Tree-ring width based streamflow reconstruction for the Kaidu River originating from the central Tianshan Mountains since A.D. 1700

In this study, a 310-year pSeptember–August record of streamflow (where p denotes a month from the previous year) for the Kaidu River was reconstructed based on tree-ring-width from 137 Schrenk spruces (Picea schrenkiana). Spatial correlation showed that this streamflow reconstruction contains local hydroclimatic signals that approximately overlap the Kaidu River watershed. A comparison between the streamflow reconstruction for the Kaidu River and five tree-ring-based hydrological reconstructions for the surrounding areas revealed similar variations in the low-frequency domain. The results of comparison analyses between this reconstruction and other hydrological reconstructions indicated that the hydrological characteristics of the Kaidu River in the 1910s (the driest decade for the Kaidu River in the last 310 years), and the increasing trend of streamflow that began in the 1980s, might have occurred in other areas of the Tianshan Mountains and covered an even larger area. Furthermore, the highest and lowest values of this reconstructed streamflow series capture five flood or snowfall events (1803, 1804, 1836, 1923, and 1959) and six drought events (1894, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1931, and 1944) that were noted in historical documents. The 10.8- and 3.5–5.4-year cycles of this reconstruction coincided with the observed data and other tree-ring based hydrometeorological reconstructions, and revealed the possible influences of solar activity and the atmosphere–ocean system.     

Climate-driven dynamics of the forest-tundra vegetation in the Polar Ural Mountains

The paper presents the results of long-term studies of the effect of climate changes on the structure, productivity, and spatial distribution of forest-tundra communities growing in the upper treeline ecotone on the east-facing macroslope of the Polar Ural Mountains, in the Sob’ River basin. The study reveals variations in the stand age structure, density, productivity, and the altitude of the upper line of larch open forests and closed forests over the last 1000 years. These results were compared to long-term variations in summer temperature reconstructed using tree-ring analysis. Spatiotemporal dynamics of the forest-tundra communities was analyzed in detail in relation to the 20th century climate warming.     

Radial growth response to climate change along the latitudinal range of the world's southernmost conifer in southern South America

Aim

We examined whether and how tree radial‐growth responses to climate have changed for the world's southernmost conifer species throughout its latitudinal distribution following rapid climate change in the second half of the 20th century.

Location

Temperate forests in southern South America.

Methods

New and existing tree‐ring radial growth chronologies representing the entire latitudinal range of Pilgerodendron uviferum were grouped according to latitude and then examined for differences in growth trends and non‐stationarity in growth responses to a drought severity index (scPDSI) over the 1900–1993 AD period and also before and after significant shifts in climate in the 1950s and 1970s.

Results

The radial‐growth response of P. uviferum climate was highly variable across its full latitudinal distribution. There was a long‐term and positive association between radial growth and higher moisture at the northern and southern edges of the distribution of this species and the opposite relationship for the core of its distribution, especially following the climatic shifts of the 1950s and 1970s. In addition, non‐stationarity in moisture‐radial growth relationships was observed in all three latitudinal groups (southern and northern edges and core) for all seasons during the 20th century.

Main conclusions

Climate shifts in southern South America in the 1950s and 1970s resulted in different responses in the mean radial growth of P. uviferum at the southern and northern edges and at the core of its range. Dendroclimatic analyses document that during the first half of the 20th century climate‐growth relationships were relatively similar between the southern and northern range edges but diverged after the 1950s. Our findings imply that simulated projections of climate impacts on tree growth, and by implication on forest ecosystem productivity, derived from models of past climate‐growth relationships need to carefully consider different and non‐stationarity responses along the wide latitudinal distribution of this species.     

Warming-Induced Decline of Picea crassifolia Growth in the Qilian Mountains in Recent Decades

Warming-induced drought has widely affected forest dynamics in most places of the northern hemisphere. In this study, we assessed how climate warming has affected Picea crassifolia (Qinghai spruce) forests using tree growth-climate relationships and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) along the Qilian Mountains, northeastern Tibet Plateau (the main range of Picea crassifolia). Based on the analysis on trees radial growth data from the upper tree line and the regional NDVI data, we identified a pervasive growth decline in recent decades, most likely caused by warming-induced droughts. The drought stress on Picea crassifolia radial growth were expanding from northeast to southwest and the favorable moisture conditions for tree growth were retreating along the identical direction in the study area over the last half century. Compared to the historical drought stress on tree radial growth in the 1920s, recent warming-induced droughts display a longer-lasting stress with a broader spatial distribution on regional forest growth. If the recent warming continues without the effective moisture increasing, then a notable challenge is developed for Picea crassifolia in the Qilian Mountains. Elaborate forest management is necessary to counteract the future risk of climate change effects in this region.     

Hydroclimatic drivers of the growth of riparian cottonwoods at the prairie margin: River flows,river regulation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation

Cottonwoods, riparian poplars, are facultative phreatophytes and can obtain water from shallow soil moisture originating from rainfall, or from the deeper capillary fringe above the alluvial water table that is recharged by river water infiltration. The correspondence between cottonwood growth and river flows should reveal the dependency upon alluvial groundwater and subsequently, the vulnerability to reduced river flows. To explore this association, we analyzed historic growth patterns of plains cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) along the Red Deer River (RDR), which is at the northwestern limit of the North American Great Plains. We developed chronologies of yearly radial increments (RI) and basal area increments (BAI) and explored correspondences with the environmental records from the past century. In this semi-arid region, the RI or BAI were not correlated with local precipitation while negative correlation with growth season temperature (T) (r = −0.37, p < 0.01) could reflect reduced growth with hot summers. There was correlation between growth and annual river discharge (Q, and particularly log Q that approximates river stage) and this increased with two year averaging (r = 0.51, p < 0.01), reflecting carry-over in the watershed hydrology and in the ecophysiological response. There was correspondence with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation index (PDO, r = −0.45, p < 0.01), which provides multi-decade transitions that influence Rocky Mountain headwater precipitation and other weather characteristics, and river flows. The combination of Q, PDO and T provided the strongest multiple regression model, accounting for 44% of the historic growth variation (52% correspondence for 1953–2013). The RDR was dammed in 1983, enabling winter flow augmentation, but summer flows were sustained and cottonwood growth and the streamflow correspondence persisted. This indicates that it is the pattern of dam operation and not damming per se that determines the fate of established riparian cottonwoods downstream. This study revealed that these cottonwoods are phreatophytic and dependent upon alluvial groundwater that is recharged from the river. This provides a research strategy to determine whether riparian woodlands along other regulated rivers are similarly groundwater-dependent and could be vulnerable to river flow reductions from excessive water withdrawal for irrigation or other uses, or with climate change.     

Radial Growth of Two Dominant Montane Conifer Tree Species in Response to Climate Change in North-Central China

North-Central China is a region in which the air temperature has clearly increased for several decades. Picea meyeri and Larix principis-rupprechtii are the most dominant co-occurring tree species within the cold coniferous forest belt ranging vertically from 1800 m to 2800 m a.s.l. in this region. Based on a tree-ring analysis of 292 increment cores sampled from 146 trees at different elevations, this study aimed to examine if the radial growth of the two species in response to climate is similar, whether the responses are consistent along altitudinal gradients and which species might be favored in the future driven by the changing climate. The results indicated the following: (1) The two species grew in different rhythms at low and high elevation respectively; (2) Both species displayed inconsistent relationships between radial growth and climate data along altitudinal gradients. The correlation between radial growth and the monthly mean temperature in the spring or summer changed from negative at low elevation into positive at high elevation, whereas those between the radial growth and the total monthly precipitation displayed a change from positive into negative along the elevation gradient. These indicate the different influences of the horizontal climate and vertical mountainous climate on the radial growth of the two species; (3) The species-dependent different response to climate in radial growth appeared mainly in autumn of the previous year. The radial growth of L. principis-rupprechtii displayed negative responses both to temperature and to precipitation in the previous September, October or November, which was not observed in the radial growth of P. meyeri. (4) The radial growth of both species will tend to be increased at high elevation and limited at low elevation, and L. principis-rupprechtii might be more favored in the future, if the temperature keeps rising.     

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.     

变异条件下淮河流域生态径流变化特征及驱动因子

基于淮河流域7个水文站点1956—2016年逐日径流量和72个雨量站点1960—2016的逐日降水量数据,利用Pettitt变异点检测、生态赤字和生态剩余等生态径流指标,定量分析淮河流域水文变异特征,根据生物多样性指标和水文变异指数间的关系,分析该流域水文变异的生态效应,利用位置、尺度、形状的广义可加模型(Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape,GAMLSS)理论框架量化气候因子对生态径流变化的贡献。研究表明:(1)水文变异后生态剩余减少,生态赤字增多,干流流量历时曲线比支流下移更明显;年生态剩余/赤字与面降水距平变化一致,水利工程调蓄作用是夏季生态径流与降水距平相关性差的主要原因;(2)除冬季外,淮河流域年、季尺度生态赤字(生态剩余)逐年增加(减小),春季增加最为明显。尽管冬季生态剩余比其他季节高,但生态剩余整体减小,21世纪干流生态剩余达最低,香农指数表明淮河流域生物多样性逐年下降。生态径流指标与水文改变指标(Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration,IHA)指标相关达0.45,能体现IHA大部分参数信息;(3)淮河流域生态径流对北大西洋涛动(North Atlantic Oscillation,NAO)、太平洋年代际振荡(Pacific Decadal Oscillation,PDO)和Nino3.4气候因子影响最为敏感。干流生态径流对气候因子响应最敏感,而支流生态径流对气候因子响应不敏感,通过GAMLSS模型构建的生态径流对极端值和局部趋势拟合的效果更优。     

Effects of climate on the radial growth of mixed stands of Nothofagus nervosa and Nothofagus obliqua along a precipitation gradient in Patagonia,Argentina

Climate models for North Patagonia in Argentina project dryer conditions, due to a decrease in mean precipitation combined with an increase in mean temperatures. The temperate mixed Nothofagus forest, which exists along a steep precipitation gradient, could be directly impacted. For this study, we evaluated the influence of mean climate on the growth of the significant deciduous species: N. nervosa and N. obliqua. For the first time in Argentina, dendroclimatological analyses were done on both species using a network of 14 chronologies, covering their longitudinal distribution along a gradient of declining precipitation from west to east. Seasonal correlation analysis revealed that temperature has a negative effect on the growth of both species across all sites, particularly during summer of the previous and current growth season. Precipitation has a positive effect on the growth of trees for both species, which is more significant for N. nervosa. The relationship between early-summer climate and growth remained relatively stable over time for N. nervosa; however, for N. obliqua the detrimental effects of temperature increased towards the end of the 20th century, and the positive effects of precipitation decreased, particularly at the driest end of the gradient. These results suggest that a continued decrease in rainfall with a rise in temperature could impact growth for both of these species.     

Age-dependency,climate, and environmental controls of recent tree growth trends at subarctic and alpine treelines

Spatial and temporal variability in growth and climate response of trees at and near treeline was investigated in the western Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories, and the Hudson Bay Lowlands of northern Manitoba. Residual ring width chronologies were constructed using cores extracted from 108 trees in the mountains and 170 from the lowlands, and compared to historical climate data. Growth of most trees exhibited significant correlations with summer and autumn temperatures, and the growth–climate relationship did not differ noticeably between trees at and distal to treeline. Most mountain trees had significant positive growth trends from 1851 to 2006 that corresponded with warming over the same period, while growth trends varied among sites and species in the lowlands. Regionally, growth of all species responded positively to warming during the 20th century with the exception of lowland Picea mariana, which exhibited little response. Growth response for most trees was age-dependent, with trees established after 1920 demonstrating improved growth and sensitivity to temperature than older individuals, and growth of most species since the 1990s was greater than any time during the last 250 years, particularly for lowland Larix laricina. This study suggests that site factors and tree age can be more important drivers of local-scale growth trends than regional climate at arctic treelines where temperature is often assumed to be the main constraint on tree growth.     

The effects of land use and climate change on the carbon cycle of Europe over the past 500 years

The long residence time of carbon in forests and soils means that both the current state and future behavior of the terrestrial biosphere are influenced by past variability in climate and anthropogenic land use. Over the last half‐millennium, European terrestrial ecosystems were affected by the cool temperatures of the Little Ice Age, rising CO₂ concentrations, and human induced deforestation and land abandonment. To quantify the importance of these processes, we performed a series of simulations with the LPJ dynamic vegetation model driven by reconstructed climate, land use, and CO₂ concentrations. Although land use change was the major control on the carbon inventory of Europe over the last 500 years, the current state of the terrestrial biosphere is largely controlled by land use change during the past century. Between 1500 and 2000, climate variability led to temporary sequestration events of up to 3 Pg, whereas increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations during the 20th century led to an increase in carbon storage of up to 15 Pg. Anthropogenic land use caused between 25 Pg of carbon emissions and 5 Pg of uptake over the same time period, depending on the historical and spatial pattern of past land use and the timing of the reversal from deforestation to afforestation during the last two centuries. None of the currently existing anthropogenic land use change datasets adequately capture the timing of the forest transition in most European countries as recorded in historical observations. Despite considerable uncertainty, our scenarios indicate that with limited management, extant European forests have the potential to absorb between 5 and 12 Pg of carbon at the present day.     

Streamflow reconstruction of Eastern Himalaya River,Lachen ‘Chhu’, North Sikkim,based on tree-ring data of Larix griffithiana from Zemu Glacier basin

The relationship of streamflow records of the Lachen River with tree-ring parameters of total tree-ring width (TRW), earlywood width (EWW) and latewood width (LWW) chronologies of Larix griffithiana from Lachen, North Sikkim, Eastern Himalaya was generated. These chronologies correlate significantly with the observed discharge of the Lachen River where the EWW chronology explains 61.2% of the streamflow variance. Based on this result, Lachen River discharge for the period of previous year March to current year February was reconstructed using EWW chronology, which extends back to AD 1790. In the smoothed reconstructed data the period of extreme low streamflows were during AD 1791–1805, 1813–1822 and 1914–1925 and the extreme highs were during AD 1823–1835, 1879–1890, 1926–1946 and 1980–1989. The streamflow is also found to be lower than average during the monsoon failure (or East India Drought) of AD 1792–1796 and past great droughts of AD 1876–1878. The lower tree growth during AD 1816–1822 is consistent with that of the Tambora volcanic eruption of Indonesia in AD 1815. High spectral power at 4–8 years in the reconstructed streamflow is similar to that of ENSO range.     

Evaluating the temperature sensitivity of radial growth patterns from whitebark pine in the western Canadian Cordillera

We present a network of thirteen annual ring-width chronologies from high elevation whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis Engelm.) sites in the western Canadian Cordillera in order to assess the dendroclimatic potential of this long-lived tree species. The temperature signal within the chronologies is complex and strongly influenced by diverging trends in the summer temperature and ring-width records from across the region. A first differences transformation of the tree-ring and temperature records illustrates a loss of frequency coherence in growth response to summer temperatures following reduced radial growth in the 1950s. Prior to reduced growth, we note a positive association with summer temperatures for both first differenced (r_d = 0.60) and traditional (r = 0.50) records. Following reduced growth, the association at first differences is maintained (r_d = 0.49) whereas there is a change in the lower frequency component of tree growth response to summer temperatures (r = ?0.34). We suggest the cause of this reduced temperature sensitivity is related to the interaction between diurnal temperature and cloud cover patterns, the hydrological regime of snowpack, and site conditions which have been amenable to the initiation of moisture stress during the latter half of the 20th century. Reduced radial growth is coincident with the arrival of white pine blister rust (Cronatium ribicola J.C. Fisch. ex Raben) into the study region which suggests this infestation may be related to the observed reduction in radial growth. Whitebark pine has considerable potential for the field of dendroclimatology. Unfortunately, the decline of the species due to the combined effects of climate change, white pine blister rust, mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopk.), and forest fire exclusion practices indicate this potential may remain unfulfilled.     

Millennium-Scale Crossdating and Inter-Annual Climate Sensitivities of Standing California Redwoods

Extremely decay-resistant wood and fire-resistant bark allow California’s redwoods to accumulate millennia of annual growth rings that can be useful in biological research. Whereas tree rings of Sequoiadendron giganteum (SEGI) helped formalize the study of dendrochronology and the principle of crossdating, those of Sequoia sempervirens (SESE) have proven much more difficult to decipher, greatly limiting dendroclimatic and other investigations of this species. We overcame these problems by climbing standing trees and coring trunks at multiple heights in 14 old-growth forest locations across California. Overall, we sampled 1,466 series with 483,712 annual rings from 120 trees and were able to crossdate 83% of SESE compared to 99% of SEGI rings. Standard and residual tree-ring chronologies spanning up to 1,685 years for SESE and 1,538 years for SEGI were created for each location to evaluate crossdating and to examine correlations between annual growth and climate. We used monthly values of temperature, precipitation, and drought severity as well as summer cloudiness to quantify potential drivers of inter-annual growth variation over century-long time series at each location. SESE chronologies exhibited a latitudinal gradient of climate sensitivities, contrasting cooler northern rainforests and warmer, drier southern forests. Radial growth increased with decreasing summer cloudiness in northern rainforests and a central SESE location. The strongest dendroclimatic relationship occurred in our southernmost SESE location, where radial growth correlated negatively with dry summer conditions and exhibited responses to historic fires. SEGI chronologies showed negative correlations with June temperature and positive correlations with previous October precipitation. More work is needed to understand quantitative relationships between SEGI radial growth and moisture availability, particularly snowmelt. Tree-ring chronologies developed here for both redwood species have numerous scientific applications, including determination of tree ages, accurate dating of fire-return intervals, archaeology, analyses of stable isotopes, long-term climate reconstructions, and quantifying rates of carbon sequestration.     

