Abstract
Tree populations located at the geographical distribution limit of the species may provide valuable information about the response of tree growth to climate warming across climatic gradients. Dendroclimatic information was extracted from a network of 10 silver-fir (Abies alba) populations in the south-western distribution limit of the species (Pyrenees, NE Iberian Peninsula). Ring-width chronologies were built for five stands sampled in mesic sites from the Main Range in the Pyrenees, and for five forests located in the southern Peripheral Ranges where summer drought is more pronounced. The radial growth of silver-fir in this region is constrained by water stress during the summer previous to growth, as suggested by the negative relationship with previous September temperature and, to a lesser degree, by a positive relationship with previous end of summer precipitation. Climatic data showed a warming trend since the 1970s across the Pyrenees, with more severe summer droughts. The recent warming changed the climate-growth relationships, causing higher growth synchrony among sites, and a higher year-to-year growth variation, especially in the southernmost forests. Moving-interval response functions suggested an increasing water-stress effect on radial growth during the last half of the 20th century. The growth period under water stress has extended from summer up to early autumn. Forests located in the southern Peripheral Ranges experienced a more intense water stress, as seen in a shift of their response to precipitation and temperature. The Main-Range sites mainly showed a response to warming. The intensification of water-stress during the late 20th century might affect the future growth performance of the highly-fragmented A. alba populations in the southwestern distribution limit of the species.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agustí-Panareda, A., Thompson, R. and Livingstone, D. M.: 2000, ‘Reconstructing temperature variations at high elevation lake sites in Europe during the instrumental period’, Verh. Int. Ver. Limn. 27, 479–483.
Allué, J. L.: 1990, Atlas fitoclimático de España, Ministerio de Agricultura Pesca y Alimentación, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Madrid.
Aniol R. W.: 1983, ‘Tree-ring analysis using CATRAS’, Dendrochronologia 1, 45–53.
Aussenac, G.: 2002, ‘Ecology and ecophysiology of circum-Mediterranean firs in the context of climate change’, Ann. For. Sci. 59, 823–832.
Barry, R. G.: 1992, Mountain Weather & Climate, Routledge Physical Environment Series, London, 2nd ed., 402 pp.
Biondi, F. and Waikul, K.: 2003, ‘DENDROCLIM 2002: A C++ program for statistical calibration of climate signals in tree-ring chronologies’, Computers & Geosciences 30, 303–311.
Biondi, F.: 1997, ‘Evolutionary and moving response functions in dendroclimatology’, Dendrochronologia 15, 139–150.
Biondi, F.: 2000, ‘Are climate-tree growth relationships changing in north-central idaho, USA?’, Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 32(2), 111–116.
Blanco, E., Casado, M. A., Costa, M., Escribano, R., García, M., Génova, M., Gómez, A., Gómez, F., Moreno, J. C., Morla, C., Regato, P. and Sainz, H.: 1997, Los bosques ibéricos, Ed. Planeta, Barcelona, p. 572.
Blasing, T. J., Duvick, D. N. and Cook, E. R.: 1983, ‘Filtering the effects of competition from ring-width series’, Tree-Ring Bulletin 43, 19–30.
Briffa, K. R. and Jones, P. D.: 1990, ‘Basic chronology statistics and assessment’, in Cook, E. and Kairiukstis, L. (eds)., Methods of Dendrochronology: Applications in the Environmental Science, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 137–152.
Brubaker, L. B.: 1986, ‘Responses of tree populations to climatic change’, Vegetatio 67, 119–130.
Brunet, M., Sigró, J., Saladie, O., Aguilar, E., Jones, P. D., Moberg, A., Walther, A. and López, D.: 2005, ‘Spatial patterns of long-term Spanish temperature change’, Geophys. Res. Abstr. 7, 04007.
Bücher, A. and Dessens, J.: 1991, ‘Secular trend of surface temperature at an elevated observatory in the Pyrenees’, Journal of Climate 4, 859–868.
