Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

What causes variable response in tree growth to climate change at a single site? A case study of Picea crassifolia at the upper treeline, Qilian Mountains, China

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

Abstract

Key message

In situ observations indicate that different levels of micro-standing could induce divergent temperature responses in trees at similar elevations but different slope aspects, which is supported by physiological process model simulation of radial incremental growth.

Abstract

The unstable response of tree growth to climate change is a well-documented, yet poorly understood phenomenon. It has been reported that Picea crassifolia exhibits a systematically variable response to climate forcing at a single high-mountain study area located at the upper treeline in the Qilian Mountains, China. This study used in situ meteorological observations to force a simplified but nonlinear mechanistic model of tree-ring width to identify how variable conditions translate into differences in radial growth within this site. The simulations suggest no significant difference in soil moisture between sites, but disparate diurnal micro-site temperature maxima, apparently amplified by a uniform warming, drive the divergent growth trends between subsites. For tree-ring-based reconstructions of surface temperature, such divergent growth trends challenge the validity of the assumption that a linear growth response to environmental conditions within and across study sites. Therefore, we recommend the development of precise, high-resolution data sets for calibrating, validating and reconstructing climatic change, given the potential for emergent non-stable tree growth–climate relationships.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen KJ, Drew DM, Downes GM, Evans R, Cook ER, Battaglia M, Baker PJ (2013) A strong regional temperature signal in low-elevation Huon pine. J Quat Sci 28:433–438

    Google Scholar 

  • Andreu-Hayles L, D’Arrigo RD, Anchukaitis KJ, Beck PSA, Frank D, Goetz S (2011) Varying boreal forest response to Arctic environmental change at the Firth River, Alaska. Environ Res Lett 6:045503

    Google Scholar 

  • Bindoff NL, Stott PA, AchutaRao KM, Allen MR, Gillett N, Gutzler D, Hansingo K, Hegerl G, Hu Y, Jain S, Mokhov II, Overland J, Perlwitz J, Sebbari R, Zhang X (2013) Detection and attribution of climate change: from global to regional. In: Stocker TF, Qin D, Plattner G-K, Tignor M, Allen SK, Boschung J, Nauels A, Xia Y, Bex V, Midgley PM (eds) Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 867–952

    Google Scholar 

  • Büntgen U, Tegel W, Heussner KU, Hofmann J, Kontic R, Kyncl T, Cook ER (2012) Effects of sample size in dendroclimatology. Clim Res 53:263–269

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkett VR, Wilcox DA, Stottlemyer R, Barrow W, Fagre D, Baron J, Price J, Nielsen JL, Allen CD, Peterson DL, Ruggerone G, Doyle T (2005) Nonlinear dynamics in ecosystem response to climatic change: case studies and policy implications. Ecol Complex 2:357–394

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen F, Yuan YJ, Wei WS, Yu SL, Fan ZA, Zhang RB, Zhang TW, Li Q, Shang HM (2012) Temperature reconstruction from tree-ring maximum latewood density of Qinghai spruce in middle Hexi Corridor, China. Theor Appl Climatol 107:633–643

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook ER, Holmes R (1986) Users manual for program ARSTAN. In: Holmes R, Adams RK, Fritts HC (eds) Tree-ring chronologies of Western North America: California, eastern Oregon and northern Great Basin. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, pp 50–65

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Arrigo RD, Kaufmann RK, Davi N, Jacoby GC, Laskowski C, Myneni RB, Cherubini P (2004) Thresholds for warming-induced growth decline at elevational tree line in the Yukon Territory, Canada. Glob Biogeochem Cycles. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GB002249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deng Y, Gou XH, Gao LL, Zhao ZQ, Cao ZY, Yang MX (2013) Aridity changes in the eastern Qilian Mountains since AD 1856 reconstructed from tree-rings. Quat Int 283:78–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Esper J, Cook ER, Krusic PJ, Peters K, Schweingruber FH (2003) Tests of the RCS method for preserving low-frequency variability in long tree-ring chronologies. Tree Ring Res 59:81–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans MN, Reichert BK, Kaplan A, Anchukaitis KJ, Vaganov EA, Hughes MK, Cane MA (2006) A forward modeling approach to paleoclimatic interpretation of tree-ring data. J Geophys Res Biogeosci 111:G03008. https://doi.org/10.01029/02006JG000166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fritts HC (1976) Tree rings and climate. Academic Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Gao LL, Gou XH, Deng Y, Yang MX, Zhang F, Li J (2015) Dendroclimatic reconstruction of temperature in the eastern Qilian Mountains, northwestern China. Clim Res 62:241–250