Climate increases regional tree-growth variability in Iberian pine forests

Tree populations located at the geographical distribution limit of the species may provide valuable information about tree‐growth response to changes on climatic conditions. We established nine Pinus nigra, 12 P. sylvestris and 17 P. uncinata tree‐ring width chronologies along the eastern and northern Iberian Peninsula, where these species are found at the edge of their natural range. Tree‐growth variability was analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) for the period 1885–1992. Despite the diversity of species, habitats and climatic regimes, a common macroclimatic signal expressed by the first principal component (PC1) was found. Moreover, considering the PC1 scores as a regional chronology, significant relations were established with Spanish meteorological data. The shared variance held by the tree chronologies, the frequency of narrow rings and the interannual growth variability (sensitivity) increased markedly during the studied period. This shows an enhancement of growth synchrony among forests indicating that climate might have become more limiting to growth. Noticeably, an upward abrupt shift in common variability at the end of the first half of the 20th century was detected. On the other hand, moving‐interval response functions showed a change in the growth–climate relationships during the same period. The relationship between growth and late summer/autumn temperatures of the year before growth (August–September, negative correlation, and November, positive correlation) became stronger. Hence, water stress increase during late summer previous to tree growth could be linked to the larger growth synchrony among sites, suggesting that climate was driving the growth pattern changes. This agrees with the upward trend in temperature observed in these months. Moreover, the higher occurrence of extreme years and the sensitivity increase in the second half of the 20th century were in agreement with an increment in precipitation variability during the growing period. Precipitation variability was positively related to tree‐growth variability, but negatively to radial growth. In conclusion, a change in tree‐growth pattern and in the climatic response of the studied forests was detected since the mid‐20th century and linked to an increase in water stress. These temporal trends were in agreement with the observed increase in warmer conditions and in precipitation variability.     

Towards a new approach for dendroprovenancing pines in the Mediterranean Iberian Peninsula

Dendroprovenancing studies frequently use site chronologies to identify the origin of archaeological and historical timber. However, radial growth (tree-ring width, TRW) of tree species is influenced by both local and regional climate scales. Here we investigate how the use of annually-resolved Blue Intensity (BI) measurements can enhance dendroprovenancing precision of black pine (Pinus nigra Arn.) and Scots pine (P. sylvestris L.) on the Iberian Peninsula. Principal Component Gradient Analyses (PCGA) was used to assess geographical patterns of annual variation in different TRW and BI proxies of pine trees from two mountain ranges in the Central System and Andalusia in Spain. Local climate-growth relationships were quantified to identify underlying causes of identified groups with diverse growth patterns. Two distinct elevational groups were observed when performing PCGA on latewood BI time series with the response to summer drought as the main factor causing the differences. Both P. nigra and P. sylvestris BI time series were found to be more related to summer drought at low-elevation sites showing an increase in sensitivity at lower latitudes. PCGA of TRW time series allowed to discriminate between trees from Andalusia and Central System within the elevation groups. February and October temperatures were found to be the main climatic factors causing the differences in TRW time series among the high- elevation sites, whereas for low-elevation trees it was the average winter temperature influencing TRW. A subsequent leave-one-out analyses confirmed that including latewood BI time series improves the precision of dendroprovenancing of pine wood in the Iberian Peninsula.     

Moisture record of the Upper Volga catchment between AD 1430 and 1600 supported by a δ13C tree-ring chronology of archaeological pine timbers

Investigations of interactions between climate change and humans suffer from the lack of climate proxies directly linked to historical or archaeological datasets that describe past environmental conditions at a particular location and time. We present a new set of pine tree-ring records (Pinus sylvestris L.) developed from burial timbers excavated at the historical center of Yaroslavl city, Russia. A 171-year δ¹³C tree-ring chronology from AD 1430 to AD 1600 evidences mostly wet summers during the 15th century but exceptionally dry conditions of the 16th century at the Upper Volga catchment. According to the tree-ring record there were four major droughts (<−1.5σ) lasting from 9 to 26 years: 1501–1517, 1524–1533, 1542–1555 and 1570–1596, and major pluvials (>+1.5σ) lasting from 70 to 5 years: 1430–1500, 1518–1523, 1534–1541, and 1556–1564. We discuss a plausible contribution of these droughts to crop failures and city fires documented with historical chronicles for the Upper Volga catchment. The devastating drought regime of the 16th century corresponds to the loss of independence of the Yaroslavl principality to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the formation of the centralized Russian State during the reign of Ivan the Terrible (1533–1584) underpinning the emergence of the Russian Empire. This study substantiates the value of archaeological timbers from the oldest Russian cities and inclusion of stable carbon isotope analysis for understanding hydroclimatic regimes across the mid latitudes of East European Plain, and their relationship to the history of Russia.     

Climatic signal in growth-rings of Copaifera lucens: An endemic species of a Brazilian Atlantic forest hotspot,southeastern Brazil

In this study, we present the first tree-ring chronology for the tropical tree species Copaifera lucens and its climatic signal in southeastern Brazil. Tree-ring width series were compared with local climate indices using a drought index (Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index —SPEI), in monthly, bi-monthly and four-monthly scales. We also calculated negative pointer years over the time-span of the tree-ring width. The radial growth of C. lucens showed a positive correlation with the SPEI of the current summer and autumn in all the three analyzed time scales, while the negative pointer years matched with drier years. The species was highly sensitive to very low summer precipitation, which may lead to a 49% reduction in growth. We conclude that the long-living C. lucens has a great potential for dendrochronological studies as it shows a marked climatic signal. Our study also reinforces the importance of rainfall in regulating radial growth in tropical forests and sheds light on the local climate influence on tree growth in recent decades.     

Past and current trends of change in a dune prairie/oak savanna reconstructed through a multiple-scale history

Abstract. The history of a rapidly changing mosaic of prairie and oak savanna in northern Indiana was reconstructed using several methods emphasizing different time scales ranging from annual to millennial. Vegetation change was monitored for 8 yr using plots and for 30 yr using aerial photographs. A 20th century fire history was reconstructed from the stand structure of multiple-stemmed trees and fire scars. General Land Office Survey data were used to reconstruct the forest of A.D. 1834. Fossil pollen and charcoal records were used to reconstruct the last 4000 yr of vegetation and fire history. Since its deposition along the shore of Lake Michigan about 4000 yr ago, the area has followed a classical primary dune successional sequence, gradually changing from pine forest to prairie/oak savanna between A.D. 264 and 1007. This successional trend, predicted in the models of Henry Cowles, occurred even though the climate cooled and prairies elsewhere in the region retreated. Severe fires in the 19th century reduced most tree species but led to a temporary increase in Populus tremuloides. During the last few decades, the prairie has been invaded by oaks and other woody species, primarily because of fire suppression since A.D. 1972. The rapid and complex changes now occurring are a response to the compounded effects of plant succession, intense burning and logging in the 19th century, recent fire suppression, and possibly increased airborne deposition of nitrates. The compilation of several historical research techniques emphasizing different time scales allows this study of the interactions between multiple disturbance variables.     

Climate signal shift under the influence of prevailing climate warming – Evidence from Quercus liaotungensis on Dongling Mountain,Beijing, China

Increasing climate warming is inducing drought stress and resulting in forest growth decline in many places around the world. The recent climate of northern China has shown trends of both warming and drying. In this study, we obtained tree ring width chronology of Quercus liaotungensis Koidz. from Dongling Mountain, Beijing, China. We divided the temperature series of the study area into cooling (1940–1969) and warming intervals (1970–2016). The climate–tree growth response analysis showed that temperature exerted a limiting impact on the annual radial growth of Q. liaotungensis during the cooling period, whereas the influence of temperature was lower during the warming period. The moving correlation analysis showed that the influence of summer temperature decreased with the warming climate since the 1970s, and that the influence of winter and spring temperatures decreased since the 2000s. The correlation values between the chronology and precipitation decreased during the cooling period, whereas spring and early summer precipitation correlations began to increase in the 1970s and reached significance (p < 0.05) in the 1990s. Our results show that the positive influence of temperature on radial growth of Q. liaotungensis in the study area has weakened, whereas precipitation has become the dominant regulator with climate warming. These findings suggest that forest growth on Dongling Mountain will decline if climate warming continues in the future.