Meta-analysis of climate effects on radial growth of Qinghai spruce in northwestern China

Abstract

Radial growth of trees is highly sensitive to environmental changes, but the effect of climate on tree rings in Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia), a widely distributed endemic conifer in western China, is more complex than in many other conifers. A comprehensive understanding of the spatiotemporal climatic responses of its rings is needed to develop theoretical basis for designing strategies for its conservation and management. Here, our synthesis of the literature on responses of radial growth of Qinghai spruce to monthly climate variables in different environmental conditions by meta-analysis showed that precipitation and drought severity are the main limiting factors for Qinghai spruce radial growth in the semiarid region of northwestern China. In warmer and drier areas, radial growth of Qinghai spruce is mainly limited by drought. In the areas north of the 600-mm annual precipitation isoline, the tree-ring width (TRW) was significantly positively correlated with precipitation and significantly negatively correlated with temperature during the growing season (June–August). The limiting effect of drought on Qinghai spruce is also gradually increasing from southeast to northwest, to the west of 103° E and within 37° N–39° N.

Keywords

Qinghai spruce / China / Radial growth / Temperature / Precipitation / Drought / Meta-analysis

References

[1] BurdaBU, O’ConnorEA, WebberEM, RedmondN, PerdueLA. Estimating data from figures with a web-based program: considerations for a systematic review. Res Synth Methods, 2017, 8(3): 258-262

[2] ChagnonC, WotherspoonAR, AchimA. Deciphering the black spruce response to climate variation across eastern Canada using a meta-analysis approach. For Ecol Manag, 2022, 520, ArticleID: 120375

[3] ChenF, YuanYJ, WeiWS. Climatic response of Picea crassifolia tree-ring parameters and precipitation reconstruction in the western Qilian Mountains, China. J Arid Environ, 2011, 75(11): 1121-1128

[4] ChenF, YuanYJ, WeiWS, YuSL, FanZA, ZhangRB, ZhangTW, LiQ, ShangHM. Temperature reconstruction from tree-ring maximum latewood density of Qinghai spruce in middle Hexi Corridor, China. Theor Appl Climatol, 2012, 107(3): 633-643

[5] ChenF, YuanYJ, ZhangRB, YuSL. Reconstruction of regional NDVI using tree-ring width chronology in the southern edge of the Badain Jaran desert, northwestern China. Desert Oasis Meteor, 2015, 9(4): 1-7 in Chinese

[6] ChenYP, ChenF, ZhangHL. A tree-ring-based precipitation reconstruction since 1760 CE from northeastern Tibetan Plateau, China. Atmosphere, 2021, 12(4): 416

[7] CookER, PetersK. The smoothing spline: a new approach to standardizing forest interior tree-ring width series for dendroclimatic studies. Tree-Ring Bull, 1981, 41: 45-53

[8] DaiAG, TrenberthKE, QianTT. A global dataset of palmer drought severity index for 1870–2002: relationship with soil moisture and effects of surface warming. J Hydrometeorol, 2004, 5(6): 1117-1130

[9] DengY, GouXH, GaoLL, ZhaoZQ, CaoZY, YangMX. Aridity changes in the eastern Qilian Mountains since AD 1856 reconstructed from tree-rings. Quat Int, 2013, 283: 78-84

[10] DowntonWJS, LoveysBR, GrantWJR. Stomatal closure fully accounts for the inhibition of photosynthesis by abscisic acid. New Phytol, 1988, 108(3): 263-266

[11] DuMM, ZhangF, GouXH, LiuLY, XiaJQ, WuXP. Different responses of radial growth of Picea crassifolia to climate warming in the middle and eastern Qilian Mountains. J Glaciol Geocryol, 2022, 44(1): 14-23 in Chinese

[12] FanBX, YangB, LiG. Assessing the influence of local environment, regional climate and tree species on radial growth in the Hexi area of arid northwest China. Front Plant Sci, 2022, 13: 1046462

[13] FangJY, WangZH, TangZY Atlas of woody plants in China: distribution and climate, 2011 Beijing Higher Education Press 1972 in Chinese

[14] FangKY, GouXH, ChenFH, FrankD, LiuCZ, LiJB, KazmerM. Precipitation variability during the past 400years in the Xiaolong Mountain (Central China) inferred from tree rings. Clim Dyn, 2012, 39(7): 1697-1707

[15] FangKY, GouXH, ChenFH, LiuCZ, DaviN, LiJB, ZhaoZQ, LiYJ. Tree-ring based reconstruction of drought variability (1615–2009) in the Kongtong Mountain area, northern China. Glob Planet Change, 2012, 80: 190-197

[16] FangKY, LiuXM, LiYJ, ZhouFF, DongZP, CaoCF, LiDW, ZhangY, GanZF, ChenYJ. Interdecadal variations of the snow cover in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau recorded in tree rings. Quat Sci, 2016, 36(4): 993-1001 in Chinese

[17] FieldA Discovering statistics using SPSS, 2010 London SAGE Publications Ltd 856

[18] FontiP, JansenS. Xylem plasticity in response to climate. New Phytol, 2012, 195(4): 734-736

[19] FrittsHC Tree rings and climate, 1976 London, Amsterdam Elsevier 567

[20] GaoLL, GouXH, DengY, YangMX, ZhaoZQ, CaoZY. Dendroclimatic response of Picea crassifolia along an altitudinal gradient in the eastern Qilian Mountains, northwest China. Arct Antarct Alp Res, 2013, 45(4): 491-499

[21] GaoLL, GouXH, DengY, YangMX, ZhangF, LiJ. Dendroclimatic reconstruction of temperature in the eastern Qilian Mountains, northwestern China. Clim Res, 2015, 62(3): 241-250

[22] GaoLL, GouXH, DengY, WangZQ, GuF, WangF. Increased growth of Qinghai spruce in northwestern China during the recent warming hiatus. Agric for Meteor, 2018, 260: 9-16

[23] GaoYH, XuJW, ZhangM, JiangFY. Advances in the study of the 400 mm isohyet migrations and wetness and dryness changes on the Chinese mainland. Adv Earth Sci, 2020, 35(11): 1101-1112 in Chinese

[24] GhoshS, BandopadhyayS, SánchezDAC. Long-term sensitivity analysis of Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) through uncertainty and error estimation from plant productivity and biophysical parameters. Environ Sci Proc, 2020, 3(1): 57

[25] HendersonJP, Grissino-MayerHD. Climate–tree growth relationships of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) in the Southeastern Coastal Plain, USA. Dendrochronologia, 2009, 27(1): 31-43

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

[27] HouS, XuGB, WangB, ChenT, WuGJ, LvMX, LiXQ, LvHY, ChenZ. Radial growth of Qinghai spruce ( Picea crassifolia ) for dead and living trees and their responses to climate change in the eastern Ailian Mountains. Acta Ecol Sin, 2024, 44(11): 1-11 in Chinese

[28] HuangX, DaiD, XiangY, YanZG, TengMJ, WangPC, ZhouZX, ZengLX, XiaoWF. Radial growth of Pinus massoniana is influenced by temperature, precipitation, and site conditions on the regional scale: a meta-analysis based on tree-ring width index. Ecol Indic, 2021, 126: 07659

[29] Jia W, He Y, Li Z, Pang H, Yuan L, Ning B, Song B, Zhang N (2008) The regional difference and catastrophe of climatic change in Qilian Mt. region. Acta Geographica Sinica(03):257–269 (in Chinese)

[30] LeiJP, FengXH, ShiD, BaiDZ, XiaoWF. Stability of relationship between climate and Picea crassifolis radial growth in different elevations. Acta Bot Boreal-Occid Sin, 2012, 32(12): 2518-2529

[31] LiXX, RossiS, SigdelSR, DawadiB, LiangEY. Warming menaces high-altitude Himalayan birch forests: evidence from cambial phenology and wood anatomy. Agric for Meteor, 2021, 308, ArticleID: 108577

[32] LiJF, YuanYJ, YouXY The study on tree ring hydrology and its applications, 2000 Beijing China Science Publishing & Media Ltd 312 in Chinese

[33] LiH, ZhanSM, RanYL, ZhangLN, LiuXH. The Climate response of radial growth of Picea crassifolia with different ages and different initial growth rates in the middle of Qilian Mountains. J Capital Normal Univ, 2020, 41(01): 53-61 in Chinese

[34] LiangEY, ShaoXM, HuYX, LinJX. Dendroclimatic evaluation of climate-growth relationships of Meyer spruce ( Picea meyeri ) on a sandy substrate in semi-arid grassland, North China. Trees, 2001, 15(4): 230-235

[35] LiangEY, ShaoXM, EcksteinD, LiuXH. Spatial variability of tree growth along a latitudinal transect in the Qilian Mountains, northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Can J for Res, 2010, 40(2): 200-211

[36] LiangEY, LeuschnerC, DulamsurenC, WagnerB, HauckM. Global warming-related tree growth decline and mortality on the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau. Clim Change, 2016, 134(1): 163-176

[37] LiuY, SongHM, SunCF, SongY, CaiQF, LiuRS, LeiY, LiQ. The 600-mm precipitation isoline distinguishes tree-ring-width responses to climate in China. Natl Sci Rev, 2019, 6(2): 359-368

[38] LiuY, SunCF, LiQ, CaiQF. A Picea crassifolia tree-ring width-based temperature reconstruction for the Mt. Dongda region, Northwest China, and its relationship to large-scale climate forcing. PLoS ONE, 2016, 11(8): e0160963

[39] Masson-Delmotte V, Zhai PM, Pirani S, Connors C, Péan S, Berger N, Caud Y, Chen L, Goldfarb M, Scheel Monteiro PM, IPCC (2021) Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis. In: Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press. p 3–32

[40] NiuJQ, ZhaoXE, ChenF, ChenYP, YueWP. Precipitation reconstructions in the northern and southern Qilian Mountains based on tree rings of Picea crassifolia. Theor Appl Climatol, 2024, 155(11): 9657-9671

[41] PanthiS, BräuningA, ZhouZK, FanZX. Growth response of Abies georgei to climate increases with elevation in the central Hengduan Mountains, southwestern China. Dendrochronologia, 2018, 47: 1-9

[42] Park WilliamsA, AllenCD, MacaladyAK, GriffinD, WoodhouseCA, MekoDM, SwetnamTW, RauscherSA, SeagerR, Grissino-MayerHD, DeanJS, CookER, GangodagamageC, CaiM, McDowellNG. Temperature as a potent driver of regional forest drought stress and tree mortality. Nat Clim Change, 2012, 3(3): 292-297

[43] PengXM, DuJ, YangB, XiaoSC, LiG. Elevation-influenced variation in canopy and stem phenology of Qinghai spruce, central Qilian Mountains, northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Trees, 2019, 33(3): 707-717

[44] PengZB, LiXJ, ZhangRB, QinL, ZhangHL, ChenYP, LiuR. The response of tree-ring chronologies of Schrenk spruce ( Picea schrenkiana Fisch. et Mey.) to climate change at high- and low-elevations of the eastern Tianshan Mountains, Xinjiang, using different detrending methods. Acta Ecol Sin, 2019, 39(5): 1595-1604 in Chinese

[45] QinC, YangB, BräuningA, Charpentier LjungqvistF, OsbornTJ, ShishovV, HeMH, KangSY, SchneiderL, EsperJ, BüntgenU, GrießingerJ, HuangDQ, ZhangP, TalentoS, XoplakiE, LuterbacherJ, StensethNC. Persistent humid climate favored the Qin and western Han dynasties in China around 2, 200 y ago. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2025, 122(1) ArticleID: e2415294121

[46] R Core Team (2022) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org

[47] RestainoCM, PetersonDL, LittellJ. Increased water deficit decreases Douglas fir growth throughout western US forests. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2016, 113 34): 9557-9562

[48] RosenbergMS. The file-drawer problem revisited: a general weighted method for calculating fail-safe numbers in meta-analysis. Evolution, 2005, 59(2): 464-468

[49] SchweingruberFH Tree rings: basics and applications of dendrochronology, 1988 Dordrecht Kluwer Academic Publishers

[50] SouléPT, KnappPA, MaxwellJT, MitchellTJ. A comparison of the climate response of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) trees among standardized measures of earlywood, latewood, adjusted latewood, and totalwood radial growth. Trees, 2021, 35(3): 1065-1074

[51] StevensJR, TaylorAM. Hierarchical dependence in meta-analysis. J Educ Behav Stat, 2009, 34(1): 46-73

[52] TakahashiK, AzumaH, YasueK. 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, 2003, 18(5): 549-558

[53] TianQH, GouXH, ZhangY, WangYS, FanZX. May–June mean temperature reconstruction over the past 300 years based on tree rings in the Qilian mountains of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. IAWA J, 2009, 30(4): 421-434

[54] VaganovEA, HughesMK, ShashkinAV Growth dynamics of conifer tree rings: images of past and future environments, 2006 Berlin Springer, Berlin Heidelberg 358

[55] ViechtbauerW. Conducting meta-analyses in R with the Metafor Package. J Stat Soft, 2010, 36(3): 1-48

[56] Villanueva-DíazJ, StahleDW, PoulosHM, TherrellMD, HowardI, Martínez-SifuentesAR, Hermosillo-RojasD, Cerano-ParedesJ, Estrada-ÁvalosJ. Climate and the radial growth of conifers in borderland natural areas of Texas and northern Mexico. Atmosphere, 2022, 13(8): 1326

[57] WangXF, YangB. Divergent tree radial growth at alpine coniferous forest ecotone and corresponding responses to climate change in northwestern China. Ecol Indic, 2021, 121, ArticleID: 107052

[58] WangB, ChenT, WuGJ, XuGB, ZhangYF, GaoHN, ZhangY, FengQ. Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia) growth–climate response between lower and upper elevation gradient limits: a case study along a consistent slope in the mid-Qilian Mountains region. Environ Earth Sci, 2016, 75(3): 236

[59] WangB, ChenT, XuGB, LiuXH, WangWZ, WuGJ, ZhangYF. Alpine timberline population dynamics under climate change: a comparison between Qilian juniper and Qinghai spruce tree species in the middle Qilian Mountains of northeast Tibetan Plateau. Boreas, 2016, 45(3): 411-422

[60] WangXF, YangB, LjungqvistFC. The vulnerability of Qilian juniper to extreme drought events. Front Plant Sci, 2019, 10: 1191

[61] WangYF, SylvesterSP, LuXM, DawadiB, SigdelSR, LiangEY, Julio CamareroJ. The stability of spruce treelines on the eastern Tibetan Plateau over the last century is explained by pastoral disturbance. For Ecol Manag, 2019, 442: 34-45

[62] WangYF, ZhangYX, GouXH, GaoLL, WangF. Climate response mechanism of radial growth of Picea crassifolia in low altitude area of middle Qilian Mountains. Acta Ecol Sin, 2020, 40(1): 161-169

[63] WangXG, JiaoL, XueRH, ZhangP, DuDS, WeiMY, LiQ. Radial growth in Qinghai spruce is most sensitive to severe drought in the Qilian Mountains of Northwest China. J for Res, 2024, 35(1): 49

[64] WeisE, BerryJA. Plants and high temperature stress. Symp Soc Exp Biol, 1988, 42: 329-346

[65] WuCR, XingCP. Comparison of fine root biomass of three main arbors in Qilian Mountains. Res Soil Water Conserv, 2015, 22(5): 325-330 in Chinese

[66] WuZY, RavenP, YuanHD Flora of China, 1994 Beijing China Science Publishing & Media Ltd 369