    Google Scholar 

  • Gao LL, Gou XH, Deng Y, Yang MX, Zhang F (2017) Assessing the influences of tree species, elevation and climate on tree-ring growth in the Qilian Mountains of northwest China. Trees Struct Funct 31:393–404

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaucherel C, Campillo F, Misson L, Guiot J, Boreux JJ (2008) Parameterization of a process-based tree-growth model: comparison of optimization, MCMC and particle filtering algorithms. Environ Model Softw 23:1280–1288

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart SJ, Laroque CP (2013) Searching for thresholds in climate–radial growth relationships of Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. Dendrochronologia 31:9–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarvis SK, Wiles GC, Appleton SN, D’Arrigo RD, Lawson DE (2013) A warming-induced biome shift detected in tree growth of Mountain Hemlock [Tsuga mertensiana (Bong.) Carriere] along the Gulf of Alaska. Arct Antarct Alp Res 45:211–218

    Google Scholar 

  • Jochner M, Bugmann H, Nötzli M, Bigler C (2018) Tree growth responses to changing temperatures across space and time: a fine-scale analysis at the treeline in the Swiss Alps. Trees 32:645–660

    Google Scholar 

  • Knapp PA, Soule PT, Maxwell JT (2013) Mountain pine beetle selectivity in old-growth ponderosa pine forests, Montana, USA. Ecol Evol 3:1141–1148

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Körner C, Basler D, Hoch G, Kollas C, Lenz A, Randin CF, Vitasse Y, Zimmermann NE (2016) Where, why and how? Explaining the low-temperature range limits of temperate tree species. J Ecol 104:1076–1088

    Google Scholar 

  • Lapenis AG, Lawrence GB, Heim A, Zheng CY, Shortle W (2013) Climate warming shifts carbon allocation from stemwood to roots in calcium-depleted spruce forests. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 27:101–107

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li JB, Chen FH, Cook ER, Goua XH, Zhang YX (2007) Drought reconstruction for north central China from tree rings: the value of the Palmer drought severity index. Int J Climatol 27:903–909

    Google Scholar 

  • Li B, Nychka DW, Ammann CM (2010) The value of multiproxy reconstruction of past climate. J Am Stat Assoc 105:883–895

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li XX, Liang EY, Gricar J, Prislan P, Rossi S, Cufar K (2013) Age dependence of xylogenesis and its climatic sensitivity in Smith fir on the south-eastern Tibetan Plateau. Tree Physiol 33:48–56

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Li XX, Liang EY, Gričar J, Rossi S, Čufar K, Ellison AM (2017) Critical minimum temperature limits xylogenesis and maintains treelines on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Sci Bull 62:804–812

    Google Scholar 

  • Liang EY, Camarero JJ (2018) Threshold-dependent and non-linear associations between temperature and tree growth at and below the alpine treeline. Trees 32:661–662

    Google Scholar 

  • Liang EY, Shao XM, Eckstein D, Huang L, Liu XH (2006) Topography- and species-dependent growth responses of Sabina przewalskii and Picea crassifolia to climate on the northeast Tibetan Plateau. For Ecol Manag 236:268–277

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu XH, Qin DH, Shao XM, Chen T, Ren JW (2005) Temperature variations recovered from tree-rings in the middle Qilian Mountain over the last millennium. Sci China Ser D Earth Sci 48:521–529

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu XH, Shao XM, Liang EY, Zhao LJ, Chen T, Qin D, Ren JW (2007) Species-dependent responses of juniper and spruce to increasing CO2 concentration and to climate in semi-arid and arid areas of northwestern China. Plant Ecol 193:195–209

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu Y, Sun B, Song HM, Lei Y, Wang CY (2013) Tree-ring-based precipitation reconstruction for Mt. Xinglong, China, since AD 1679. Quat Int 283:46–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu Y, Sun C, Li Q, Cai QF (2016) A Picea crassifolia tree-ring width-based temperature reconstruction for the Mt. Dongda region, Northwest China, and its relationship to large-scale climate forcing. PLoS One 11:e0160963

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Mann ME, Hughes MK (2002) Tree-ring chronologies and climate variability. Science 296:848

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mann ME, Bradley RS, Briffa K, Cole J, Hughes MK, Overpeck JT, Jones J, Hv Storch, Widann M, Wanner H, Weber SL (2001) Reconstructing Late Holocene climate. Eos Trans Am Geophys Union 82:553

    Google Scholar 

  • Marchin RM, Salk CF, Hoffmann WA, Dunn RR (2015) Temperature alone does not explain phenological variation of diverse temperate plants under experimental warming. Glob Change Biol 21:3138–3151

