Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Aleppo pine vulnerability to climate stress is independent of site productivity of forest stands in southeastern Spain

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Trees Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Key message

Clim ate is the main driver of Aleppo pine radial growth variability irrespective of site pro ductivity, with the climate effects on tree growth more limiting from 1970 onwards.

Abstract

Forest management adaptation to climate change requires identifying the previously most vulnerable stands and the possible climate impacts on forests. This study evaluates whether site index, as an indicator of forest productivity, is related to climate–growth responses and assesses the way in which local site factors modulate climate–tree growth relationships. Tree-ring width series and soil characteristics were obtained from six Pinus halepensis stands with different site indices and similar climate. Dendrochronological methods were used to compare tree climate–growth responses among sites and to study temporal trends in inter-annual growth variability and climate–growth relationships (before and after 1970). The influence of topographic and soil features on tree growth was assessed by means of partial least squares. Stands with low site indices tended to present higher mean sensitivities and greater percentages of missing rings, this relation being modulated mainly by clay percentage and nutrient status in soil. Climate is the major Aleppo pine radial growth driver in the study area with similar growth–climate relationship among sites. Radial growth was mainly influenced by spring temperature and precipitation and previous autumn–winter precipitation. This relationship was stronger after 1970 than before this year, showing also a 2-month advancement of the most influential climate variables after 1970, from May to March. These results and the increasing temporal trend found in mean sensitivity after 1970 highlight the vulnerability of these stands to climate change. Site index was not found to be directly related to stand vulnerability, although local site factors modulate in part the tree-growth response.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andreassen K, Solberg S, Tveito OE, Lystad SL (2006) Regional differences in climatic responses of Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst) growth in Norway. Forest Ecol Manag 222:211–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andreu L, Gutiérrez E, Macias M, Ribas M, Bosch O, Camarero JJ (2007) Climate increases regional tree-growth variability in Iberian pine forests. Global Change Biol 13:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Assmann E (1970) The principles of yield study. Studies in the organic production, structure, increment and yield of forest stands. Oxford Pergamon Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Biondi F, Waikul K (2004) DENDROCLIM2002: a C++ program for statistical calibration of climate signals in tree-ring chronologies. Comput Geosci 30:303–311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bogino SM, Bravo F (2008) Growth response of Pinus pinaster Ait. to climatic variables in central Spanish forests. Ann For Sci 65(5):506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradbury IK, Malcolm DC (1977) The effect of phosphorus and potassium on transpiration, leaf diffusive resistance and water-use efficiency in Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) seedlings. J App Ecol 14(2):631–641

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bravo-Oviedo A, Gallardo-Andrés C, Río M, Montero G (2010) Regional changes of Pinus pinaster site index in Spain using a climate-based dominant height model. Can J For Res 40:2036–2048

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brunet M, Jones PD, Sigró J, Saladié O, Aguilar E, Moberg A, Della-Marta PM, Lister D, Walther A, López D (2007) Temporal and spatial temperature variability and change over Spain during 1850–2005. J Geophys Res D: Atmos 112:D12117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrascal LM, Galván I, Gordo O (2009) Partial least squares regression as an alternative to current regression methods used in ecology. Oikos 118:681–690

    Article  Google Scholar 

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

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cook ER, Krusic PJ (2013) Program ARSTAN. A tree-ring standardization program based on detrending and autoregressive time series modeling, with interactive graphics. http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/tree-ring-laboratory/resources/software. Accessed May 2013

  • Clutter LL, Fortson JC, Pienaar LV, Brister GH, Bailey RL (1983) Timber management: a quantitative approach. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Arrigo R, Wilson R, Liepert B, Cherubini P (2008) On the ‘divergence problem’ in northern forests: a review of the tree-ring evidence and possible causes. Global Planet Change 60:289–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Luis M, Gricar J, Cufar K, Raventós J (2007) Seasonal dynamics of wood formation in Pinus halepensis from dry and semi-arid ecosystems in Spain. IAWA J 28:389–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Luis M, Novak K, Čufar K, Raventós J (2009) Size mediated climate–growth relationships in Pinus halepensis and Pinus pinea. Trees 23:1065–1073

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Luis M, Brunetti M, Gonzalez-Hidalgo JC, Longares LA, Martin-Vide J (2010) Changes in seasonal precipitation in the Iberian Peninsula during 1946–2005. Global Planet Change 74:27–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Luis M, Cufar K, Di Filippo A, Novak K, Papadopoulos A (2013) Plasticity in dendroclimatic response across the distribution range of Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis). PLoS ONE 8(12):e83550. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083550

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Domingo JM, Fernández de Villarán R, Corral E, Rapp I (2006) Estimación de la capacidad de retención de agua en el suelo: revisión del parámetro CRA. Inv Agr: Sist Rec Forestales 15:14–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman JH (1984) A variable span smoother. Department of Statistics, Stanford University, Technical Report LCS 5

