Climate-driven speedup of alpine treeline forest growth in the Tianshan Mountains, Northwestern China

Global Change Biology

Volumn 21, Issue 2, 2015, Pages 816-826

  Qi, Zhaohuan ^a   Liu, Hongyan ^a   Wu, Xiuchen ^a   Hao, Qian ^a  

^a PEKING UNIVERSITY   (China)

Author keywords

Alpine treeline; Competition; Interannual climate variation; Tree growth; Tree ring

Indexed keywords

ANNUAL VARIATION; BIOTIC FACTOR; CLIMATE CHANGE; CLIMATE EFFECT; COMPETITION (ECOLOGY); CONIFEROUS TREE; ECOTONE; GROWTH RESPONSE; SAMPLING; TREELINE;

TIEN SHAN;

PICEA SCHRENKIANA;

ALTITUDE; CHINA; CLIMATE CHANGE; FOREST; GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND AGING; SPRUCE; TREE;

ALTITUDE; CHINA; CLIMATE CHANGE; FORESTS; PICEA; TREES;

EID: 84923259699     PISSN: 13541013     EISSN: 13652486     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12703     Document Type: Article

References (55)

1. Allen CD, Macalady AK, Chenchouni H et al. (2010) A global overview of drought and heat-induced tree mortality reveals emerging climate change risks for forests. Forest Ecology and Management, 259, 660-684.
2. Ballantyne CB, Alden JB, Miller PP, Tans PP, White JWC (2012) Increase in observed net carbon dioxide uptake by land and oceans during the last 50 years. Nature, 488, 70-72.
3. Borgaonkar HP, Sikder AB, Ram S (2011) High altitude forest sensitivity to the recent warming: A tree-ring analysis of conifers from Western Himalaya, India. Quaternary International, 236, 158-166.
4. Briffa KR, Schweingruber FH, Jones PD, Osborn TJ, Shiyatov SG, Vaganov EA (1998) Reduced sensitivity of recent tree-growth to temperature at high northern latitudes. Nature, 391, 678-682.
5. Briffa KR, Shishov VV, Melvin TM et al. (2008) Trends in recent temperature and radial tree growth spanning 2000 years across northwest Eurasia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 363, 2271-2284.
6. Børja I, De Wit HA, Steffenrem A, Majdi H (2008) Stand age and fine root biomass, distribution and morphology in Norway spruce chronosequence in southeast Norway. Tree Physiology, 28, 773-784.
7. Bunn AG, Graumlich LJ, Urban DL (2005) Trends in twentieth-century tree growth at high elevations in the Sierra Nevada and White Mountains, USA. Holocene, 15, 481-488.
8. Carrer M, Urbinati C (2004) Age-dependent tree-ring growth responses to climate in Larix decidua and Pinus cembra. Ecology, 85, 730-740.
9. Chen F, Yuan Y, Wei W (2011) Climatic response of Picea crassifolia tree-ring parameters and precipitation reconstruction in the western Qilian Mountains, China. Journal of Arid Environments, 75, 1121-1128.
10. Copenheaver CA, Crawford CJ, Fearer TM (2011) Age-specific responses to climate identified in the growth of Quercus alba. Trees-Structure and Function, 25, 647-653.
11. Devine WD, Harrington CA. (2005) Root system morphology of Oregon white oak on glacial outwash soil. Northwest Science, 79, 179-188.
12. Fraver S, Bradford JB, Palik BJ (2011) Improving tree age estimates derived from increment cores: a case study of red pine. Forest Science, 57, 164-170.
13. Fritts HC (2011) Tree Rings and Climate. Academic Press. London.
14. 2 fertilization effect on growth of Canadian boreal forests. Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, 116, G01012.
15. Graybill DA, Funkhouser GS (1999) Dendroclimatic reconstructions during the past millennium in the southern Sierra Nevada and Owens Valley, California. Proceedings of the Southern California Climate Symposium Trends and Extremes of the Past 2000 Years, 11, 239-269.
16. King GM, Gugerli F, Fonti P, Frank DC (2013) Tree growth response along an elevational gradient: climate or genetics? Oecologia, 173, 1587-1600.
17. 2: a model for future forest responses? Global Change Biology, 3, 463-471.
18. Hogg EH, Brandt JP, Michaelian M (2008) Impacts of a regional drought on the productivity, dieback, and biomass of western Canadian aspen forests. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 38, 1373-1384.
19. Holtmeier FK, Broll G (2006) Radiocarbon-dated peat and wood remains from the Finnish Subarctic: evidence of treeline and landscape history. Holocene, 16, 743-751.
20. Holmes R. (1983) Computer-assisted quality control in tree-ring dating and measurement. Tree-Ring Bulletin, 43, 69-78.
21. Hughes MK, Funkhouser G (2003) Frequency-dependent climate signal in upper and lower forest border tree rings in the mountains of the Great Basin. Climatic Change, 59, 233-244.
22. Jiménez-Moreno G, Burjachs F, Expósito I et al. (2013) Late Pliocene vegetation and orbital-scale climate changes from the western Mediterranean area. Global and Planetary Change, 108, 15-28.
23. Kunstler G, Albert CH, Courbaud B et al. (2011) Effects of competition on tree radial-growth vary in importance but not in intensity along climatic gradients. Journal of Ecology, 99, 300-312.
24. Kupfer JA, Cairns DM (1996) The suitability of montane ecotones as indicators of global climatic change. Progress in Physical Geography, 20, 253-272.
25. Körner C (1998) A reassessment of high elevation treeline positions and their explanation. Oecologia, 115, 445-459.
26. Körner C, Paulsen J (2004) A world wide study of high altitude treeline temperatures. Journal of Biogeography, 31, 713-732.
27. Li HJ, Zhang YT, Zhang XP, Han ZT, Lu JJ, Li X (2010) The water quality changes during rainfall in natural Picea schrenkiana var. tianschanica forest ecosystem in the Middle Tianshan mountains. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 30, 4828-4838 (in Chinese with English abstract).
28. Li MH, He FH, Liu Y, Pan CD (2005) Spatial distribution pattern of tree individuals in the Schrenk spruce forest, northwest China. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 25, 1000-1006 (in Chinese with English abstract).
29. Li XX, Liang EY, Gričar J, Prislan P, Rossi S, Čufar K (2014) Age dependence of xylogenesis and its climatic sensitivity in Smith fir on the south-eastern Tibetan Plateau. Tree Physiology, 33, 48-56.
30. Liang EY, Wang YF, Eckstein D, Luo TX (2011) Little change in the fir tree-line position on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau after 200 years of warming. New Phytologist, 190, 760-769.
31. Liang EY, Ren P, Zhang S, Shao X, Eckstein D (2013) How can Populus euphratica cope with extremely dry growth conditions at 2, 800 m a.s.l. on the northern Tibetan Plateau? Trees, 27, 447-453.
32. Littell JS, Peterson DL, Tjoelker M (2008) Douglas-fir growth-climate relationships along biophysical gradients in mountain protected areas of the northwestern U.S. Ecological Monographs, 78, 349-368.
33. McMillan A, Goulden M (2008) Age-dependent variation in the biophysical properties of boreal forests. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 22, GB2019.
34. McGuire AD, Ruess RW, Lloyd A, Yarie J, Clein JS, Juday GP (2010) Vulnerability of white spruce tree growth in interior Alaska in response to climate variability: dendrochronological, demographic, and experimental perspectives. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 40, 1197-1209.
35. Monserud RA, Sterba H (1996) A basal area increment model for individual trees growing in even-and uneven-aged forest stands in Austria. Forest Ecology and Management, 80, 57-80.
36. Niklasson M (2002) A comparison of three age determination methods for suppressed Norway spruce: implications for age structure analysis. Forest Ecology and Management, 161, 279-288.