Cabrera, M.: 2001, ‘Evolución de abetares del Pirineo aragonés’, Cuad. Soc. Esp. Cien. For. 11, 43–52.
Camarero, J. J.: 2001, ‘El decaimiento del abeto (Abies alba Miller) en los Pirineos aragoneses’, Depto. Medio Ambiente, Gobierno de Aragón, Zaragoza.
Camarero, J. J. and Gutiérrez, E.: 2004, ‘Pace and pattern of recent treeline dynamics: Response of ecotones to climatic variability in the Spanish Pyrenees’, Climatic Change 63, 181–200.
Cook, E. R. and Peters, K.: 1981, ‘The smoothing spline: A new approach to Standardizing forest interior tree-ring width series for dendroclimatic studies’, Tree-Ring Bulletin 41, 45–53.
Cook, E. R., Briffa, K. R., Shijatov, S. G. and Mazepa, V.: 1990, ‘Tree-ring standardization and growth-trend estimation’, in Cook, E. and Kairiukstis, L. (eds)., Methods of Dendrochronology: Applications in the Environmental Science, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 104–123.
Cuadrat, J. M.: 2000, Climatología, Colección Geografía, Ed. Cátedra, Madrid, 2nd ed.
Desplanque, C., Rolland, C. and Michalet, R.: 1998, ‘Dendroécologie comparée du sapin blanc (Abies alba) et de l'épicéa commun (Picea abies) dans une vallée alpine de France’, Can. J. For. Res 28, 737–748.
Dessens, J. and Bücher, A.: 1995, ‘Changes in minimum and maximum temperatures at Pic du Midi in relation with humidity and cloudiness, 1882–1984’, Atmospheric Research 37, 147–162.
Diaz, H. F. and Bradley, R. S.: 1997, ‘Temperature variations during the last century at high elevation’, Climatic Change 36, 254–279.
Fritts, H. C.: 1976, Tree Rings and Climate, Academic Press, London.
Fritts, H. C.: 1991, Reconstructing Large-Scale Climatic Patterns From Tree-Ring Data: A Diagnostic Analysis, The University of Arizona Press, Tucson & London, p. 286.
Gaston, K. J.: 2003, The Structure and Dynamics of Geographic Ranges, Oxford University Press, New York.
Guehl, J. M. and Aussenac, G.: 1987, ‘Photosynthesis decrease and stomatal control of gas exchange in Abies alba Mill. in response to vapour pressure difference’, Plant Physiol. 83, 316–322.
Guehl, J. M., Aussenac, G., Bouachrine, J., Zimmermann, R., Pennes, J. M., Ferhi, A. and Grieu, P.: 1991, ‘Sensitivity of leaf gas exchange to atmospheric drought, soil drought, and water-use efficiency in some Mediterranean Abies species’, Can. J. For. Res. 21, 1507–1515.
Guiot, J.: 1991, ‘The bootstrapped response function’, Tree-Ring Bull. 51, 39–41.
Gutiérrez, E., Camarero, J. J., Tardif, J., Bosch, O. and Ribas, M.: 1998, ‘Tendencias recientes del crecimiento y la regeneración en bosques subalpinos del Parque Nacional d'Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici’, Ecología 12, 251–283.
Holmes, R.: 1996, Dendrochronology Program Library Version 1992–1, Lab. of Tree-Ring Research, The Univ. of Arizona. Tucson.
Holmes, R. L.: 1983, ‘Computer-assisted quality control in tree-ring dating and measurement’, Tree-Ring Bulletin 43, 68–78.
Huntley, B. and Birks, H. J. B.: 1983, An Atlas of Past and Present Pollen Maps of Europe: 0 – 13000 years ago, Cambridge University Press.
IPCC: 2001, Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.
Jalas, J., Suominen, J. and Lampinen, R.: 1999, Atlas Florae Europaeae, Available at http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/english/botany/afe/index.htm.
Jalut, G.: 1988, ‘Les principales étapes de l'histoire de la forêt pyrénéenne française depuis 15000 ans’, in Homenaje a Pedro Montserrat, Monografías I.P.E. (C.S.I.C). 4, 609–615.