    Google Scholar 

  • Montpellier EE, Soule PT, Knapp PA, Shelly JS (2018) Divergent growth rates of alpine larch trees (Larix lyallii Parl.) in response to microenvironmental variability. Arct Alp Res 50:e1415626

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter TJ, Pisaric MFJ, Kokelj SV, deMontigny P (2013) A ring-width-based reconstruction of June–July minimum temperatures since AD 1245 from white spruce stands in the Mackenzie Delta region, northwestern Canada. Quat Res 80:167–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossi S, Girard MJ, Morin H (2014) Lengthening of the duration of xylogenesis engenders disproportionate increases in xylem production. Glob Change Biol 20:2261–2271

    Google Scholar 

  • Ren P, Rossi S, Camarero JJ, Ellison AM, Liang E, Peñuelas J (2018) Critical temperature and precipitation thresholds for the onset of xylogenesis of Juniperus przewalskii in a semi-arid areaof the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Ann Bot 121:617–624

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stine AR (2019) Global demonstration of local Liebig’s law behavior for tree-ring reconstructions of climate. Paleoceanography Paleoclimatology 34:203–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Su JD, Gou XH, Deng Y, Zhang R, Liu WH, Zhang F, Lu M, Chen Y, Zheng W (2017) Tree growth response of Fokienia hodginsii to recent climate warming and drought in southwest China. Int J Biometeorol 61:2085–2096

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sundqvist HS, Zhang Q, Moberg A, Holmgren K, Kornich H, Nilsson J, Brattstrom G (2010) Climate change between the mid and late Holocene in northern high latitudes—Part 1: survey of temperature and precipitation proxy data. Clim Past 6:591–608

    Google Scholar 

  • Trouillier M, van der Maaten-Theunissen M, Harvey JE, Wurth D, Schnittler M, Wilmking M (2018) Visualizing individual tree differences in tree-ring studies. Forests 9:216. https://doi.org/10.3390/f9040216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaganov EA, Hughes MK, Shashkin A (2005) Growth dynamics of tree rings: an image of past and future environments. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang Q, Manchester SR, Gregor HJ, Shen S, Li ZY (2013) Fruits of Koelreuteria (Sapindaceae) from the Cenozoic throughout the northern hemisphere: their ecological, evolutionary, and biogeographic implications. Am J Bot 100:422–449

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wilmking M, Juday GP, Barber VA, Zald HSJ (2004) Recent climate warming forces contrasting growth responses of white spruce at treeline in Alaska through temperature thresholds. Glob Change Biol 10:1724–1736

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilmking M, D’Arrigo RD, Jacoby GC, Juday GP (2005) Increased temperature sensitivity and divergent growth trends in circumpolar boreal forests. Geophys Res Lett 32:L15715

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang YX, Wilmking M (2010) Divergent growth responses and increasing temperature limitation of Qinghai spruce growth along an elevation gradient at the northeast Tibet Plateau. For Ecol Manag 260:1076–1082

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang YX, Wilmking M, Gou XH (2009) Changing relationships between tree growth and climate in Northwest China. Plant Ecol 201:39–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang YX, Shao XM, Wilmking M (2011) Dynamic relationships between Picea crassifolia growth and climate at upper treeline in the Qilian Mts., Northeast Tibetan Plateau, China. Dendrochronologia 29:185–199

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang JZ, Gou XH, Pederson N, Zhang F, Niu HG, Zhao SD, Wang F (2018) Cambial phenology in Juniperus przewalskii along different altitudinal gradients in a cold and arid region. Tree Physiol 38:840–852

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng YH, Liang EY, Zhu HF, Shao XM (2008) Response of radial growth of Qilian juniper to climatic change under different habitats. J Beijing For Univ 30:7–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu HF, Shao XM, Yin ZY, Huang L (2011) Early summer temperature reconstruction in the eastern Tibetan plateau since ad 1440 using tree-ring width of Sabina tibetica. Theor Appl Climatol 106:45–53

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41401058) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFA0605601). The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yongxiang Zhang, Li Yu & Lei Huang

  2. Department of Geology and Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Michael N. Evans

  3. Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Yanfang Wang

Authors
  1. Yongxiang Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael N. Evans
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Li Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lei Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yanfang Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Yongxiang Zhang, Li Yu, Lei Huang, Yanfang Wang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Yongxiang Zhang, revised by Michael N. Evans and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yongxiang Zhang.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by E. Liang.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 27 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, Y., Evans, M.N., Yu, L. et al. What causes variable response in tree growth to climate change at a single site? A case study of Picea crassifolia at the upper treeline, Qilian Mountains, China. Trees 34, 615–622 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-019-01943-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-019-01943-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation