On the ‘Divergence Problem’ in Northern Forests: A review of the tree-ring evidence and possible causes

D’Arrigo, Rosanne; Wilson, Rob; Liepert, Beate G.; Cherubini, Paolo

doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2007.03.004

Cited by 725 publications

(596 citation statements)

References 93 publications

(216 reference statements)

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“…However, weak negative correlations between summer temperature and NDVI anomalies over moisture-sensitive areas, such as in the continental interior of Canada and Alaska (Figure 5a), suggest that this extra drying effect has been small. The significant sensitivity of the North American boreal forests to changes in snow hydrology has not been fully appreciated until now and could help explaining the apparent changes in climate sensitivity of tree growth in the region [26]. It also raises concerns regarding forest responses to continued warming and possible impacts on the carbon cycle.…”

Section: Drivers Of Vegetation Greening and Browning Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a longer temporal context than the satellite period, tree-ring studies have shown that the growth of boreal trees in some cool and relatively moist northern locations has not continued to track rising temperature trends since around the 1960s, whereas they had previously shown positive responses to summer warming, such as in the early part of the 20th century [24][25][26]. This recent temporal change in the apparent positive response of tree growth to warming is known in the tree-ring community as the "divergence" phenomenon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This recent temporal change in the apparent positive response of tree growth to warming is known in the tree-ring community as the "divergence" phenomenon. A number of causal factors have been proposed and are still being debated though one suggestion is that the recent warming has invoked increasing drought stress [26]. A consistent long-term control of boreal forest growth by summer moisture availability has been observed in the drier continental interiors of Alaska and North-Western Canada where increased tree growth is stimulated by cooler and wetter growing seasons [23,27,28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Temperature and Snow-Mediated Moisture Controls of Summer Photosynthetic Activity in Northern Terrestrial Ecosystems between 1982 and 2011

et al. 2014

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Recent warming has stimulated the productivity of boreal and Arctic vegetation by reducing temperature limitations. However, several studies have hypothesized that warming may have also increased moisture limitations because of intensified summer drought severity. Establishing the connections between warming and drought stress has been difficult because soil moisture observations are scarce. Here we use recently developed gridded datasets of moisture variability to investigate the links between warming and changes in available soil moisture and summer vegetation photosynthetic activity at northern latitudes (>45 • N) based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) since 1982. Moisture and temperature exert a significant influence on the interannual variability of Remote Sens. 2014, 6 1391 summer NDVI over about 29% (mean r 2 = 0.29 ± 0.16) and 43% (mean r 2 = 0.25 ± 0.12) of the northern vegetated land, respectively. Rapid summer warming since the late 1980s (∼0.7 • C) has increased evapotranspiration demand and consequently summer drought severity, but contrary to earlier suggestions it has not changed the dominant climate controls of NDVI over time. Furthermore, changes in snow dynamics (accumulation and melting) appear to be more important than increased evaporative demand in controlling changes in summer soil moisture availability and NDVI in moisture-sensitive regions of the boreal forest. In boreal North America, forest NDVI declines are more consistent with reduced snowpack rather than with temperature-induced increases in evaporative demand as suggested in earlier studies. Moreover, summer NDVI variability over about 28% of the northern vegetated land is not significantly associated with moisture or temperature variability, yet most of this land shows increasing NDVI trends. These results suggest that changes in snow accumulation and melt, together with other possibly non-climatic factors are likely to play a significant role in modulating regional ecosystem responses to the projected warming and increase in evapotranspiration demand during the coming decades.

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Section: Drivers Of Vegetation Greening and Browning Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Temperature and Snow-Mediated Moisture Controls of Summer Photosynthetic Activity in Northern Terrestrial Ecosystems between 1982 and 2011

et al. 2014

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“…Our findings confirmed the different relationships between the growth of fertilized (Site 1) and unfertilized (Site 2) trees. The strong integration in forest site conditions may lead to divergence problem which may be anthropogenic in nature (D'Arrigo et al 2008). …”

Section: Discussion Fertilization Alters Tree Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been speculated that increased nitrate pollution may contribute towards the divergence problem (Briffa et al 1998;D'Arrigo et al 2008) which is reflected in the recent decline in tree-ring sensitivity to temperature. The first 15 years of fertilization revealed positive effect on tree-ring widths (Fig.…”

Section: Fertilization Alters Tree Physiological Conditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The application of potato starch effluent causes a reduction in the photosynthetic efficiency and growth of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.)

Koprowski

Robertson

Wils

et al. 2015

Trees

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Key message The high concentration of N and K caused a weakening of physiological conditions of the trees. Application of N, P and K from starch effluent is not a suitable method of waste management. Abstract Since 1984, potato starch effluent has been applied to trees in the Iława Forest Inspectorate to promote the biological utilization of this waste product containing high amounts of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). We examined the tree rings of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) to study the effect of intensive fertilization on tree rings. A total of 120 samples were taken from three sites representing a fertilized and unfertilized area and trees growing at a control site, outside the forest waste water system. We found that February and March temperature influenced the growth of tree rings. We used multiple regression to investigate the influence of N, P and K concentration, the amount of waste water and February and March temperature upon tree growth. Akaike information criterion (AIC) model selection was applied to choose the most influential factors upon growth, and additional multiple regression analyses were performed for two subsets of variables. Trees growing on the unfertilized site responded positively to N content and negatively to P content. For the fertilized site, the high concentration of N and K together with decreasing volume of waste water caused a growth decline. Trees from fertilized area also showed a decrease in their photosynthetic efficiency.

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Marine‐based multiproxy reconstruction of Atlantic multidecadal variability

Svendsen

Hetzinger

Keenlyside

et al. 2014

Geophysical Research Letters

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Atlantic multidecadal variability (AMV) is known to impact climate globally, and knowledge about the persistence of AMV is important for understanding past and future climate variability, as well as modeling and assessing climate impacts. The short observational data do not significantly resolve multidecadal variability, but recent paleoproxy reconstructions show multidecadal variability in North Atlantic temperature prior to the instrumental record. However, most of these reconstructions are land-based, not necessarily representing sea surface temperature. Proxy records are also subject to dating errors and microenvironmental effects. We extend the record of AMV 90 years past the instrumental record using principle component analysis of five marine-based proxy records to identify the leading mode of variability. The first principal component is consistent with the observed AMV, and multidecadal variability seems to persist prior to the instrumental record. Thus, we demonstrate that reconstructions of past Atlantic low-frequency variability can be improved by combining marine-based proxies.

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On the ‘Divergence Problem’ in Northern Forests: A review of the tree-ring evidence and possible causes

Cited by 725 publications

References 93 publications

Temperature and Snow-Mediated Moisture Controls of Summer Photosynthetic Activity in Northern Terrestrial Ecosystems between 1982 and 2011

Temperature and Snow-Mediated Moisture Controls of Summer Photosynthetic Activity in Northern Terrestrial Ecosystems between 1982 and 2011

The application of potato starch effluent causes a reduction in the photosynthetic efficiency and growth of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.)

Marine‐based multiproxy reconstruction of Atlantic multidecadal variability

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