Kirby, K. J. and Watkins, C. (eds): 1998, The Ecological History of European Forests, CAB International, Wallingford.
López Vinyallonga, S.: 2004, ‘Proposta de sectorialització biogeogràfica del vessant meridional dels Pirineus’, in Diploma of Advanced Studies in Botany, University of Barcelona, Barcelona.
Macias, M., Timonen, M., Kirchhefer, A. J., Lindholm, M., Eronen, M. and Gutiérrez, E.: 2004, ‘Growth variability of Scots pine along a West-East gradient across Northern Fennoscandia: A dendroclimatic approach’, Arct. Antarct. Alp. Res. 36, 565–574.
Manrique, E. and Fernández-Cancio, A.: 2000, ‘Extreme climatic events in dendroclimatic reconstructions from Spain’, Climatic Change 44, 123–138.
Nowacki, G. J. and Abrams, M. D.: 1997, ‘Radial-growth averaging criteria for reconstructing disturbance histories from presettlement-origin oaks’, Ecol. Monogr. 67, 225–249.
Peñuelas, J., Lloret, F. and Montoya, R.: 2001, ‘Severe drought effects on Mediterranean woody flora’, For. Sci. 47, 214–218.
Piervitali, E., Colacino, M. and Conte, M.: 1997, ‘Signals of climatic change in the Central-Western Mediterranean Basin’, Theor. Appl. Climatol. 58, 211–219.
Piñol, J, Terradas, J. and Lloret, F.: 1998, ‘Climate warming, wildfire hazard, and wildfire occurrence in coastal eastern Spain’, Climatic Change 38, 345–357.
Plana Castellví, J. A.: 1985, Estudi Climàtic i Balanç Hídric de la Conca de la Noguera Ribagorçana, Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Barcelona.
Rolland, C.: 1993, ‘Tree-ring and climate relationships for Abies alba in the Internal Alps’, Tree-Ring Bulletin 53, 1–11.
Rolland, C.: 2002, ‘Decreasing teleconnections with inter-site distance in monthly climatic data and tree-ring width networks in a mountainous Alpine area’, Theor. Appl. Climatol. 71, 63–75.
Rolland, C., Michalet, R., Desplanque, C., Petetin, A. and Aimé, S.: 1999, ‘Ecological requirements of Abies alba in the French Alps derived from dendro-ecological analysis’, J. Veg. Sci. 10, 297–306.
Schulman, E.: 1954, ‘Dendroclimatic changes in semiarid regions’, Tree-Ring Bull. 29, 26–28.
Tardif, J., Camarero, J. J., Ribas, M. and Gutiérrez, E.: 2003, ‘Spatiotemporal variability in tree growth in the central Pyrenees: Climatic and site influences’, Ecol. Monogr. 73, 241–257.
Vigo, J. y, and Ninot, J. M.: 1987, ‘Los Pirineos’, in Peinado Lorca, M. y Rivas-Martínez, S. (eds), La Vegetación de España, Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Alcalá de Henares, pp. 351–384.
Villalba, R., Boninsegna, J. A., Veblen, T. T., Shmelter, A. and Rubulis, S.: 1997, ‘Recent trends in tree-ring records from high elevation sites in the Andes of northern Patagonia’, Climatic Change 36, 425–454.
Wigley, T. M. L., Briffa, K. R. and Jones, P. D.: 1984, ‘On the average value of correlated time series, with applications in dendroclimatology and hydrometeorology’, Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology 23, 201–210.
Yamaguchi, D. K.: 1991, ‘A simple method for cross-dating increment cores from living trees’, Canadian Journal of Forest Research 21, 414–416.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Macias, M., Andreu, L., Bosch, O. et al. Increasing Aridity is Enhancing Silver Fir Abies Alba Mill.) Water Stress in its South-Western Distribution Limit. Climatic Change 79, 289–313 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-006-9071-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-006-9071-0