37. Pedersen BS (1998) The role of stress in the mortality of midwestern oaks as indicated by growth prior to death. Ecology, 79, 79-93.
38. Rossi S, Deslauriers A, Griçar J et al. (2008) Critical temperatures for xylogenesis in conifers of cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 17, 696-707.
39. Salzer MW, Hughes MK (2007) Bristlecone pine tree rings and volcanic eruptions over the last 5000 yr. Quaternary Research, 67, 57-68.
40. Salzer MW, Hughes MK, Bunnb AG, Kipfmueller KF (2009) Recent unprecedented tree-ring growth in bristlecone pine at the highest elevations and possible causes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106, 20348-20353.
41. Smith W, Germino M, Johnson DM, Reinhardt K (2009) The Altitude of Alpine Treeline: A Bellwether of Climate Change Effects. The Botanical Review, 75, 163-190.
42. Speer JH, Clay K, Bishop G, Creech M (2010) The Effect of Periodical Cicadas on Growth of Five Tree Species in Midwestern Deciduous Forests. American Midland Naturalist, 164, 173-186.
43. Szewczyk J, Szwagrzyk J, Muter E (2011) Tree growth and disturbance dynamics in old-growth subalpine spruce forests of the Western Carpathians. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 41, 938-944.
44. Tene A, Tobin B, Dyckmans J, Ray D, Black K, Nieuwenhuis M (2011) Assessment of tree response to drought: validation of a methodology to identify and test proxies for monitoring past environmental changes in trees. Tree Physiology, 31, 309-322.
45. Toledo M, Poorter L, Peña-Claros M et al. (2011) Climate is a stronger driver of tree and forest growth rates than soil and disturbance. Journal of Ecology, 99, 254-264.
46. Villalba R, Veblen TT (1997) Regional patterns of tree population age structures in northern Patagonia: Climatic and disturbance influences. Journal of Ecology, 85, 113-124.
47. Wang T, Ren HB, Ma KP (2005) Climatic signals in tree ring of Picea schrenkiana along an altitudianal gradient in the central Tianshan Mountains, northwestern China. Trees, 19, 735-741.
48. Wilmking M, Juday GP, Barber VA, Zald HSJ (2004) Recent climate warming forces contrasting growth responses of white spruce at treeline in Alaska through temperature thresholds. Global Change Biology, 10, 1724-1736.
49. Wu X, Liu HY, Wang YF, Deng MH (2013) Prolonged limitation of tree growth due to warmer spring in semi-arid mountain forests of Tianshan, northwest China. Environmental Research Letters, 8, 024016.
50. Yang B, Kang XC, Liu JJ, Brauning A, Qin C (2010) Annual temperature history in Southwest Tibet during the last 400 years recorded by tree rings. International Journal of Climatology, 30, 962-971.
51. Yuan QH, Wei WS (2006) Annual Climate Change in the Tianshan Mountainous since Recent 40 Years. Arid Zone Research, 23, 115-118 (in Chinese with English abstract).
52. Yuan YJ, Esper J, Wei WS et al. (2008) Development, correlation and climate signal analysis of three spruce chronologies of tree-ring maximum density from upper tree line in the western Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang. Arid Land Geography, 31, 560-566.
53. Zhang HL, Zhu JW, Zhang XP, Zhu YT, Hao S (2010) Study on Soil Nutrient Condition of Natural Spruce Forest of Different Canopy Density in Centre Tianshan. Journal of Xinjiang Agricultural University, 33, 15-18 (in Chinese with English abstract).
54. Zhu HF, Shao XM, Yin ZY, Xu P, Xu Y, Tian H (2011) August temperature variability in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau since AD 1385 inferred from tree rings. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 305, 84-92.
55. Zuidema PA, Vlam M, Chien PD (2011) Ages and long-term growth patterns of four threatened Vietnamese tree species. Trees-Structure and Function, 25, 29-38.