Climate Control on Tree Growth at the Upper and Lower Treelines: A Case Study in the Qilian Mountains, Tibetan Plateau

PLoS ONE

Volumn 8, Issue 7, 2013, Pages

  Yang, Bao ^a   He, Minhui ^a   Melvin, Thomas M ^b   Zhao, Yan ^c   Briffa, Keith R ^b  

^a Chinese Academy of Sciences   (China)

^b UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA   (United Kingdom)

^c INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS   (China)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ALTITUDE; ARTICLE; CASE STUDY; CHINA; CHRONOLOGY; CLIMATE; COLD; CONTROLLED STUDY; DENDROCHRONOLOGY; DESERT; ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR; GEOGRAPHIC ELEVATION; GROWTH RATE; GROWTH REGULATION; HUMIDITY; JUNIPERUS; LOWER TREELINE; NONHUMAN; PLANT STRUCTURES; PRECIPITATION; SABINA PRZEWALSKII; SEASONAL VARIATION; SEMIARID CLIMATE; SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS; SIGNAL NOISE RATIO; TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE; TIME SERIES ANALYSIS; TREE GROWTH; TREE RING CHRONOLOGY; UPPER TREELINE; WATER SUPPLY;

AIR CONDITIONING; ALTITUDE; CLIMATE; COLD TEMPERATURE; ECOSYSTEM; JUNIPERUS; TEMPERATURE; TREES;

EID: 84880066929     PISSN: None     EISSN: 19326203     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069065     Document Type: Article

References (74)

