Different radial growth responses to climate warming by two dominant tree species at their upper altitudinal limit on Changbai Mountain

Abstract

We analyzed the influence of climate change over the past 50 years on the radial growth of two tree species: Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) and Yezo spruce (Picea jezoensis), located on Changbai Mountain, Northeast China, using a dendrochronology approach to understand factors that limit the altitude for tree species. Elevated temperatures increased the radial growth of Korean pine and decreased that of Yezo spruce. The positive response of tree growth to hydrothermal conditions was the key reason that the upper limit of elevation of Korean pine followed the temperature fluctuation pattern. Increased temperatures and precipitation and longer growing seasons accelerated Korean pine growth. As the temperature increased, correlations between Korean pine ring-width chronology and precipitation changed from negative to positive. In Yezo spruce, increasing monthly temperatures and inadequate precipitation during the middle and late parts of the growing season led to narrow growth rings, whereas decreasing monthly temperatures and sufficient precipitation during the late growing season promoted growth. Rising temperatures and adequate precipitation increases Korean pine growth, possibly elevating the upper range limit in altitude for this species. In contrast, Yezo spruce growth is negatively affected by warming temperatures and limited precipitation. Under future temperature increases and precipitation fluctuations, the upper limit altitude of Korean pine can reasonably be expected to shift upward and Yezo spruce downward.

Keywords

Climate change / Picea jezoensis / Pinus koraiensis / Tree-ring / Upper altitudinal limit

References

[1] Barber V, Juday G, Finney B. Reduced growth of Alaskan white spruce in the twentieth century from temperature-induced drought stress. Nature, 2000, 405: 668-673.

[2] Briffa K, Schweingruber F, Jones P, Osborn T, Shiyatov S, Vaganov E. Reduced sensitivity of recent tree-growth to temperature at high northern latitudes. Nature, 1998, 391: 678-682.

[3] Büntgen U, Esper J, Frank D, Nicolussi K, Schmidhalter M. A 1052-year tree-ring proxy for Alpine summer temperatures. Clim Dyn, 2005, 25: 141-153.

[4] Büntgen U, Frank D, Schmidhalter M, Neuwirth B, Seifert M, Esper J. Growth/climate response shift in a long subalpine spruce chronology. Trees Struct Funct, 2006, 20: 99-110.

[5] Carrer M, Urbinati C. Long-term change in the sensitivity of tree-ring growth to climate forcing in Larix decidua. New Phytol, 2006, 170: 861-872.

[6] Ciais P, Reichstein M, Viovy N, Granier A, Ogee J, Allard V, Aubinet M, Buchmann N, Bernhofer C, Carrara A. Europe-wide reduction in primary productivity caused by the heat and drought in 2003. Nature, 2005, 437: 529-533.

[7] Cook E, Holmes R. Users manual for program ARSTAN, 1986, Tucson: Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona.

[8] Cook E, Krusic P, Jones P. Dendroclimatic signals in long tree-ring chronologies from the Himalayas of Nepal. Int J Climatol, 2003, 23: 707-732.

[9] Cook E, Esper J, D’Arrigo R. Extra-tropical Northern Hemisphere land temperature variability over the past 1000 years. Quatern Sci Rev, 2004, 23: 2063-2074.

[10] Cui M, He Y, Chen W, Chen Z, Zhou C, Wu T. Dendrochronology of Chinese pine in Mulan-Weichang, Hebei Province: a primary study. Chin J Appl Ecol, 2008, 19: 2339-2345.

[11] D’Arrigo R, Jacoby G, Frank D, Pederson N, Cook E, Buckley B, Nachin B, Mijiddorj R, Dugarjav C. 1738 years of Mongolian temperature variability inferred from a tree-ring width chronology of Siberian pine. Geophys Res Lett, 2001, 28: 543-546.

[12] De Oliveira EAD, Approbato AU, Legracie JR Jr, Martinez CA. Soil-nutrient availability modifies the response of young pioneer and late successional trees to elevated carbon dioxide in a Brazilian tropical environment. Environ Exp Bot, 2012, 77: 53-62.

[13] Development Core Team R. R: A language and environment for statistical computing, 2011, Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.

[14] Duan J, Zhang Q-B, Lv L, Zhang C. Regional-scale winter-spring temperature variability and chilling damage dynamics over the past two centuries in southeastern China. Clim Dyn, 2012, 39: 919-928.

[15] Frank D, Esper J. Characterization and climate response patterns of a high-elevation, multi-species tree-ring network in the European Alps. Dendrochronologia, 2005, 22: 107-121.

[16] Fritts H. Tree-rings and climate, 1976, London: Academic Press.

[17] Hao Z, Dai L, He H. Potential response of major tree species to climate warming in Changbai Mountain, Northeast China. Chin J Appl Ecol, 2001, 12: 653-658.

[18] Holmes R. Computer-assisted quality control in tree-ring dating and measurement. Tree Ring Bull, 1983, 43: 69-78.

[19] Holmes R, Adams R, Fritts H. Tree-ring chronologies of western North America: California, eastern Oregon and northern Great Basin, with procedures used in the chronology development work, including users manuals for computer programs COFECHA and ARSTAN, 1986, Chronology Series VI: Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson 182

[20] Jacoby G, D’Arrigo R. Tree-ring width and density evidence of climatic and potential forest change in Alaska. Global Biogeochem Cycles, 1995, 9: 227-234.

[21] Leng W, He H, Bu R, Hu Y. The spatial distribution of constructive species of Northeast forest under the climate changing. Acta Ecol Sin, 2006, 26: 4257-4266.

[22] Li W. Degradation and restoration of forest ecosystems in China. For Ecol Manage, 2004, 201: 33-41.

[23] Li GQ, Bai F, Sang WG. Different responses of radial growth to climate warming in Pinuskoraiensisand Piceajezoen-sis var. komaroviiat their upper elevational limits in Changbai Mountain, China. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2011, 35: 500-511.

[24] Luckman B, Wilson R. Summer temperatures in the Canadian Rockies during the last millennium: a revised record. Clim Dyn, 2005, 24: 131-144.

[25] Melvin T (2004) Historical growth rates and changing climatic sensitivity of boreal conifers. Ph.D. thesis, Climatic Research Unit, East Anglia, UK

[26] Meyer F. Pointer year analysis in dendroecology: a comparison of methods. Dendrochronologia, 1999, 16: 193-204.

[27] Salzer M, Kipfmueller K. Reconstructed temperature and precipitation on a millennial timescale from tree-rings in the southern Colorado plateau, USA. Clim Change, 2005, 70: 465-487.

[28] Shao X, Wu X. reconstruction of climate change on Changbai Mountain, Northeeast China using tree-ring data. Chin J Quat Sci, 1997, 1: 76-85.

[29] Stokes M, Smiley T. An introduction to tree-ring dating, 1996, Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

[30] Vaganov E, Hughes M, Kirdyanov A, Schweingruber F, Silkin P. Influence of snowfall and melt timing on tree growth in subarctic Eurasia. Nature, 1999, 400: 149-151.

[31] Walther G, Post E, Convey P, Menzel A, Parmesan C, Beebee T, Fromentin J, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Bairlein F. Ecological responses to recent climate change. Nature, 2002, 416: 389-395.

[32] Wang M, Bai S, Tao D, Shan J. Effect of rise in air temperature on tree-ring growth of forest on Changbai Mountain. Chin J Appl Ecol, 1995, 6: 128-132.

[33] Wilson R, Luckman B. Tree-ring reconstruction of maximum and minimum temperatures and the diurnal temperature range in British Columbia, Canada. Dendrochronologia, 2002, 20: 257-268.

[34] Wilson R, Luckman B. Tree-ring reconstruction of maximum and minimum temperatures and the diurnal temperature range in British Columbia, Canada. Dendrochronologia, 2003, 20: 257-268.

[35] Wilson R, D’Arrigo R, Buckley B, Büntgen U, Esper J, Frank D, Luckman B, Payette S, Vose R, Youngblut D. A matter of divergence: tracking recent warming at hemispheric scales using tree-ring data. J Geophys Res, 2007, 112: D17103.

[36] Yonenobu H, Eckstein D. Reconstruction of early spring temperature for central Japan from the tree-ring widths of Hinoki cypress and its verification by other proxy records. Geophys Res Lett, 2006, 33: L10701.

[37] Yu D, Gu H, Wang J, Wang Q, Dai L. Relationships of climate change and tree-ring of Betula ermanii tree line forest in Changbai Mountain. Chin J For Res, 2005, 16: 187-192.

[38] Yu D, Wang S, Tang L, Dai L, Wang Q, Wang S. Relationship between tree-ring chronology of Larix olgensis in Changbai Mountains and the climate change. Chin J Appl Ecol, 2005, 16: 14-20.

[39] Zhang H, Han S, Li Y, Zhang J. Reconstruction of temporal variations of precipitation in Changbai Mountain area over past 240 years by using tree-ring width data. Chin J Ecol, 2007, 26: 1924-1929.

[40] Zhu W, Pan Y, Yang X, Song G. Comprehensive analysis of the impact of climatic changes on Chinese terrestrial net primary productivity. Chin Sci Bull, 2007, 52: 3253-3260.