Moisture-driven changes in the sensitivity of the radial growth of Picea crassifolia to temperature,northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Precipitation is one of the most important climate factors controlling tree growth, yet it is not fully understood how changes in precipitation affect the relationship between growth and temperature. On the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, nine tree-ring chronologies of Picea crassifolia were developed along a precipitation gradient from semi-arid (mean annual precipitation, 255 mm) to semi-humid (710 mm). We analyze the growth-climate relationships along this precipitation gradient and assess whether these associations are regulated by local precipitation. From 1960 to 2014, temperature increased significantly while precipitation remained stable at the nine sampling sites. The radial growth of P. crassifolia decreased at the semi-arid sites but increased at the semi-humid sites. Growth-temperature relationships gradually changed from negative to positive along the precipitation gradient (from dry to wet sites), particularly during summer. The moist P. crassifolia sites are also characterized by positive correlations with the Palmer Drought Severity Index. The temporal growth-temperature relationships varied significantly among the different spruce sites over the last five decades. Although temperature remains the main factor controlling the growth of P. crassifolia, local precipitation variability is becoming increasingly important. Our findings indicate that considering species distribution areas supports the analyses of the impact of climate change on tree growth.     

A 382-year reconstruction of August mean minimum temperature from tree-ring maximum latewood density on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau,China

Long-term summer temperature records are important for climate studies on the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Here, we used tree-ring maximum latewood density (MXD) to develop a well-replicated regional chronology back to the year 1630 for the southeastern TP. The MXD chronology is positively related to the observed August mean minimum temperatures (AMMT) in the period 1961–2011. Therefore, the AMMT was reconstructed from the MXD chronology. The reconstruction explained 42.6% of the total variance in the observed AMMT. During the past 382 years, warm periods were found during 1646–1694, 1770–1805, 1930–1971 and 1992–2011, and cold periods were found during 1630–1645, 1695–1749, 1806–1825, 1889–1929 and 1972–1991. Extreme cold summers (≤mean − 2 SD) occurred in the years 1701, 1777, 1810, 1817, 1835, 1843, 1857, 1871, 1911, 1914, 1915, 1939, 1983 and 1984, whereas the warm summers (≥mean + 2 SD) occurred in the years 1786, 1788, 2003, 2004 and 2005. A comparison with temperature records in surrounding regions showed general agreements, indicating the fidelity of our reconstruction and its ability to represent summer temperature variations over a broad geographic extent. Conspicuous in-phase relationships between our reconstruction and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) indicated a strongly positive association between large-scale climate circulations and summer temperature variability on the southeastern TP at multidecadal scales.     

Summer temperature variability inferred from tree-ring records in the central Hengduan Mountains,southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Current understanding of the paleoclimatic variability across the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is still limited because of the lack of long-term climatic records. We developed a regional tree–ring width chronology of Picea likiangensis var. balfouriana from the central Hengduan Mountains region, in the southeastern TP. Climate-growth correlation analysis revealed that the current year’s July (cJuly) and the current year’s August (cAugust) mean minimum temperature was the main climatic factor controlling tree-ring growth. Using a linear regression function, we reconstructed this indicator for the past 214 years (1795–2008) to produce the first mean minimum temperature reconstruction for the central Hengduan Mountains. The reconstruction satisfied all statistical calibration and validation tests, and represented 35.9% of the temperature variance recorded over the 1958–2008 instrumental period (34.6% after adjusting for the loss of the degrees of freedom). During the past 214 years, two major cold periods were identified from 1839 to 1853 and 1857–1942, and four major warm periods from 1802 to 1813, 1819–1838, 1972–1981, and 1988–2008. The degree of warming from 1988 to 2008 was unprecedented over the past two centuries. Spatial field correlation with the gridded temperature dataset revealed that our reconstruction captures large-scale regional temperature variations for the southeastern TP and its vicinity. The reconstructed variations were consistent when compared to other regional temperature datasets, historical documents, and records of glacier fluctuations in the surrounding high mountains. This consistency with multiple records suggests that our reconstructed sequence is reliable and it could represent historical large-scale temperature changes on the southeastern TP.     

Tree growth responses and resilience after the 1950-Zayu-Medog earthquake,southeast Tibetan Plateau

Understanding how severe disturbances affect forest dynamics is fundamental in ecology, conservation and management. Earthquakes of large magnitude severely impact mountain landscapes, causing strong disturbances on forests. However, it is unknown how the resilience of tree growth after strong earthquakes changes as a function of site factors as elevation. Herein, we investigated the radial-growth responses of surviving trees after the 1950-Zayu-Medog M_W 8.6 earthquake which devastated the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. We reconstructed radial growth dynamics of Abies delavayi var. motuoensis after 1950 in six sites selected along an elevational transect located in the Medog valley. Post-earthquake growth responses were detected among 60% of sampled trees in the period 1950–1955, but these responses varied depending on site elevation. Trees at the alpine treeline were less disturbed compared to those located at mid and low elevations. Severe growth suppressions, including the formation of missing rings, occurred during the first three years after the earthquake, and were stronger at low elevations. Growth releases mostly occurred after 1954. Long-term growth release, lasting more than ten years, was mainly observed at low elevations, near talus fans prone to landslides and rock falls. Growth rates returned to pre-earthquake values 45 years after the earthquake occurrence. Our results evidence how tectonic influences on tree growth depend on local factors as elevation, and demonstrate that tree resilience after severe geo-hazards is contingent on site conditions.     

The DendroEcological Network: A cyberinfrastructure for the storage,discovery and sharing of tree-ring and associated ecological data

The DendroEcological Network (DEN; https://www.uvm.edu/femc/dendro) is an opensource repository of high quality dendrochronological and associated ecological data. Launched in 2018, the mission of the DEN is to provide a centralized, standards-driven cyberinfrastructure for data storage, exploration and sharing. Specifically, the objectives of the DEN are to, 1) act as an integrator of dendrochronological and ecological data, 2) facilitate synthetic investigation and analyses of these data, 3) uphold the scientific community’s goals of data transparency and reproducibility of results, 4) serve as a long-term data archiving platform for use by individuals, laboratories and the greater scientific, management and conservation communities and, 5) leverage and extend previous and future research. The DEN facilitates the gathering of individual studies into a larger network, expanding the scale of inquiry to address pressing ecological questions that no single study can answer alone.     

Tree rings reveal a growth-decline event in A.D. 1875–1883 in a Tibetan plateau juniper forest

Forest declines under global warming have received much attention in studies of forest ecology, yet such events in periods before climate warming have been less studied because of shortage in documentation of past decline events. Here we used dendroecological techniques to identify forest decline events in the past five and a half centuries for a juniper forest near Lhasa of Tibet, China. Data of tree ring-widths were obtained from 42 relatively old trees after sample collection, measurement and crossdating. Radial growth of these trees was significantly and positively correlated with total precipitation in May and June. Persistent and severe growth reductions, lasting for at least eight years, were identified for each sample. We found that greater than 35% of the trees exhibited persistent and severe growth reductions in the interval A.D. 1875–1883, suggesting a growth decline event in the forest. This growth decline was the most severe event in the past five and half centuries. The weakened Indian monsoon in A.D. 1875–1878, which would result in extreme and prolonged droughts at spatially large scale in the monsoon zone, was most likely the driving force for the forest decline event discovered in this study. Our results suggested that future risk of juniper forest declines in central Tibetan plateau will be related to extreme droughts which could be amplified by warming. The study highlighted the importance of examining growth trajectory of individual trees in assessing forest health in a long perspective.     

河谷澜沧黄杉指示的青藏高原东南地区过去205年干湿变化

利用采集自青藏高原东南地区察隅县低海拔河谷澜沧黄杉建立树轮宽度差值年表。将树轮宽度差值年表与气候因子进行皮尔逊相关分析,利用线性回归方法重建了青藏高原东南地区1812—2016年4—5月帕尔默干旱指数(PDSI)变化(方差解释量为47%)。结果表明: 树轮宽度指数与PDSI指数有良好相关性(r=0.69,P<0.01)。PDSI重建序列存在4个偏湿阶段(1831—1844年、1853—1863年、1938—1948年和1988—2002年)、3个偏干阶段(1864—1876年、1908—1926年和2003—2016年)。与其他序列和历史记录对比分析表明,该重建序列能够较好地指示研究区历史时期干湿变化。空间分析显示,重建序列与青藏高原东南地区 PDSI 指数的变化趋势较为一致,具有很强的空间代表性。多窗谱分析表明,PDSI重建序列具有19～20、3.9、3.2、2.4和2.1年准周期变化特征,这些周期性干湿变化与亚洲夏季风和ENSO活动相关。     

