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Response of regional tree-line forests to climate change: evidence from the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

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Abstract

Tree-ring width and age structure of Juniperus przewalskii (Qilian juniper) forests were analyzed for four tree-line sites in Qilian and Anyemaqen Mountains, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, to investigate their relationships to climate change. Tree-line growth on Qilian Mountain was mainly limited by temperature at the low-frequency band. However, tree-line growth in the Anyemaqen Mountain was highly correlated with the current growing season temperature at the high-frequency band, and with the previous growing season precipitation at the low-frequency band. A temperature-stressed growth pattern at colder western sites and a moisture-stressed growth pattern at the warm, drier eastern tree-line sites were detected. The number of surviving trees in the tree-line ecotone was not clearly correlated with temperature before the 1900s. An unprecedented rise in the number of trees coincided well with the rapid global warming after the 1900s.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Paul Krusic, Jinbao Li, Yong Zhang, Tao Yang, Fen Zhang and Wenhuo Liu for their kind help in the field and laboratory. Constructive comments and suggestions from the two anonymous reviewers are highly appreciated. This research was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2009CB421306), NSFC Innovation Team Project (No. 40721061), and Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (No. NCET-05-0888). This is Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Contribution (No. 7290).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (MOE), Center for Arid Environment and Paleoclimate Research (CAEP), Lanzhou University, 730000, Lanzhou, China

    Keyan Fang, Xiaohua Gou, Fahu Chen & Jianfeng Peng

  2. Tree-Ring Lab, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, New York, NY, 10964, USA

    Keyan Fang, Rosanne D’Arrigo & William Wright

  3. Tree Physiology Division, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Mai-He Li

  4. Mountain Ecology and Hydrology Unit, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment Chinese Academy of Sciences, 610041, Chengdu, China

    Mai-He Li

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  1. Keyan Fang
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  2. Xiaohua Gou
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  3. Fahu Chen
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  4. Jianfeng Peng
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  5. Rosanne D’Arrigo
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  6. William Wright
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  7. Mai-He Li
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Correspondence to Xiaohua Gou.

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Communicated by R. Matyssek.

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Fang, K., Gou, X., Chen, F. et al. Response of regional tree-line forests to climate change: evidence from the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Trees 23, 1321–1329 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-009-0373-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-009-0373-5

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