  • Fritts HC (1976) Tree rings and climate. Blackburn Press, Caldwell

    Google Scholar 

  • Gea-Izquierdo G, Cherubini P, Cañellas I (2011) Tree-rings reflect the impact of climate change on Quercus ilex L. along a temperature gradient in Spain over the last 100 years. For Ecol Manag 262:1807–1816

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammer Ø, Harper DAT, Ryan PD (2001) PAST: paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontolog Electron 4(1): 9. http://palaeo-electronica.org/2001_1/past/issue1_01.htm. Accessed May 2013

  • Holling CS (2001) Understanding the complexity of economic, ecological and social systems. Ecosystems 4:390–405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes RL (1983) Computer-assisted quality control in tree-ring dating and measurement. Tree-Ring Bulletin 43:69–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmes RL (1994) Dendrochronology program library user’s manual. University of Arizona, Laboratory of Tree Ring Research, Tucson. Available in: http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/pub/dpl-mac/68k/dpl.txt. Accessed May 2012

  • IPCC (2013) Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In: Stocker TF, Qin D, Plattner G-K, Tignor M, Allen SK, Boschung J, Nauels A, Xia Y, Bex V, Midgley PM (eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/report/WG1AR5_ALL_FINAL.pdf

  • Linares JC, Tíscar P (2010) Climate change impacts and vulnerability of the southern populations of Pinus nigra subsp. salzmannii. Tree Physiol 30:795–806

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lindner M, Maroschek M, Netherer S, Kremer A, Barbati A, Garcia-Gonzalo J, Seidl R, Delzon S, Corona P, Kolstrom M, Lexer MJ, Marchetti M (2010) Climate change impacts, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability of European forest ecosystems. Forest Ecol Manag 259:698–709

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd AH, Fastie CL (2002) Spatial and temporal variability in the growth and climate response of treeline trees in Alaska. Clim Change 52:481–509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Long JN (1985) A practical approach to density management. Forestry Chronicle 61:23–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macias M, Andreu L, Bosch O, Camarero JJ, Gutiérrez E (2006) Increasing aridity is enhancing silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) water stress in its south-Western distribution limit. Clim Change 79(3):289–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martín-Benito D, Cherubini P, Río M, Cañellas I (2008) Growth response to climate and drought in Pinus nigra Arn. trees of different crown classes. Trees 22(3):363–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martín-Benito D, Río M, Cañellas I (2010a) Black pine (Pinus nigra Arn.) growth divergence along a latitudinal gradient in Western Mediterranean mountains. Ann For Sci 67:401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martín-Benito D, del Río M, Heinrich H, Helle G, Cañellas I (2010b) Response of climate–growth relationships and water use efficiency to thinning in a Pinus nigra afforestation. Forest Ecol Manag 259:967–975

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martín-Benito D, Kint V, Río M, Muys B, Cañellas I (2011) Growth responses of West-Mediterranean Pinus nigra to climate change are modulated by competition and productivity: past trends and future perspectives. For Ecol Manage 262:1030–1040

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Novak K, de Luis M, Cufar K, Raventós J (2011) Frequency and variability of missing tree rings along the stems of Pinus halepensis and Pinus pinea from a semiarid site in SE Spain Journal of Arid Environments. J Arid Environ 75:494–498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Novak K, de Luís M, Raventós J, Čufar K (2013) Climatic signals in tree-ring widths and wood structure of Pinus halepensis in contrasted environmental conditions. Trees 27:927–936

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oberhuber W, Kofler W (2000) Topographic influences on radial growth of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) at small spatial scales. Plant Ecol 146:231–240

  • Olivar J, Bogino S, Spiecker H, Bravo F (2012) Climate impact on growth dynamic and intra-annual density fluctuations in Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) trees of different crown classes. Dendrochronologia 30:35–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olivar J, Bogino S, Rathgeber C, Bonnesoeur V (2014) Thinning has a positive effect on growth dynamics and growth–climate relationships in Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) trees of different crown classes. Ann For Sci 71:395–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver CD, Larson BC (1996) Forest stand dynamics. John Wiley and Sons, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Orwig DA, Abrams MD (1997) Variation in radial growth responses to drought among species, site, and canopy strata. Trees 11:474–484

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osborn TJ, Briffa KR, Jones PD (1997) Adjusting variance for sample-size in tree-ring chronologies and other regional-mean time series. Dendrochronologia 15:89–99

    Google Scholar 

  • Pasho E, Camarero JJ, de Luis M, Vicente-Serrano SM (2011a) Impacts of drought at different time scales on forest growth across a wide climatic gradient in north-eastern Spain. Agric For Meteorol 151:1800–1811

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pasho E, Camarero JJ, de Luis M, Vicente-Serrano SM (2011b) Spatial variability in large-scale and regional atmospheric drivers of Pinus halepensis growth in eastern Spain. Agric For Meteorol 151:1106–1119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pichler P, Oberhuber W (2007) Radial growth response of coniferous forest trees in an inner Alpine environment to heat-wave in 2003. Forest Ecol Manag 242:688–699

