Larch Timberline and its Development in North China

Liu, Hongyan; Tang, Zhiyao; Dai, Junhu; Tang, Yuanxin; Cui, Haiting

doi:10.1659/0276-4741(2002)022[0359:ltaidi]2.0.co;2

Cited by 29 publications

(29 citation statements)

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“…However, treeline studies at the regional and local scales are needed to give further support to this idea, because often few treeline sites represent some biomes which could affect the validity of this global pattern [1]. For instance, in Mediterranean or some temperate biomes, drought, in addition to low temperatures, constrains tree growth and determines the treeline elevation [3][4][5]. In addition, based on new data from New Zealand and Chile, it was found that southern temperate treelines are driven by similar thermal thresholds as are northern treelines, thus refuting the postulated taxon-specific limitation hypothesis and confirming that southern treelines are not climatically depressed [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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“…Air and soil temperatures diminish, affecting water availability, and increasing the probability of early frosts and the impact produced by snow (Barrera et al 2000). Trees near the boundary of their ecological distribution along altitudinal gradients (such as upper treeline) are considered the most sensitive to environmental factors, yielding the strongest expected relationships between radial growth and climate (Kullman 1993;Cullen et al 2001;Liu et al 2001;Takahashi et al 2003) Altitudinal influence on tree growth can be recorded in their tree rings (Splechtna et al 2000;Buckley et al 1997;Marchand 1980;Norton 1985). Nevertheless, studies on this subject are scarce, particularly for the southern Andean forests (Aravena et al 2002;Schmelter 2000;Villalba et al 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth patterns of Nothofagus pumilio trees along altitudinal gradients in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

Massaccesi

Roig

Pastur

et al. 2007

Trees

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The influence of ecological factors resulting from altitude on growth characteristics of Nothofagus pumilio was analyzed. N. pumilio forests grow in the southern Andes from near sea level to 600 m.a.s.l. Eight study sites were selected in the southwestern area of Tierra del Fuego, on north-and south-facing slopes, and distributed along an altitudinal gradient (200-600 m.a.s.l.). Growth cycles throughout time were identified. The correlation between climate and tree growth was determined. Tree diameter and height decreased whereas stand density increased towards tree-line. South-facing slopes showed higher values in common growth variability, probably because of stronger climatic controlling factors. Climategrowth correlation models revealed long-term temperature influences on growth variability, and showed variations among the different plots. Differences were detected in the spectral power component of the chronologies throughout the altitudinal profile. The series had a significant spectral peak at frequencies around 7 years, possibly related to mast seeding cycles. This signal became weaker as the altitude increased probably due to lower seed production. These results suggest a strong altitudinal component in growth variability of N. pumilio in Tierra del Fuego.

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“…In fact, more examples revealed that the ecotone terminology and its scopes are as individual as the persons (cf. Autio and Colpaert, 2005;Camarero et al, 2006;Holtmeier, 2009;Liu et al, 2002), also as the confused boundaries mentioned previously.…”

Section: Termsto Replace "Ecotone"mentioning

confidence: 59%

A concise scheme of vegetation boundary terms in subtropical high mountains

Chiu¹,

Lee²,

Tzeng³

et al. 2014

Afr. J. Agric. Res.

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There are numerous terms used to describe the vegetation boundary in high mountains. It is essential to define and agree on a unified usage for these terms. The literature review method had been used in this paper to clarify the vegetation boundary terms and their scopes. The result revealed that these terms were much diversified and ambiguous, and more or less related and infringed with each other in ecological concept and visible landscape, even mutually used as synonyms in some cases. We proposed a concise scheme for clarifying these terms and illustrating their relationship, including timberline [instead of previously used economic (rational, generative) forest-line, economic timberline, limit of continuous forest], forestline [instead of physiognomic (empirical, vegetative, biologic) forestline, actual timberline, physiognomic forest-limit], treeline (instead of tree limit and treeline), krummholzline (instead of tree-species line, tree species limit, krummholz limit), and historic treeline. The 5 boundary terms could facilitate the comprehension of spatial sequence of vegetation transformation in high mountains. However, all boundaries do not necessarily occur in all mountains of the world concurrently. In some papers, the term timberline or treeline once referred to the ecotone from continuous forest to tree less landscape, but the term forest-tundra ecotone should obtain more commendations when vegetation transition is much more gradual particularly around the subarctic. To avoid the confusion from using these boundary terms, we suggest that authors studying boundary related issues should interpret their scope of terminologies and provide the basic description about environment and vegetation outlines in the complex high mountains.

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Larch Timberline and its Development in North China

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 29 publications

References 10 publications

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

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

Growth patterns of Nothofagus pumilio trees along altitudinal gradients in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

A concise scheme of vegetation boundary terms in subtropical high mountains

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