1. Fritts HC (1976) Tree rings and climate. Academic Press, London.
2. Jones PD, Briffa KR, Osborn TJ, Lough JM, van Ommen TD, et al. (2009) High-resolution palaeoclimatology of the last millennium: a review of current status and future prospects. Holocene 19: 3-49.
3. Briffa KR, Osborn TJ, Schweingruber FH, Jones PD, Shiyatov SG, et al. (2002) Tree-ring width and density data around the Northern Hemisphere: Part 2, spatio-temporal variability and associated climate patterns. Holocene 12: 759-789.
4. Buckley BM, Anchukaitis KJ, Penny D, Fletcher R, Cook ER, et al. (2010) Climate as a contributing factor in the demise of Angkor, Cambodia. Proc Natl Acad Sci 107(15): 6748-6752.
5. Cook ER, Anchukaitis KJ, Buckley BM, D'Arrigo RD, Jacoby GC, et al. (2010) Asian monsoon failure and megadrought during the last millennium. Science 328: 486-489.
6. Dang HS, Zhang YJ, Zhang KY, Jiang MX, Zhang QF, (2012) Climate-growth relationships of subalpine fir (Abies fargesii) across the altitudinal range in the Shennongjia Mountains, central China. Clim Change 117(4): 903-917.
7. Lo YH, Blanco JA, Seely B, Welham C, Kimmins JP, (2010) Relationships between climate and tree radial growth in interior British Columbia, Canada. For Ecol Manag 259: 932-942.
8. Sang WG, Wang YX, Su HX, Lu ZH, (2007) Response of tree-ring width to rainfall gradient along the Tianshan Mountains of northwestern China. Chin Sci Bull 52(21): 2954-2962.
9. Yu DP, Wang QL, Wang GG, Dai LM, (2006) Dendroclimatic response of Picea jezoensis along an altitudinal gradient in Changbai Mountains. Sci China Ser E 49: 150-159.
10. Tranquilini W (1979) Physiological ecology of the Alpine timberline. Tree existence at high altitudes with special references to the European Alps. Ecological Studies 31. Springer Verlag, Berlin.
11. Körner C, Paulsen J, (2004) A world-wide study of high altitude treeline temperatures. J Biogeogr 31: 713-732.
12. Fritts HC, Smith DG, Cardis JW, Budelsky CA, (1965) Tree-ring characteristics along a vegetation gradient in northern Arizona. Ecology 46: 393-401.
13. LaMarche VJ, (1974a) Frequency-dependent relationships between tree-ring series along an ecological gradient and some dendroclimatic implications. Tree-Ring Bull 34: 1-20.
14. LaMarche VJ, (1974b) Paleoclimatic inferences inferred from long tree ring records. Science 183(4129): 1043-1048.
15. Affolter P, Büntgen U, Esper J, Rigling A, Weber P, et al. (2010) Inner Alpine conifer response to 20th century drought swings. Eur J Forest Res 129: 289-298.
16. Chen L, Wu SH, Pan T, (2011) Variability of climate-growth relationships along an elevation gradient in the Changbai Mountain, northeastern China. Trees 25: 1133-1139.
17. Savva Y, Oleksyn J, Reich PB, Tjoelker MG, Vaganov EA, et al. (2006) Interannual growth response of Norway spruce to climate along an altitudinal gradient in the Tatra Mountains, Poland. Trees 20: 735-746.
18. Takahashi K, Azuma1 H, Yasue K (2003) Effects of climate on the radial growth of tree species in the upper and lower distribution limits of an altitudinal ecotone on Mount Norikura, central Japan. Ecol Res 18: 549-558.
19. Esper J, Frank DC, Wilson RJS, Büntgen U, Treydte K, (2007) Uniform growth trends among central Asian low- and high-elevation juniper tree sites. Trees 21: 141-150.
20. He MH, Yang B, Bräuning A, (2013) Tree growth-climate relationships of Juniperus tibetica along an altitudinal gradient on the southern Tibetan Plateau. Trees 27: 429-439.
21. Liang EY, Wang YF, Xu Y, Liu B, Shao XM, (2010) Growth variation in Abies georgei var. smithii along altitudinal gradients in the Sygera Mountains, southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Trees 24: 363-373.
22. Li ZS, Liu GH, Fu BJ, Hu CJ, Luo SZ, et al. (2012) Anomalous temperature-growth response of Abies faxoniana to sustained freezing stress along elevational gradients in China's Western Sichuan Province. Trees (26): 1373-1388.
23. Morales MS, Villalba R, Grau HR, Paolini L, (2004) Rainfall-controlled tree growth in high-elevation subtropical treelines. Ecology 85 (11): 3080-3089.
24. Gou XH, Chen T, Jacoby G, Cook E, Yang MX, et al. (2007) Rapid tree growth with respect to the last 400 years in response to climate warming, northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Int J Climtol 27: 1497-1503.
25. Huang JG, Zhang QB, (2007) Tree rings and climate for the last 680 years in Wulan area of northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Clim Change 80: 369-377.
26. Yang B, Qin C, Huang K, Fan ZX, Liu JJ, (2010a) Spatial and temporal patterns of variations in tree growth over the northeastern Tibetan Plateau during the period AD 1450-2001. Holocene 20 (8): 1235-1245.
27. Bräuning A, Mantwill B, (2004) Summer temperature and summer monsoon history on the Tibetan Plateau during the last 400 years recorded by tree rings. Geophys Res Lett 31: L24205.
28. Fang KY, Gou XH, Chen FH, Li JB, D'Arrigo R, et al. (2010) Reconstructed droughts for the southeastern Tibetan Plateau over the past 568 years and its linkages to the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean climate variability. Clim Dyn 35: 577-585.
29. Yang B, Kang XC, Bräuning A, Liu JJ, (2010b) A 622-year regional temperature history of southeast Tibet derived from tree rings. Holocene 20 (2): 181-190.
30. Rangwala I, Miller JR, Xu M, (2009) Warming in the Tibetan Plateau: Possible influences of the changes in surface water vapor. Geophys Res Lett 36: L06703.
31. Yang B, Qin C, Bräuning A, Burchardt I, Liu JJ, (2011) Rainfall history for the Hexi Corridor in the arid northwest China during the past 620 years derived from tree rings. Int J Climatol 31: 1166-1176.
32. Liu XH, Qin DH, Shao XM, Chen T, Ren JW, (2005) Temperature variations recovered from tree-rings in the middle Qilian Mountain over the last millennium. Sci China Ser D 48(4): 521-529.
33. Liu Y, An ZS, Linderholm HW, Chen DL, Song HM, et al. (2009) Annual temperatures during the last 2485 years in the mid-eastern Tibetan Plateau inferred from tree rings. Sci China Ser D 52(3): 348-359.
34. Zhu HF, Zhang YH, Shao XM, Liu XH, Xu Y, et al. (2008) Millennial temperature reconstruction based on tree-ring widths of Qilian juniper from Wulan, Qinghai province, China. Chin Sci Bull 53(24): 3914-3920.
35. Gou X, Chen F, Yang M, Li J, Peng J, et al. (2005) Climatic response of thick leaf spruce (Picea crassifolia) tree-ring width at different elevations over Qilian Mountains, northwestern China. J Arid Environ 61: 513-524.
36. Liang EY, Shao XM, Liu XH, (2009) Annual precipitation variation inferred from tree rings since AD 1770 for the western Qilian Mts., northern Tibetan Plateau. Tree Ring Res 65(2): 95-103.
37. Tian QH, Gou XH, Zhang Y, Peng JF, Wang JS, et al. (2007) Tree-ring based drought reconstruction (A.D. 1855-2001) for the Qilian Mountains, northwestern China. Tree Ring Res 63(1): 27-36.
38. Mitchell TD, Jones PD, (2005) An improved method of constructing a database of monthly climate observations and associated high-resolution grids. Int J Climatol 25: 693-712.
39. Cook ER, Kairiukstis LA (1990) Methods of Dendrochronology. Kluwer Academic Press, Netherlands.
40. Stokes MA, Smiley TL (1968) An introduction to tree ring dating. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
41. Rinn F (2003) TSAP-Win: time series analysis and presentation for dendrochronology and related applications. Version 0.55 User reference. Heidelberg, Germany.
42. Holmes RL, (1983) Computer-assisted quality control in tree-ring dating and measurement. Tree-Ring Bull 43: 69-95.
43. Cook ER (1985) A time-series analysis approach to tree-ring standardization. Ph.D. Dissertation. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
44. Cook ER, Peters K, (1997) Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic and environmental change. Holocene 7: 361-370.
45. Osborn TJ, Briffa KR, Jones PD, (1997) Adjusting variance for sample-size in tree ring chronologies and other regional-mean time-series. Dendrochronologia 15: 89-99.
46. Wigley T, Briffa KR, Jones PD, (1984) On the average value of correlated time series, with applications in dendroclimatology and hydrometeorology. J Appl Meteorol 23: 201-213.
47. Briffa KR, Jones PD (1990) Basic chronology statistics and assessment. In Cook ER and Kairiukstis LA (ed) Methods of dendrochronology: applications in the environmental sciences. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, the Netherlands. 137-152.
48. Palmer WC (1965) Meteorological drought. Weather Bureau Research Paper 45, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.
49. Dai AG, Trenberth KE, Qian TT, (2004) A global data set of Palmer Drought Severity Index for 1870-2002: relationship with soil moisture and effects of surface warming. J Hydrometeorol 5: 1117-1130.
50. Biondi F, Waikul K, (2004) DENDROCLIM2002: a C++ program for statistical calibration of climate signals in tree-ring chronologies. Comput Geosci 30 (3): 303-311.