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Planells O, Gutiérrez E, Helle G, Schleser GH (2009) A forced response to twentieth century climate conditions of two Spanish forests inferred from widths and stable isotopes of tree rings. Clim Change 97:229–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reineke LH (1933) Perfecting a stand density index for even aged forests. J Agric Res 46:627–638

    Google Scholar 

  • Ribas M (2006) Dendroecología de Pinus halepensis Mill. en el este de la península Ibérica e islas Baleares: sensibilidad y grado de adaptación a las condiciones climáticas. PhD thesis, University of Barcelona

  • Rinn F (2003) Tsap-win professional, time series analysis and presentation for dendrochronology and related applications. Version 0.3, quick reference. RinnTech, Heidelberg

    Google Scholar 

  • Rio M, Calama R, Montero G (2008) Selvicultura de Pinus halepensis Mill. In: Serrada R, Montero G, Reque JA (eds) Compendio de selvicultura aplicada en España. INIA, Madrid, pp 289–312

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz-Peinado R, Bravo-Oviedo A, Río M, Cañellas I (2010) Modelling dominant height growth in Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.) forests. In: Bravo F (ed) Global changes and mediterranean pines: alternatives for management. IUFRO Congress, Palencia

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabaté S, Gracia CA, Sánchez A (2002) Likely effects of climate change on growth of Quercus ilex, Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinaster, Pinus sylvestris and Fagus sylvatica forest in the Mediterranean region. Forest Ecol Manag 162:23–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Salguero R, Navarro-Cerillo RM, Camarero JJ, Fernández-Cancio A (2010) Drought-induced growth decline of Aleppo and maritime pine forests in south-eastern Spain. Forest Systems 19:458–469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Salguero R, Navarro-Cerillo RM, Camarero JJ, Fernández-Cancio A (2012) Selective drought-induced decline of pine species in southeastern Spain. Clim Change 113(3–4):767–785

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarris D, Christodoulakis D, Körner C (2007) Recent decline in precipitation and tree growth in the eastern Mediterranean. Global Change Biol 13:1187–1200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith DM, Larsen BC, Kelty MJ, Ashton PMS (1997) The practice of silviculture: applied forest ecology, 9th edn. John Wiley and Sons, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Spittlehouse DL, Stewart RB (2003) Adaptation to climate change in forest management. BC J Ecosyst Manag 4(1):1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Stokes MA, Smiley TL (1968) An introduction to tree-ring dating. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Tardif J, Camarero JJ, Ribas M, Gutiérrez E (2003) Spatiotemporal variability in tree growth in the central Pyrenees climatic and site influences. Ecol Monogr 73(2):241–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valbuena P, del Peso C, Bravo F (2008) Stand density management diagrams for two Mediterranean pine species in Eastern Spain. Inv Agr: Sist Rec Forestales 17(2):97–104

    Google Scholar 

  • Valbuena-Carabaña M, Lopez de Heredia U, Fuentes-Utrilla P, González-Doncel I, Gil L (2010) Historical and recent changes in the Spanish forests: a socio-economic process. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 162:492–506

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author contribution statement

MR was responsible for study conception and design, acquisition data, analysis and interpretation of data and drafting of manuscript; JR for acquisition data, analysis and interpretation of data, critical revision; AB for acquisition data, analysis and interpretation of data, critical revision; RR for acquisition data, analysis and interpretation of data, critical revision; IC for acquisition data, analysis and interpretation of data, critical revision; EG for acquisition data, analysis and interpretation of data and drafting of manuscript.

Acknowledgments

The study was partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through projects SUM2008-00002-00-00, AGL2011-29701-C02.01 and AGL2010.21153.C02.01 and by the Spanish National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA) with Project AT10-007. We gratefully acknowledge Angel Bachiller and Enrique Garriga for assisting in fieldwork and Raquel Onrubia for helping in cores cross-dating. We thank the Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET) for providing climate data.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Javier Rodríguez-Alonso

    Present address: Departamento de Medio Ambiente, CIEMAT, Avenida Complutense 22, 28040, Madrid, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Silviculture and Forest Management, INIA Forest Research Centre, Ctra. A Coruña, km 7.5, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Miren del Río, Javier Rodríguez-Alonso, Andrés Bravo-Oviedo, Ricardo Ruíz-Peinado & Isabel Cañellas

  2. Sustainable Forest Management Research Institute UVa-INIA, Madrid, Spain

    Miren del Río, Andrés Bravo-Oviedo, Ricardo Ruíz-Peinado & Isabel Cañellas

  3. Departament d’Ecologia, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av Diagonal, 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Emilia Gutiérrez

Authors
  1. Miren del Río
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Javier Rodríguez-Alonso
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andrés Bravo-Oviedo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ricardo Ruíz-Peinado
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Isabel Cañellas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Emilia Gutiérrez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miren del Río.

Additional information

Communicated by U. Luettge.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (PDF 87 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

del Río, M., Rodríguez-Alonso, J., Bravo-Oviedo, A. et al. Aleppo pine vulnerability to climate stress is independent of site productivity of forest stands in southeastern Spain. Trees 28, 1209–1224 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-014-1031-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-014-1031-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation