Growth responses to climate in a tree-ring network of European beech ( Fagus sylvatica L.) from the eastern limit of its natural distribution area

Roibu, Cătălin-Constantin; Popa, Ionel; Kirchhefer, Andreas; Palaghianu, Ciprian

doi:10.1016/j.dendro.2017.02.003

Cited by 26 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…As hypothesized, growth responded to drought across the whole distribution range, except for the dry distribution margin. Our observation of decreasing drought sensitivity towards the southern distribution margin in Spain contrasts the often reported growth limitations of beech by drought at the equatorial edge, especially at lower altitudes (Di Filippo et al, 2007;Jump, Hunt, & Peñuelas, 2006;Piovesan et al, 2008;Roibu, Popa, Kirchhefer, & Palaghianu, 2017).…”

Section: Decreasing Drought Sensitivity Towards the Dry Distributiocontrasting

confidence: 95%

Lowest drought sensitivity and decreasing growth synchrony towards the dry distribution margin of European beech

Muffler

Weigel

Hacket‐Pain

et al. 2020

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim Climate limits the potential distribution ranges of species. Establishment and growth of individuals at range margins is assumed to be more limited by extreme events such as drought or frost events than in the centre of their range. We explore whether the growth of beech is more sensitive to drought towards the dry distribution margin and more sensitive to frost towards the cold distribution margin. Furthermore, we aim to gain insight into the adaptive potential of beech towards both the dry and cold distribution margins. Location European gradient from the dry (Spain) to the cold (Poland, Sweden) distribution margin of beech. Taxon European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). Methods We applied a range‐wide dendroecological study to analyse spatial and temporal trends in climate–growth relationships. We further investigated negative growth anomalies and growth synchrony towards the range margins. Results We found beech to be drought sensitive across its whole range, except at the dry distribution margin. Furthermore, sensitivity to winter temperature was not found in the centre or at the cold distribution margin, but at the southern distribution margin. Growth synchrony was lower at the dry than at the cold distribution margin. Main conclusions Beech seems to be adapted to drought at the dry distribution margin with a high adaptive potential indicated by the lowest growth synchrony along the gradient. At the cold distribution margin, cold events in winter and spring were less important for growth than drought. Still, the importance of spring frost for beech growth appears to increase in recent decades. Considering a projected north‐eastward shift of the distribution range, beech is likely facing drought stress in combination with spring frost risk at the cold margin which could lead to a hampered range expansion.

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Section: Decreasing Drought Sensitivity Towards the Dry Distributiocontrasting

confidence: 95%

Lowest drought sensitivity and decreasing growth synchrony towards the dry distribution margin of European beech

Muffler

Weigel

Hacket‐Pain

et al. 2020

Journal of Biogeography

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“…Sensitivity of beech growth to winter cold is presently seldom reported in dendroecological research. Some multisite studies also include montane to subalpine beech populations and locally detected growth sensitivity to winter cold for Central European high altitude sites and the Pyrenees (Dittmar et al., ), the Eastern Alps (Di Filippo et al., ), the Carpathians (Kern & Popa, ; Roibu et al., ) and the southern Balkans (Fyllas et al., ). However, the authors often do not further explore their findings of locally important winter cold sensitivity, but rather focus on the drought sensitivity of beech, which is more important at the regional level (Dittmar et al., ; Fyllas et al., ; Roibu et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some multisite studies also include montane to subalpine beech populations and locally detected growth sensitivity to winter cold for Central European high altitude sites and the Pyrenees (Dittmar et al., ), the Eastern Alps (Di Filippo et al., ), the Carpathians (Kern & Popa, ; Roibu et al., ) and the southern Balkans (Fyllas et al., ). However, the authors often do not further explore their findings of locally important winter cold sensitivity, but rather focus on the drought sensitivity of beech, which is more important at the regional level (Dittmar et al., ; Fyllas et al., ; Roibu et al., ). Moreover, a local winter cold signal could possibly have altogether gone unreported, e.g., for the high‐altitude Apennines, due to the prevalence of the regional drought signal in the multivariate analysis and the strong differences in precipitation amount between sites (Piovesan, Biondi, Bernabei, Di Filippo, & Schirone, ) or due to the hypothesis‐driven focus on drought as the major driver of beech growth from the start (Piovesan, Biondi, Di Filippo, Alessandrini, & Maugeri, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A possible link between climate sensitivity of tree growth and distribution limits of tree species was further supported by transplantation trials beyond the cold distribution margin of beech and by modelling approaches, showing increased sensitivity of beech growth to winter cold (Augustaitis et al., ; van der Maaten et al., ; Matisons et al., ). Towards the dry distribution margin, climate (i.e., drought) sensitivity of beech growth was reported to increase as well (Jump et al., ; Roibu et al., ). In contrast, other studies showed that mean growth rates might be lower towards the dry distribution margin, but that marginal populations may be more adapted and thus less sensitive to drought than core populations (Cavin & Jump, ; Thiel et al., ; Weber, Bugmann, Pluess, Walthert, & Rigling, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This may be explained by the assumption that climate sensitivity of plants is greater towards both the dry and cold ends of ecological gradients because climate stress there becomes increasingly limiting to the point that potential distribution limits are expressed due to total growth cessation (Brown, Stevens, & Kaufman, ; Fritts, ; Normand et al., ). Based on multisite dendroecological studies, drought has emerged as a general driver of growth for beech across Europe (Dittmar, Zech, & Elling, ; Hacket‐Pain, Cavin, Friend, & Jump, ; Hacket‐Pain, Lageard, & Thomas, ; Jump, Hunt, & Peñuelas, ; Knutzen, Dulamsuren, Meier, & Leuschner, ; Lebourgeois, Bréda, Ulrich, & Granier, ), though drought sensitivity has been indicated to increase towards drier sites along continental or elevational gradients (Jump et al., ; Roibu, Popa, Kirchhefer, & Palaghianu, ; Scharnweber et al., ). However, this observation might be biased due to research focusing on the southern to south‐eastern dry parts of the distribution range (Dittmar et al., ; Roibu et al., ), on countries at the southern dry distribution margin (Jump et al., ; Lebourgeois et al., ), and on gradients from the central distribution range to its southern edge (Hacket‐Pain et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Winter matters: Sensitivity to winter climate and cold events increases towards the cold distribution margin of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.)