51. Bretherton CS, Widmann M, Dymnikov VP, Wallace JM, Bladé I, (1999) The effective number of spatial degrees of freedom of a time-varying field. J Clim 12: 1990-2009.
52. Mann ME, Lees J, (1996) Robust estimation of background noise and signal detection in climatic time series. Clim Change 33: 409-445.
53. Liu JJ, Qin C, Kang SY (2013) Growth response of Sabina tibetica to climate factors along an elevation gradient in south Tibet. Dendrochronologia http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2012.12.001.Available online 26 March 2013.
54. Liu LS, Shao XM, Liang EY, (2006) Climate signals from tree ring chronologies of the upper and lower treelines in the Dulan region of the Northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. J Integr Plant Bio 48 (3): 278-285.
55. Wang T, Ren HB, Ma KP, (2005) Climatic signals in tree ring of Picea schrenkiana along an altitudinal gradient in the central Tianshan Mountains, northwestern China. Trees 19: 735-741.
56. Biondi F, (2001) A 400-year tree-ring chronology from the tropical treeline of North America. Ambio 30: 162-166.
57. Biondi F, (2002) Treeline dendroclimatology in the North American tropics. PAGES News 10: 1.
58. Lauer W, (1978) Treeline studies in central Mexico. Arctic and Alpine Research 10: 383-396.
59. Leal S, Melvin TM, Grabner M, Wimmer R, Briffa KR, (2007) Tree-ring growth variability in the Austrian Alps: the influence of site, altitude, tree species and climate. Boreas 36: 426-440.
60. Di Filippo A, Biondi F, Cufar K, de Luis M, Grabner M, et al. (2007) Bioclimatology of beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in the Eastern Alps: spatial and altitudinal climatic signals identified through a tree-ring network. J Biogeogr 34: 1873-1892.
61. Carrer M, Nola P, Eduard JL, Motta R, Urbinati C, (2007) Regional variability of climate-growth relationships in Pinus cembra high elevation forests in the Alps. J Ecol 95: 1072-1083.
62. Babst F, Poulter B, Trouet V, Tan K, Neuwirth B, et al. (2012) Site- and species-specific responses of forest growth to climate across the European continent. Global Ecol Biogeogr 22(6): 706-717.
63. Dittmar C, Zech W, Elling W, (2003) Growth variations of Common beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) under different climatic and environmental conditions in Europe-a dendroecological study. For Ecol Manag 173: 63-78.
64. Splechtna BE, Dobry J, Klinka K, (2000) Tree-ring characteristics of subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.) in relation to elevation and climatic fluctuations. Ann For Sci 57: 89-100.
65. Salzer MW, Hughes MK, Bunn AG, Kipfmueller KF, (2009) Recent unprecedented tree-ring growth in bristlecone pine at the highest elevations and possible causes. Proc Natl Acad Sci 106 (48): 20348-20353.
66. Chen F, Yuan Y, Wei W, (2011) Climatic response of Picea crassifolia tree-ring parameters and precipitation reconstruction in the western Qilian Mountains, China. J Arid Environ 75: 1121-1128.
67. Meehl GA, Karl T, Easterling DR, Changnon S, Pielke RJ, et al. (2000) An introduction to trends in extreme weather and climate events: observations, socioeconomic impacts, terrestrial ecological impacts, and model projections. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 81(3): 413-416.
68. Beniston M, Stephenson DB, (2004) Extreme climatic events and their evolution under changing climatic conditions. Glob Planet Change 44: 1-9.
69. Bell JL, Sloan LC, Snyder MA, (2004) Regional Changes in Extreme Climatic Events: A Future Climate Scenario. J Clim 17: 81-87.
70. Holmgrenl M, Stapp P, Dickman CR, Gracia C, Graham S, et al. (2006) Extreme climatic events shape arid and semiarid ecosystems. Front Ecol Environ 4(2): 87-95.
71. Easterling DR, Evans JL, Groisman PY, Karl TR, Kunkel KE, et al. (2000) Observed variability and trends in extreme climate events: a brief review. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 81(3): 417-425.
72. Rasmussen SH, Christensen JH, Drews M, Gochis DJ, Refsgaard JC, (2012) Spatial-scale characteristics of precipitation simulated by regional climate models and the implications for hydrological modeling. J Hydrometeor 13: 1817-1835.
73. Wei CC (2013) Improvement of typhoon precipitation forecast efficiency by coupling SSM/I microwave with climatologic characteristics and precipitations. Weather and Forecasting. doi:10.1175/WAF-D-12-00089.1.
74. Woolhiser DA, (2008) Combined effects of the southern oscillation index and the pacific decadal oscillation on a stochastic daily precipitation model. J Clim 21: 1139-1152.