Asynchronous recruitment history of Abies spectabilis along an altitudinal gradient in the Mt. Everest region

Lv, Li-Xin; Zhang, Qi-Bin

doi:10.1093/jpe/rtr016

Cited by 54 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Another study on treeline fir (Abies spectabilis) recruitment in Mt. Everest Nature Reserve (S Tibet) achieved consistent results, with significant tree recruitment in the recent three decades that showed a positive correlation with mean summer air temperature (Lv and Zhang, 2012).…”

Section: Seed-based Regenerationmentioning

confidence: 73%

Do Himalayan treelines respond to recent climate change? An evaluation of sensitivity indicators

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Climate warming is expected to induce treelines to advance to higher elevations. Empirical studies in diverse mountain ranges, however, give evidence of both advancing alpine treelines and rather insignificant responses. The inconsistency of findings suggests distinct differences in the sensitivity of global treelines to recent climate change. It is still unclear where Himalayan treeline ecotones are located along the response gradient from rapid dynamics to apparently complete inertia. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge regarding sensitivity and response of Himalayan treelines to climate warming, based on extensive field observations, published results in the widely scattered literature, and novel data from ongoing research of the present authors.Several sensitivity indicators such as treeline type, treeline form, seed-based regeneration, and growth patterns are evaluated. Since most Himalayan treelines are anthropogenically depressed, observed advances are largely the result of land use change. Near-natural treelines are usually krummholz treelines, which are relatively unresponsive to climate change. Nevertheless, intense recruitment of treeline trees suggests a great potential for future treeline advance. Competitive abilities of seedlings within krummholz thickets and dwarf scrub heaths will be a major source of variation in treeline dynamics. Tree growth-climate relationships show mature treeline trees to be responsive to temperature change, in particular in winter and pre-monsoon seasons. High pre-monsoon temperature trends will most likely drive tree growth performance in the western and central Himalaya. Ecological niche modelling suggests that bioclimatic conditions for a range expansion of treeline trees will be created during coming decades.

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Section: Seed-based Regenerationmentioning

confidence: 73%

Do Himalayan treelines respond to recent climate change? An evaluation of sensitivity indicators

et al. 2015

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“…There is growing evidence that tree growth at treeline is mainly limited by summer temperatures in this region [16,21,22,[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47], thereby suggesting a coupling of thermal conditions and treeline dynamics. In some sites and species, moisture availability also constrains tree growth at treelines [4,48].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some sites were investigated by our team in the past three years. Other treeline studies were obtained from literatures published in the last decade [15,21,23,24,29,30]. All the treeline studies followed the treeline definition proposed by [10].…”

Section: Study Sites and Environmental Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite a lack of in situ microclimatic data, a series of treeline studies have been carried out recently on the different mountains of the Tibetan Plateau (e.g., [12,17,[20][21][22][23][24]). A previous study evidenced that monthly climatic information provided by a global climate data base with about 1-km 2 spatial resolution (WorldClim-Global Climate Data, see more details in [25]) can be downscaled to treeline climate at local scales [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Coupling of Treeline Elevation and Temperature is Mediated by Non-Thermal Factors on the Tibetan Plateau

Wang

Liang²,

Sigdel³

et al. 2017

Forests

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Abstract:Little is known about the relationships between treeline elevation and climate at regional and local scales. It is compelling to fill this research gap with data from the Tibetan Plateau where some of the highest alpine treelines in the world are found. This research question partially results from the lack of in situ temperature data at treeline sites. Herein, treeline variables (e.g., elevation, topography, tree species) and temperature data were collected from published investigations performed during this decade on the Tibetan Plateau. Temperature conditions near treeline sites were estimated using global databases and these estimates were corrected by using in situ air temperature measurements. Correlation analyses and generalized linear models were used to evaluate the effects of different variables on treeline elevation including thermal (growing-season air temperatures) and non-thermal (latitude, longitude, elevation, tree species, precipitation, radiation) factors. The commonality analysis model was applied to explore how several variables (July mean temperature, elevation of mountain peak, latitude) were related to treeline elevation. July mean temperature was the most significant predictor of treeline elevation, explaining 55% of the variance in treeline elevation across the Tibetan Plateau, whereas latitude, tree species, and mountain elevation (mass-elevation effect) explained 30% of the variance in treeline elevation. After considering the multicollinearity among predictors, July mean temperature (largely due to the influence of minimum temperature) still showed the strongest association with treeline elevation. We conclude that the coupling of treeline elevation and July temperature at a regional scale is modulated by non-thermal factors probably acting at local scales. Our results contribute towards explaining the decoupling between climate warming and treeline dynamics.

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“…In contrast, at lowlatitude or low-altitude areas, competition and drought are typical factors that limit tree growth and recruitment (Loehle, 1998;Mäkinen et al, 2003;Lv and Zhang, 2012;Di Filippo et al, 2007;Loehle et al, 2016). In regions with annual or seasonal water deficits, higher temperatures would increase the evapotranspiration, thus increasing drought stress on tree growth (Fan et al, 2013).…”

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confidence: 99%

Tree growth and its climate signal along latitudinal and altitudinal gradients: comparison of tree rings between Finland and the Tibetan Plateau

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Latitudinal and altitudinal gradients can be utilized to forecast the impact of climate change on forests. To improve the understanding of how these gradients impact forest dynamics, we tested two hypotheses: (1) the change of the tree growth-climate relationship is similar along both latitudinal and altitudinal gradients, and (2) the time periods during which climate affects growth the most occur later towards higher latitudes and altitudes. To address this, we utilized tree-ring data from a latitudinal gradient in Finland and from two altitudinal gradients on the Tibetan Plateau. We analysed the latitudinal and altitudinal growth patterns in tree rings and investigated the growth-climate relationship of trees by correlating ring-width index chronologies with climate variables, calculating with flexible time windows, and using daily-resolution climate data. High latitude and altitude plots showed higher correlations between tree-ring chronologies and growing season temperature. However, the effects of winter temperature showed contrasting patterns for the gradients. The timing of the highest correlation with temperatures during the growing season at southern sites was approximately 1 month ahead of that at northern sites in the latitudinal gradient. In one out of two altitudinal gradients, the timing for the strongest negative correlation with temperature at low-altitude sites was ahead of treeline sites during the growing season, possibly due to differences in moisture limitation. Mean values and the standard deviation of treering width increased with increasing mean July temperatures on both types of gradients. Our results showed similarities of tree growth responses to increasing seasonal temperature between latitudinal and altitudinal gradients. However, differences in climate-growth relationships were also found between gradients due to differences in other factors such as moisture conditions. Changes in the timing of the most critical climate variables demonstrated the necessity for the use of daily-resolution climate data in environmental gradient studies.

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Asynchronous recruitment history of Abies spectabilis along an altitudinal gradient in the Mt. Everest region

Cited by 54 publications

References 38 publications

Do Himalayan treelines respond to recent climate change? An evaluation of sensitivity indicators

Do Himalayan treelines respond to recent climate change? An evaluation of sensitivity indicators

The Coupling of Treeline Elevation and Temperature is Mediated by Non-Thermal Factors on the Tibetan Plateau

Tree growth and its climate signal along latitudinal and altitudinal gradients: comparison of tree rings between Finland and the Tibetan Plateau

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