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Negative growth responses to temperature of sympatric species converge under warming conditions on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau

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Warming-induced drought stress leads to convergent and negative growth responses to temperature between sympatric tree species, implying an increasing interspecific competition for soil moisture.

Abstract

In mixed forests, sympatric tree species avoid competition by partitioning their niches according to available environment resources. We raise the hypothesis that climate warming leads to a convergence in growth responses to climate, thus increasing the competition among sympatric species in drought-prone forests. In this study, we selected a mixed forest located at ca. 3600 m a.s.l in the Baima Snow Mountains, an inner dry valley of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. We measured width of the tree rings produced during 1910–2016 in 60 trees belonging to three sympatric species: Abies georgei, Picea likiangensis, and Betula delavayi. We analyzed the changes in radial growth and their responses to climate. We detected shifts in the responses to climate after the 1990s. The radial growth of all species was positively correlated with precipitation from 1964 to 1990, but negatively correlated with March–June temperature from 1991 to 2016. Compared to the period 1964–1990, convergent and negative growth responses to warmer temperatures in the period 1991–2016 probably reflect less available soil moisture for growing in this mixed forest. We conclude that climate warming will affect the niches of sympatric species in mixed forests subjected to seasonal drought, thus increasing competition and altering structure and composition of the stands in dry regions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41661144040), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA20050101), and Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Qiqi Du, Xiaoming Lu, Haifeng Zhu & Eryuan Liang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Qiqi Du

  3. Departement des Sciences Fundamentals, Laboratoirs d’Ecologie Vegetale, University of Quebec in Chicoutimi, 555, Boulevard de I’Universite, Chicoutimi, QC, G7H 2B1, Canada

    Sergio Rossi

  4. Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China

    Sergio Rossi

  5. College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China

    Yafeng Wang

  6. CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Haifeng Zhu & Eryuan Liang

  7. Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), Avda. Montañana 1005, 50080, Zaragossa, Spain

    J. Julio Camarero

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  1. Qiqi Du
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Correspondence to Eryuan Liang.

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Du, Q., Rossi, S., Lu, X. et al. Negative growth responses to temperature of sympatric species converge under warming conditions on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Trees 34, 395–404 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-019-01924-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-019-01924-4

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