Growth response of alpine treeline forests to a warmer and drier climate on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Chunming Shi; Miaogen Shen; Xiuchen Wu; Xiao Cheng; Xiaoyan Li; Tianyi Fan; Zongshan Li; Yuandong Zhang; Zexin Fan; Fangzhong Shi; Guocan Wu

doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2018.10.002

Growth response of alpine treeline forests to a warmer and drier climate on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Chunming Shi^*, Miaogen Shen, Xiuchen Wu, Xiao Cheng, Xiaoyan Li, Tianyi Fan, Zongshan Li, Yuandong Zhang, Zexin Fan, Fangzhong Shi, Guocan Wu

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

50 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Forest growth at high altitudes and latitudes is sensitive to climate warming. However, warming-induced drought stress has decreased forest growth and survival rates, and constitutes a key uncertainty in projections of forest ecosystem dynamics. A fast warming rate has occurred over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), and the response pattern of alpine forest growth on the TP to a warmer and possibly drier climate is still unknown. By compiling tree-ring width records from ten alpine treeline ecotones (ATEs), we developed an index of regional tree growth in ATEs (RTGA) on the southeastern TP, which is a major forested region of the TP. Our results showed a stable and clear coherence between RTGA and the regional summer (June-August) minimum temperature during the studied period (1950–2012, R² = 0.59, P < 0.001), despite a prominent drying trend since the 1990s. We conclude that warming-induced drought stress has not limited ATE forest growth on the moist southeastern TP.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	73-79
Number of pages	7
Journal	Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
Volume	264
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2018.10.002
Publication status	Published - 15 Jan 2019
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Alpine treeline
Climate response
Divergence problem
Tibetan Plateau
Tree ring

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.agrformet.2018.10.002

Cite this

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title = "Growth response of alpine treeline forests to a warmer and drier climate on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau",

abstract = "Forest growth at high altitudes and latitudes is sensitive to climate warming. However, warming-induced drought stress has decreased forest growth and survival rates, and constitutes a key uncertainty in projections of forest ecosystem dynamics. A fast warming rate has occurred over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), and the response pattern of alpine forest growth on the TP to a warmer and possibly drier climate is still unknown. By compiling tree-ring width records from ten alpine treeline ecotones (ATEs), we developed an index of regional tree growth in ATEs (RTGA) on the southeastern TP, which is a major forested region of the TP. Our results showed a stable and clear coherence between RTGA and the regional summer (June-August) minimum temperature during the studied period (1950–2012, R2 = 0.59, P < 0.001), despite a prominent drying trend since the 1990s. We conclude that warming-induced drought stress has not limited ATE forest growth on the moist southeastern TP.",

keywords = "Alpine treeline, Climate response, Divergence problem, Tibetan Plateau, Tree ring",

author = "Chunming Shi and Miaogen Shen and Xiuchen Wu and Xiao Cheng and Xiaoyan Li and Tianyi Fan and Zongshan Li and Yuandong Zhang and Zexin Fan and Fangzhong Shi and Guocan Wu",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 Elsevier B.V.",

year = "2019",

month = jan,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1016/j.agrformet.2018.10.002",

language = "English",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Growth response of alpine treeline forests to a warmer and drier climate on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau

AU - Shi, Chunming

AU - Shen, Miaogen

AU - Wu, Xiuchen

AU - Cheng, Xiao

AU - Li, Xiaoyan

AU - Fan, Tianyi

AU - Li, Zongshan

AU - Zhang, Yuandong

AU - Fan, Zexin

AU - Shi, Fangzhong

AU - Wu, Guocan

PY - 2019/1/15

Y1 - 2019/1/15

N2 - Forest growth at high altitudes and latitudes is sensitive to climate warming. However, warming-induced drought stress has decreased forest growth and survival rates, and constitutes a key uncertainty in projections of forest ecosystem dynamics. A fast warming rate has occurred over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), and the response pattern of alpine forest growth on the TP to a warmer and possibly drier climate is still unknown. By compiling tree-ring width records from ten alpine treeline ecotones (ATEs), we developed an index of regional tree growth in ATEs (RTGA) on the southeastern TP, which is a major forested region of the TP. Our results showed a stable and clear coherence between RTGA and the regional summer (June-August) minimum temperature during the studied period (1950–2012, R2 = 0.59, P < 0.001), despite a prominent drying trend since the 1990s. We conclude that warming-induced drought stress has not limited ATE forest growth on the moist southeastern TP.

AB - Forest growth at high altitudes and latitudes is sensitive to climate warming. However, warming-induced drought stress has decreased forest growth and survival rates, and constitutes a key uncertainty in projections of forest ecosystem dynamics. A fast warming rate has occurred over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), and the response pattern of alpine forest growth on the TP to a warmer and possibly drier climate is still unknown. By compiling tree-ring width records from ten alpine treeline ecotones (ATEs), we developed an index of regional tree growth in ATEs (RTGA) on the southeastern TP, which is a major forested region of the TP. Our results showed a stable and clear coherence between RTGA and the regional summer (June-August) minimum temperature during the studied period (1950–2012, R2 = 0.59, P < 0.001), despite a prominent drying trend since the 1990s. We conclude that warming-induced drought stress has not limited ATE forest growth on the moist southeastern TP.

KW - Alpine treeline

KW - Climate response

KW - Divergence problem

KW - Tibetan Plateau

KW - Tree ring

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85054436497

U2 - 10.1016/j.agrformet.2018.10.002

DO - 10.1016/j.agrformet.2018.10.002

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85054436497

SN - 0168-1923

VL - 264

SP - 73

EP - 79

JO - Agricultural and Forest Meteorology

JF - Agricultural and Forest Meteorology

ER -

Growth response of alpine treeline forests to a warmer and drier climate on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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