生长而降低.邻域竞争显著增加了关键树种的死亡率.本研究表明长白山阔叶红松林中邻域竞争对关键树种的生长和存活有重要影响,研究结果对阔叶红松林关键树种竞争环境的调整和生产力的提升具有指导意义.