Abstract
Accelerated tree growth in the alpine treeline ecotone (ATE) has been linked to the recent rapid climate warming. However, the role of tree age and elevation in the growth response of trees to climate change remains unclear. Here, we developed basal area increment chronologies of Betula ermanii from the closed forest belt (CFB) at lower elevation to the ATE of Changbai Mountain with three tree age classes (young: 0–60 years, middle-aged: 60–120 years, and old: > 120 years). In ATE, all age classes of B. ermanii have been experiencing dramatic growth acceleration since 1981. Young trees, with higher temperature sensitivity, exhibited the most prominent warming-induced growth enhancement relative to middle and old-aged trees. In CFB, young and middle-aged trees exhibited similar sensitivity to the temperature increase during the warm period relative to the cold period, with strikingly accelerated growth enhancement trends. In contrast, old trees did not show any significant growth trend. Moreover, young trees in ATE showed significantly (p < 0.01) higher growth rates than those in CFB, whereas middle-aged trees in ATE showed significantly (p < 0.05) lower growth rates than those in CFB. Our results reveal that the response of tree growth to climate change varies with tree age and elevation. Therefore, these factors should be considered to avoid overestimation or underestimation of tree growth trends and bias in estimating potential forest production.
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We thank Siqi Li for participating in the field sampling and sample pretreatment.
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This research was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFC0409101), the Joint Fund of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number U19A2023), the Science and Technology Development Plan of Jilin Province (Grant Number 20190201291JC), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2412020FZ002, 2412020XK002).
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Qi, X., Fang, K., Du, H. et al. Age-related growth responses of birch to warming along an elevational gradient on Changbai Mountain. Eur J Forest Res 141, 293–305 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-021-01438-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-021-01438-0