Growing‐season frost is a better predictor of tree growth than mean annual temperature in boreal mixedwood forest plantations

Marquis, Benjamin; Bergeron, Yves; Simard, M.; Tremblay, Francine

doi:10.1111/gcb.15327

Cited by 30 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…This change in vegetation might impact the local thermal land–atmosphere and create feedback that in turn alter the occurrence of frost. Since frost damage has greater consequences on the fitness of seedlings compared to mature trees 7 , this potential vegetation-thermal feedback might only occur in the long term. However, because dynamic global vegetation models neglect the effect of frost on plants, this feedback and its potential effect to the carbon and nutrient cycles can hardly be evaluated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A damage is expected when the frost event exceeds the frost hardiness of plant tissues, conditions that are most likely in spring and fall, when trees have lower resistance to low temperatures 5 . Once damaged by frost, plant development can be importantly hindered 6 , 7 . For instance, frost damage to the newly formed leaves reduces the photosynthetic capacity of trees and limits growth 8 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, frost damage to the newly formed leaves reduces the photosynthetic capacity of trees and limits growth 8 . If the apical meristem is damaged, the growth stagnation problem is aggravated, and trees affected by frost can lose the competition for space to trees or shrub species that were unaffected by the frost 6 , 7 . Therefore, the processes of adaptation and acclimation of plants in cold climates must match the timings of weather events such as daily frosts, rather than the average climate conditions such as annual or monthly temperatures 9 , 10 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variability in frost occurrence under climate change and consequent risk of damage to trees of western Quebec, Canada

Marquis

Bergeron

Houle

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Climate change affects timings, frequency, and intensity of frost events in northern ecosystems. However, our understanding of the impacts that frost will have on growth and survival of plants is still limited. When projecting the occurrence of frost, the internal variability and the different underlying physical formulations are two major sources of uncertainty of climate models. We use 50 climate simulations produced by a single-initial large climate ensemble and five climate simulations produced by different pairs of global and regional climate models based on the concentration pathway (RCP 8.5) over a latitudinal transect covering the temperate and boreal ecosystems of western Quebec, Canada, during 1955–2099 to provide a first-order estimate of the relative importance of these two sources of uncertainty on the occurrence of frost, i.e. when air temperature is < 0 °C, and their potential damage to trees. The variation in the date of the last spring frost was larger by 21 days (from 46 to 25 days) for the 50 climate simulations compared to the 5 different pairs of climate models. When considering these two sources of uncertainty in an eco-physiological model simulating the timings of budbreak for trees of northern environment, results show that 20% of climate simulations expect that trees will be exposed to frost even in 2090. Thus, frost damage to trees remains likely under global warming.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Variability in frost occurrence under climate change and consequent risk of damage to trees of western Quebec, Canada

Marquis

Bergeron

Houle

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The second limit of our approach lies in the use of climate normals that cannot model the effect of single-year climate extremes on forest growth. However, monthly or yearly events such as extreme summer heat, drought events, or spring frost can have significant and long-lasting effects on forest growth (Marquis et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positive effects of projected climate change on post-disturbance forest regrowth rates in northeastern North American boreal forests

Danneyrolles

Boucher

Fournier

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Forest anthropogenic and natural stand-replacing disturbances are increasing worldwide due to global change. Many uncertainties regarding the regeneration and growth of these young forests remain within the context of changing climate. In this study, we investigate the effects of climate, tree species composition, and other landscape-scale environmental variables upon boreal forest regrowth following clearcut logging in eastern Canada. Our main objective was to predict the effects of future climate changes upon post-logging forest height regrowth at a subcontinental scale using high spatial resolution remote sensing data. We modeled forest canopy height (estimated from airborne laser scanning [LiDAR] data over 20-m resolution virtual plots) as a function of time elapsed since the last clearcut along with climatic (i.e., temperature and moisture), tree species composition, and other environmental variables (e.g., topography and soil hydrology). Once trained and validated with ~240,000 plots, the model that was developed in this study was used to predict potential post-logging canopy height regrowth at 20-m resolution across a 240,000 km2 area following scenarios depicting a range of projected changes in temperature and moisture across the region for 2041-2070. Our results predict an overall beneficial, but limited effect of projected climate changes upon forest regrowth rates in our study area. Stimulatory effects of projected climate change were more pronounced for conifer forests, with growth rates increasing between +5% and +50% over the study area, while mixed and broadleaved forests recorded changes that mostly ranged from -5% to +35%. Predicted increased regrowth rates were mainly associated with increased temperature, while changes in climate moisture had a minor effect. We conclude that such gains in regrowth rates may partially compensate for projected substantial increases in fire activity and other natural disturbances that are expected with climate change in these boreal forests.

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“…Variables related to temperature seasonality seem to be more important than variables related to mean temperature for distinguishing biomes (Silva de Miranda et al., 2018). Compared to the mean annual temperature, frost, which is correlated with temperature seasonality (Hänninen, 2016), is identified as a more important driver of tree growth (Marquis et al., 2020), and seems to better explain the altitudinal and latitudinal range limits of tree species (Du et al., 2019; Kollas et al., 2014; Körner et al., 2016; Vitra et al., 2017). Therefore, knowledge of not only changes in mean temperatures but also changes in temperature variation is required to reasonably understand and predict the biological consequences of climate change (Karl et al., 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Anthropogenic Activities on Elevation‐Dependent Weakening of Annual Temperature Cycle Amplitude Over the Tibetan Plateau

Zhu

Huang

Fan

et al. 2022

Geophysical Research Letters

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The annual cycle is the dominant component and the most prominent climate oscillation for the temperature variation over the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Identifying the relative contribution of anthropogenic and natural forcing to the changes in the annual cycle, namely, detection and attribution, is an important aspect for mountainous climate change research. The present study documents the elevation dependence of the trend in the annual temperature cycle (ATC) amplitude over the TP and detects the influence of anthropogenic activities on it. An elevation‐dependent weakening of the ATC amplitude occurs over the TP during the period 1961–2014. This variation with altitude can mainly be ascribed to the seasonal difference in warming. The influence of anthropogenic activities is detectable, with increased aerosols being the main contributor. Under aerosol‐only forcing, the larger decrease in snow‐related albedo at higher altitudes in winter can explain the amplified negative tendency of the ATC amplitude with elevation.

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Growing‐season frost is a better predictor of tree growth than mean annual temperature in boreal mixedwood forest plantations

Cited by 30 publications

References 79 publications

Variability in frost occurrence under climate change and consequent risk of damage to trees of western Quebec, Canada

Variability in frost occurrence under climate change and consequent risk of damage to trees of western Quebec, Canada

Positive effects of projected climate change on post-disturbance forest regrowth rates in northeastern North American boreal forests

Influence of Anthropogenic Activities on Elevation‐Dependent Weakening of Annual Temperature Cycle Amplitude Over the Tibetan Plateau

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