青藏高原微生物多样性研究

正青藏高原被誉为世界屋脊,其内部除平原外还有许多山峰、冰川、高山湖泊和高山沼泽,是生态环境最为奇特、生物资源最为丰富的自然资源宝库之一。同时,青藏高原的微生物群落结构及其多样性与其他区域存在巨大差异,因而具有极高的科学研究价值,并逐渐被人们所关注。研究发现气候变化对青藏高原高寒草地生态系统草丛-地境界面微生物会产生重要的影响[1]。冰川雪藻的研究主要在南部的Yala冰川开展,     

Terrestrial and aquatic responses to climate change and human impact on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau during the past two centuries

Rapid population growth and economic development have led to increased anthropogenic pressures on the Tibetan Plateau, causing significant land cover changes with potentially severe ecological consequences. To assess whether or not these pressures are also affecting the remote montane‐boreal lakes on the SE Tibetan Plateau, fossil pollen and diatom data from two lakes were synthesized. The interplay of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem response was explored in respect to climate variability and human activity over the past 200 years. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling and Procrustes rotation analysis were undertaken to determine whether pollen and diatom responses in each lake were similar and synchronous. Detrended canonical correspondence analysis was used to develop quantitative estimates of compositional species turnover. Despite instrumental evidence of significant climatic warming on the southeastern Plateau, the pollen and diatom records indicate very stable species composition throughout their profiles and show only very subtle responses to environmental changes over the past 200 years. The compositional species turnover (0.36–0.94 SD) is relatively low in comparison to the species reorganizations known from the periods during the mid‐ and early‐Holocene (0.64–1.61 SD) on the SE Plateau, and also in comparison to turnover rates of sediment records from climate‐sensitive regions in the circum arctic. Our results indicate that climatically induced ecological thresholds are not yet crossed, but that human activity has an increasing influence, particularly on the terrestrial ecosystem in our study area. Synergistic processes of post‐Little Ice Age warming, 20th century climate warming and extensive reforestations since the 19th century have initiated a change from natural oak‐pine forests to seminatural, likely less resilient pine‐oak forests. Further warming and anthropogenic disturbances would possibly exceed the ecological threshold of these ecosystems and lead to severe ecological consequences.     

Species-specific climate sensitivity of tree growth in Central-West Germany

Growth responses to twentieth century climate variability of the three main European tree species Fagus sylvatica, Quercus petraea, and Pinus sylvestris within two temperate low mountain forest sites were analyzed, with particular emphasis on their dependence upon ecological factors and temporal stability in the obtained relationships. While site conditions in Central (~51°N, 9°E, KEL) and West (50.5°N, 6.5°E, EIF) Germany are similar, annual precipitation totals of ≅700 mm and ≅1,000 mm describe a maritime-continental gradient. Ring-width samples from 228 trees were collected and PCA used to identify common growth patterns. Chronologies were developed and redundancy analysis and simple correlation coefficients calculated to detect twentieth century temperature, precipitation, and drought fingerprints in the tree-ring data. Summer drought is the dominant driver of forest productivity, but regional and species-specific differences indicate more complex influences upon tree growth. F. sylvatica reveals the highest climate sensitivity, whereas Q. petraea is most drought tolerant. Drier growth conditions in KEL result in climate sensitivity of all species, and Q. petraea shifted from non-significant to significant drought sensitivity during recent decades at EIF. Drought sensitivity dynamics of all species vary over time. An increase of drought sensitivity in tree growth was found in the wetter forest area EIF, whereas a decrease occurred in the middle of the last century for all species in the drier KEL region. Species-specific and regional differences in long-term climate sensitivities, as evidenced by temporal variability in drought sensitivity, are potential indicators for a changing climate that effects Central-West German forest growth, but meanwhile hampers a general assessment of these effects.     

