Shifting global Larix distributions: Northern expansion and southern retraction as species respond to changing climate

Abstract

Aim Recent and rapid warming is reorganizing terrestrial vegetation, creating novel species assemblages, and shifting range limits. Relative to the evergreen species that currently dominate much of the boreal forest landscape, Larix (larch) distributions may be particularly responsive to climatic change due to their deciduous habit, and quick growth and reproduction. Here, we amassed data from 83 studies to describe and explain observed patterns of Larix range shifts under contemporary climate change. Location Northern hemisphere. Taxon Species of the genus Larix, deciduous gymnosperms. Methods With 181 observations of Larix range limit dynamics, we used five distribution parameters (tree line advance, stand infilling, tree line recession, stand thinning, no response) and their determinants (climate, land use change, natural disturbance) to describe and explain observed patterns of Larix range shifts under contemporary climate change. We ran a redundancy analysis on the matrix of five distribution parameters considered with other climatic and nonclimatic parameters as explanatory variables. We also characterized the climatic niche of Larix species (temperature and precipitation) and how the niche has changed during the 20th century. Results Of 173 sites studied over the full distribution of Larix, 63% experienced Larix population increases, 18% had population decreases, and no response was detected at 19% of sites. Latitudinal Larix tree lines in Siberia and North America appear to be infilling and shifting their distributions northward, whereas Larix recession and thinning was more common in southern regions, suggesting southern populations may be experiencing greater drought stress than their northern counterparts. Climatic niches of most Larix species shifted towards warmer and wetter conditions, with tree line advance/forest infilling in cool/dry climate space, and recession/thinning in warm/dry space. Main conclusions Northern expansion is underway or seems imminent for boreal Larix species, primarily L. laricina in North America. Retraction in southern regions and disappearance of some mountainous populations may be inevitable due to their narrow ecological niches. Species restricted to mountainous habitats may expand locally, though will likely not contribute to broad scale range expansion. These changes will depend on suitable climate, disturbance, and dispersal mechanisms.

Salt Stress Reduced the Seedling Growth of Two Larch Species Under Elevated Ozone

“…Ca plays an important role in the cell membrane, cell wall stabilization, signaling functions, and the mitigation of salinity (Köster et al, 2019). These results supported our hypothesis that salt tolerance would be greater in DL, and that mineral homeostasis was related to other mineral elements apart from K. DL may obtain the adaptive capacity to salt stress as the original distribution of the species where the primary salinization is likely to occur cause to drought condition (Polezhaeva et al, 2010;Mamet et al, 2019). In contrast, JL is naturally distributed in central Japan.…”

“…Koike et al (2012) reported that the photosynthetic N use efficiency of DL was higher (over 20%) compared to JL. Instead of these higher abilities in a needle scale, DL may be inferior to adjust TLA along with abiotic environments (Abaimov, 2010;Polezhaeva et al, 2010;Mamet et al, 2019).…”

“…Here, we firstly expected that (i) O 3 would suppress growth of DL but not of JL as Koike et al (2012) reported. However, we hypothesized (ii) DL is more tolerant relative to JL since it is more adapted to salty soils due to its ecological distribution (Abaimov, 2010;Mao et al, 2010;Mamet et al, 2019), where soil salinization often occurs (Shi et al, 2010;Zhou et al, 2011), and thus salt treatment would not inhibit K absorption in DL. This comparison of salt responses between the two larches may provide novel insights on the eco-physiology to understand how larch acquires the adaptive capacity to salt stress.…”

Potential impact of climate change on the spatial distribution of key forest tree species in Italy under RCP4.5 for 2050s

“…A negative variation in habitat suitability of Norway spruce represent a focal point in particular for the high economic value of timber and it reported by different previous works (Hanewinkel et al 2012;Märkel and Dolos 2017;Dyderski et al 2018). A negative variation in habitat suitability for European larch is also con rmed by Dyderski et al (2018) and Mamet et al (2019). Also, silver r loss in habitat suitability values is in agreement with Vitasse et al (2019).…”

Migration of the northern evergreen needleleaf timberline in Siberia in the 21^st century

“…ключевые слова: вечнозелёные хвойные леса, Сибирь, северная граница древостоев, MODIS, климат, рельеф местности одобрена к печати: 11.02.2020 DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2020-17-1-176-187 Введение В последние десятилетия в Сибири отмечается рост сомкнутости хвойных вечнозелёных (ВЗХ) лесов (с доминированием кедра (Pinus sibirica), пихты (Abies sibirica), сосны (Pinus silvestris) и ели (Picea obovata)), что связывают с изменениями климата . Наряду с этим наблюдается продвижение темнохвойных лесов (Pinus sibirica, Abies sibirica, Picea obovata) в зону доминирования лиственницы , а также в экотоны полярной и альпийской лесотундры Mamet et al, 2019;. В пределах самого северного лесного массива Ары-Мас возрастала сомкнутость лиственничных древостоев (+65 %) и происходило их продвижение в зону тундры (Харук и др., 2004).…”