[67] XuJM, BaoFC, LvJX, HuangRF, ZhaoYK, RobertE. Climate response of radial growth of Picea crassifolia in Qilian Mountains of northwestern China. J Beijing for Univ, 2012, 34(2): 1-6 in Chinese

[68] YangB, HeMH. Global warming strengthens the association between ENSO and the Asian-Australian summer monsoon. Sci China Earth Sci, 2024, 67(1): 309-312

[69] YangB, QinC, WangJL, HeMH, MelvinTM, OsbornTJ, BriffaKR. A 3,500-year tree-ring record of annual precipitation on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2014, 111(8): 2903-2908

[70] YangB, HeMH, ShishovV, TychkovI, VaganovE, RossiS, LjungqvistFC, BräuningA, GrießingerJ. New perspective on spring vegetation phenology and global climate change based on Tibetan Plateau tree-ring data. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2017, 114(27): 6966-6971

[71] YangB, QinC, BräuningA, OsbornTJ, TrouetV, LjungqvistFC, EsperJ, SchneiderL, GrießingerJ, BüntgenU, RossiS, DongGH, YanM, NingL, WangJL, WangXF, WangSM, LuterbacherJ, CookER, StensethNC. Long-term decrease in Asian monsoon rainfall and abrupt climate change events over the past 6,700 years. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2021, 118(30) e2102007118

[72] YangB, LiX, HeMH, WangF, ZhaoYS, ZhangP, WangJL. The influence of proxy selection on global annual mean temperature reconstructions during the Common Era. Sci China Earth Sci, 2024, 67 8): 2522-2534

[73] YangB, HeMH, YangL, WangF, LjungqvistFC. Pine maximum latewood density in semi-arid northern China records hydroclimate rather than temperature. Geophys Res Lett, 2023, 50(13): e2023GL10436

[74] ZengXM, WeiCF, LiuXH, ZhangLN. Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia) and Chinese pine (Pinus tabuliformis) show high vulnerability and similar resilience to early-growing-season drought in the Helan Mountains. China Ecol Indic, 2020, 110, ArticleID: 105871

[75] ZhanSM, WangKY, ZhangLN, RanYL, LiuXH. Species-specific growth responses to climatic factors in the eastern Qilian Mountains. Chin J Ecol, 2019, 38(7): 2007-2014 in Chinese

[76] ZhangLN, WangR, LiuXF, RanYL, ShangS, LiuXH. Age- and region-related response of radial growth to climate warming and a warming hiatus. Trees, 2020, 34(1): 199-212

[77] ZhangWG, GouXH, LiuWH, LiJB, SuJJ, DilawarN, ZhuF, XiaJQ, DuMM, WangLL, SunQP, ZhangYR, TuZY. Divergent tree radial growth patterns of Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia) at the alpine timberline along a moisture gradient in the Qilian mountains, Northwest China. Agric for Meteor, 2023, 328, ArticleID: 109240

[78] ZhangYX, ShaoXM, WilmkingM. Dynamic relationships between Picea crassifolia growth and climate at upper treeline in the Qilian Mts., Northeast Tibetan Plateau, China. Dendrochronologia, 2011, 29(4): 185-199

[79] ZhangLN, LiSS, HongYX, ZengXM, LiuXH. Changes in the radial growth of Picea crassifolia and its driving factors in the mid-western Qilian Mountains, Northwest China since 1851 C.E.. Dendrochronologia, 2020, 61: 125707

[80] Zhang WG (2023) Response and adaptation of Qinghai spruce forest to climate change in the Qilian Mountains. Doctoral Dissertation, Lanzhou University. (in Chinese)

[81] ZhaoSD, HeX, ZhangBQ, LiuQ, WangH, JiangY. Response of tree radial growth of Picea crassifolia at alpine timberline to climate factors in eastern slope of Helan Mountain. J Beijing Univ, 2013, 49(05): 501-505 in Chinese

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Northeast Forestry University