Spatiotemporal variability of stone pine (Pinus pinea L.) growth response to climate across the Iberian Peninsula

Climate warming and increasing aridity have impacted diverse ecosystems in the Mediterranean region since at least the 1970s. Pinus pinea L. has significant environmental and socio-economic importance for the Iberian Peninsula, so a detailed understanding of its response to climate change is necessary to predict its status under future climatic conditions. However, variability of climate and uncertainties in dendroclimatological approach complicate the understanding of forest growth dynamics. We use an ensemble approach to analyze growth-climate responses of P. pinea trees from five sites along a latitudinal gradient in Spain over time. The growth responses to April-June precipitation totals were stronger in the north than in the south. Since the 1950s, the sensitivity of growth to April-June precipitation increased in the north and decreased in the south. Meteorological drought usually started in May in the southern sites, but in June-July in the northern sites. The water deficit in the southern sites is thus greater and more limiting for tree growth, and this likely accounts for the lower growth sensitivity during these months. Our results indicate that P. pinea has a high degree of plasticity, suggesting the species will withstand changing climatic conditions. However, growth response to drought regimes varies among P. pinea populations, suggesting that different populations have different capacities for acclimation to warmer and drier climate, and this may influence future vegetation composition.     

The effect of climate on radial growth of Quercus liaotungensis forest trees in Loess Plateau, China

Annual ring growth of Quercus liaotungensis trees in natural forests bounded by desertified region in the Loess Plateau of China was investigated for the evidence of climatic influence. Increment cores were sampled and cross-dated for 120 trees from six stands 0.5–2.5 km apart. Site tree-ring chronologies were created using general dendrochronological techniques. The results of correlation analyses between tree-ring indices and monthly climatic variables indicated that radial growth was positively correlated with precipitation in September of the previous year and that from April to June of the current year. Ring widths were negatively affected by temperature during spring and summer. In contrast, mild temperature in the previous October showed a positive influence. The results suggest that precipitation is important in the early growing season when soil and air are dry, and that high temperatures tend to reduce radial growth in this region. September rainfalls and a warm October may provide conditions that facilitate carbon storage, favor soil microbial activity, and promote root growth and shoot maturation against detrimental effects of stresses in the following seasons. There were also some differences among plots in the effects of both climatic variables probably as a result of different structures and geographical conditions that modified microenvironments. The results may contribute to the reforestation management of the area. It is expected that Q. liaotungensis forests should be ecologically established in this region on shady and half-shady slopes where air and soil drought stresses are not serious.     

青藏高原气候变化与高寒草地

综述了近五十年来青藏高原气候和高寒草地的变化趋势,阐述了气候变化对高寒草地的可能影响。气候变化主要通过水、热过程及其诱导的环境变化对青藏高原高寒草地产生显著的影响。主要过程包括：气候变化对气候带、植被带、植物、植物群落、农业生产以及生态系统固碳潜力等的影响。从目前的观测和研究结果来看,有关青藏高原气候变化及其对高寒草地的可能影响都还很难得出一致的结论。因此,如何科学评价气候变化及其预测和评价对高寒草地结构和功能的潜在影响,以及如何将已经发生的变化纳入到全球变化模型或评价体系中,以便更加精确地评估气候变化的长期影响,将成为必须要回答的关键科学问题。     

Assessing bias in diameter at breast height estimated from tree rings and its effects on basal area increment and biomass

Above-ground forest productivity can be reliably estimated from tree-ring width measurements. In doing so, annual growth is linked to the tree’s basal area increment (BAI), which is the change in cross-sectional area associated with each annual ring. When BAI is estimated from ring-width series, a value for the diameter of the tree is required. This diameter is ideally measured in the field, but can also be estimated as the sum of the annual ring widths. Tree biomass can also be estimated directly from the diameter estimates derived from tree-rings. Summing the ring widths, however, typically underestimates the tree’s true diameter. To evaluate this potential bias in diameter, we compared field-measured diameter and diameter estimated from the sum of the ring widths using tree-ring chronologies for seven common species in the eastern United States. We then evaluated the impacts of using the biased diameter estimates on derived BAI and biomass values. To simulate field-sampling error (i.e., failure to reach the pith when obtaining a core sample), we re-calculated BAI and biomass after removing a portion of the innermost rings from each tree. Comparisons of these various methods quantify the substantial and consistent underestimations in forest productivity estimates. To reduce the bias in diameter when using ring widths, we developed a regression model to adjust the diameter using core samples. This model is predicated on having some field-measured diameter values available at a site to calibrate and validate the model, but it can then be used to produce estimates at similar sites with similar species where no field-measured diameter values are available. Values of BAI and biomass derived from model-estimated diameter were more accurate at representing absolute growth than values produced by using the sum of the ring widths. Assessing the interannual variations in tree-growth is dependent on having metrics that accurately reflect the area and mass of wood produced. Our results suggest that published estimates of BAI and biomass using the sum of the ring widths to estimate diameter have substantially underestimated these productivity metrics. Our new procedure allows for more reliable estimates of productivity metrics that use diameter-at-breast height derived from tree rings.     

气候变化与人类活动对青藏高原湿地的影响研究进展

青藏高原是中国湿地分布最多的区域,其独特的高寒湿地对区域生态环境安全有着不可或缺的作用。梳理了青藏高原湿地变化的时空特征,基于此,重点分析了气候变化与人类活动对不同类型湿地的影响和作用机制。研究发现：(1)主导不同类型湿地变化的气候因素有差异,影响存在区域异质性。湖泊湿地主要受降水量影响,湖泊湿地在北部扩张、南部缩小的趋势与降水量的空间差异存在较强的一致性;沼泽湿地主要受气温影响,气温升高导致水分蒸发、植被群落演替,沼泽湿地向草地转化,江河源区和若尔盖高原等主要分布区域呈现退化趋势;河流湿地主要受气温影响,气温升高加速河源冰川消融、同时也增大河流蒸散发量,共同作用下河流湿地呈现北部减少、南部增加的趋势。(2)过度放牧、泥炭开采、水利建设等是影响湿地变化的主要人类活动。若尔盖高原同时存在过度放牧、泥炭开采和沟渠建设多重人类活动影响,当地沼泽湿地退化明显;柴达木盆地的人工湿地由于盐业开采迅速扩张。(3)当前研究存在数据可对比性不足、大区域尺度和野外定点持续监测数据缺乏等问题,导致对气候变化与人类活动影响机制研究不够深入。未来应加强高寒湿地定期监测与风险评估,完善高寒湿地生态系统与环境变化和...     

Relationships between climate and growth of Gymnocypris selincuoensis in the Tibetan Plateau

The consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly evident in the Tibetan Plateau, represented by glaciers retreating and lakes expanding, but the biological response to climate change by plateau–lake ecosystems is poorly known. In this study, we applied dendrochronology methods to develop a growth index chronology with otolith increment widths of Selincuo naked carp (Gymnocypris selincuoensis), which is an endemic species in Lake Selincuo (4530 m), and investigated the relationships between fish growth and climate variables (regional and global) in the last three decades. A correlation analysis and principle component regression analysis between regional climate factors and the growth index chronology indicated that the growth of G. selincuoensis was significantly and positively correlated with length of the growing season and temperature‐related variables, particularly during the growing season. Most of global climate variables, which are relevant to the Asian monsoon and the midlatitude westerlies, such as El Nino Southern Oscillation Index, the Arctic Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation, and North America Pattern, showed negative but not significant correlations with the annual growth of Selincuo naked carp. This may have resulted from the high elevation of the Tibetan Plateau and the high mountains surrounding this area. In comparison, the Pacific Decade Oscillation (PDO) negatively affected the growth of G. selincuoensis. The reason maybe that enhancement of the PDO can lead to cold conditions in this area. Taken together, the results indicate that the Tibetan Plateau fish has been affected by global climate change, particularly during the growing season, and global climate change likely has important effects on productivity of aquatic ecosystems in this area.     