Weigel

Muffler

Klisz

et al. 2018

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim:The dominant forest tree in Europe, European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), covers large areas of continental Europe and thus experiences diverse climatic conditions. In the face of predicted climate change and shifts of distribution ranges, it is important to understand the diverse climate-growth relationships towards distribution margins. Beech is generally reported to be sensitive to summer drought towards dry and continental regions; yet, few studies have investigated climate sensitivity towards the cold distribution margin of beech. We hypothesized that at colder sites (a) growth of beech is more sensitive to winter cold, (b) growth is less influenced by summer drought, and (c) stand-wide growth reductions (negative pointer years) are related to extreme winter cold events.Taxon: European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). Location:A large gradient of decreasing winter temperature (ΔT >4 K along 500 km) from Rostock (Germany) to Gdańsk (Poland). Methods:We analysed climate-growth relationships and the nature of growth reductions of 11 beech stands from more central to cold marginal beech populations.Results: Towards the cold marginal populations, growth became increasingly sensitive to winter cold (February temperature) and less sensitive to summer water availability (June precipitation). Likewise, negative pointer years coincided with winter cold anomalies at the colder sites and with summer drought anomalies at the warmer sites. Thus, over the studied gradient, the general sensitivity of beech to summer drought transitions into sensitivity to winter cold. Main conclusions:A range shift of beech across the current cold distribution margin is often assumed to compensate for habitat and productivity losses of droughtprone southern and central populations. With respect to the winter cold sensitivity found in our study, such assumptions should be taken with caution. Since winter cold events are predicted to persist with similar frequency and magnitude even during predicted climate warming, beech populations in the newly colonized habitat might be significantly sensitive to winter cold.

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A tree ring-based hydroclimate reconstruction for eastern Europe reveals large-scale teleconnection patterns

et al. 2022

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We present a new beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) tree-ring width composite chronology from five natural low-elevation forests in eastern Romania, which represent the species’ continental distribution limit. Our regional beech chronology reflects April–June hydroclimate variability in form of the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index over large parts of Romania, Ukraine, and the Republic of Moldova, for which high-resolution paleoclimatic evidence is broadly missing. Most of the reconstructed hydroclimatic extremes back to 1768 CE are confirmed by documentary evidences, and a robust association is found with large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns in the Northern Hemisphere and sea surface temperatures over the North Atlantic. Reconstructed pluvials coincide with a high-pressure system over the North Atlantic Ocean and north-western Europe, and with a low-pressure system over south-western, central and eastern Europe, whereas historical droughts coincide with a high-pressure system over Europe and a low-pressure system over the central part of the Atlantic Ocean. Our study demonstrates the potential to produce well-replicated, multi-centennial beech chronologies for eastern Europe to reconstruct regional hydroclimate variation and better understand the causes and consequences of large-scale teleconnection patterns.

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Growth responses to climate in a tree-ring network of European beech ( Fagus sylvatica L.) from the eastern limit of its natural distribution area

Cited by 26 publications

References 48 publications

Lowest drought sensitivity and decreasing growth synchrony towards the dry distribution margin of European beech

Lowest drought sensitivity and decreasing growth synchrony towards the dry distribution margin of European beech

Winter matters: Sensitivity to winter climate and cold events increases towards the cold distribution margin of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.)

A tree ring-based hydroclimate reconstruction for eastern Europe reveals large-scale teleconnection patterns

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