Recent decline of high altitude coniferous growth due to thermo-hydraulic constrains: evidence from the Miyaluo Forest Reserve,Western Sichuan Plateau of China

Tree growth decline has been reported in many places around the globe under the context of increasingly warming climate, and strengthening drought intensity is detected to be the primary factor for such decline, particularly in northern forest sites, as well as arid and semi-arid areas. Yet, the forest growth decline in high altitude, high mountain sites certainly merits investigation. Here, we reported faxon fir (Abies fargesii var. faxoniana) forest growth decline (slope = -0.64) at the tree line (4150 m above sea level) in Miyaluo Forest Reserve (MFR) at the Western Sichuan Plateau, southwestern China since 2000. We investigated the cause of tree growth decline by applying dendrochronological approaches. We took tree-ring samples from fir trees at the tree line and developed tree-ring width (TRW) chronology. The tree growth – climate relationship analysis showed that maximum temperature (Tmax) was the primary factor limiting the radial growth of fir trees in the investigated area. The moving correlation analysis indicated the strengthening positive influence of Tmax, spring precipitation, and cloud cover during winter and monsoon period on radial growth since 2000s. Our results have shown that both thermal and hydraulic constrains accounted for the radial growth decline of fir trees at the tree line of MFR in the western Sichuan Plateau.     

The role of climate change in the widespread mortality of holm oak in open woodlands of Southwestern Spain

Forest decline and increasing tree mortality are of global concern and the identification of the causes is necessary to develop preventive measures. Global warming is an emerging factor responsible for the increasing tree mortality in drought-prone ecosystems. In the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean holm oak open woodlands currently undergo large-scale population-level tree die-off. In this region, temperature and aridity have increased during recent decades, but the possible role of climate change in the current oak mortality has not been investigated.To assess the role of climate change in oak die-off in managed open woodlands in southwestern Spain, we analyzed climate change-related signals in century-long tree ring chronologies of dead holm oaks. We examined the high/low-frequency variability in growth and the relationship between growth and climate.Similar to other Mediterranean forests, growth was favored by precipitation from autumn of the year prior to ring formation to spring of the year of ring formation, whereas high temperatures during spring limited growth. Since the 1970s, the intensity of the high-frequency response to water availability increased simultaneously with temperature and aridity. The growth trends matched those of climatic changes. Growth suppressions occurred during droughts in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Widespread stand-level, age-independent mortality occurred since 2005 and affected trees that cannot be considered old for the species standards.The close relationship between growth and climate indicate that climate change strongly controlled the growth patterns. This suggests that harsher climatic conditions, especially increased aridity, affected the tree performance and could have played a significant role in the mortality process. Climate change may have exacerbated or predisposed trees to the impact of other factors (e.g. intense management and pathogens). These observations could suggest a similar future increase in oak mortality which may occur in more northern oak open woodlands if aridity further increases.     

青藏高原气候变化对农牧民开垦的影响

自1980年代后期以来,青藏高原持续变暖趋势明显,且增温幅度高于我国其他地区。基于遥感数据和种植适宜性模型的一些研究表明,该地区足够的农业热量资源增加了适宜耕种土地的面积,为农牧民的开垦行为创造了有利的条件。然而,对农牧民是否开垦以及开垦原因的实证研究,以及农牧民如何平衡气候变化带来的开垦机遇、风险和人口压力,仍然缺少认识。以青藏高原的3个典型产粮区域("一江两河"地区、河湟谷地、壤塘县)为研究区,利用605户农户家庭调研数据,分析了影响农牧民开垦行为的影响因素。计量结果表明,农牧民感知冬季持续时间的整体变化趋势、家庭总人口、抚养比与农牧民开垦行为呈显著正相关关系;农牧民感知降水的整体变化趋势、人均打工年收入、户主受教育水平、是否借贷、居住地距集镇距离与农牧民开垦行为呈显著负相关关系。随着城镇化的不断加快,农牧民对非农工作的认可度越来越高,加之政府的管制,使得开垦现象并不普遍。由于农牧民的开垦对青藏高原的生态环境极有可能造成不可逆的负面影响,应该提供更多的非农就业机会,促进农业集约化,加强监管,以降低开垦的可能性。