Site index as a predictor of the effect of climate warming on boreal tree growth

Pau, Mathilde; Gauthier, Sylvie; Chavardès, Raphaël D.; Girardin, Martin P.; Marchand, William; Bergeron, Yves

doi:10.1111/gcb.16030

Cited by 25 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 121 publications

(102 reference statements)

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“…Second, compared to models alimented with field-based data, our model is based upon remotely sensed data that are less monetarily costly and timeconsuming to acquire, while it can accurately predict forest regrowth rates at the sub-continental scale with much finer spatial grain. In any event, the predicted height growth rates of our model are very consistent with those found in previous studies of the boreal forests (i.e., mostly comprised between 10 and 40 cm.year -1 ; Pedlar & McKenney 2017;Oboite & Comeau 2019;Pau et al 2021).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

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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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

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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“…Our findings complemented those of Jucker et al (2020) who review the benefits of boreal tree diversity towards growth because of niche complementarity and those of Wu et al (2012) who advocate for lower stand densities to mitigate impacts on growth and tree mortality from anticipated droughts. We also found that sandy soils with faster drainage limited growth of black spruce and jack pine, an indication that increased moisture stress could affect growth of these tree species in the future, although the impact would likely vary under different climate change scenarios (Pau et al 2022). Our research revealed complex interactions across the double gradient of tree species diversity and soil texture but generally support management practices that maintain or enhance tree species diversity and mitigate intraspecific competition to decrease forest vulnerability to anthropogenic climate change and its indirect influence on insect disturbances.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…This finding likely reflects shallow black spruce rooting systems (Mekontchou et al 2020) and low adaptability to dry atmospheric conditions (Marchand et al 2021), indicating that spruce is more susceptible to summer heat stress and associated lower moisture availability in the soil and air, respectively. Conversely, jack pine growth could respond positively under moderate temperature-increase scenarios (Pau et al 2022).…”

Section: Explaining Individual Tree Growthmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Anthropogenic climate change is expected to impact the growth of trees in boreal forests of Northeastern America directly through increasing temperatures (D'Orangeville et al 2016;Pau et al 2022) and indirectly through more frequent disturbances such as insect epidemics (Navarro et al 2018). For these forests, simulations reveal that high temperature increases in the range of 4-6 • C are expected by 2071-2100 (Price et al 2013), which may lead to irreversible changes in forest composition and loss of forest cover (Boulanger et al 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Greater tree species diversity and lower intraspecific competition attenuate impacts from temperature increases and insect epidemics in boreal forests of western Quebec, Canada

et al. 2023

Self Cite

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We investigated how the surrounding environment influences the growth of dominant trees and their responses to temperature and insect epidemics in boreal forests of eastern Canada. We focused on 82 black spruce and jack pine focal trees in stands spanning a double gradient of species diversity and soil texture within a 36 km2 area of western Québec. For these trees, we compared their diameter at breast height, growth rates, temperature-growth relations, and growth during insect defoliator epidemics. We used linear models to study how surrounding tree attributes and soil properties affected the growth of focal trees. Models showed that tree growth responses and responses to temperature and insect epidemics were generally negative with higher intraspecific competition and positive with greater tree species diversity. Growth of both species benefitted from lower soil sand content. Our research offers novel insights on the potential role of the surrounding environment, notably tree competition and species diversity, in mitigating the vulnerability of eastern Canada’s boreal trees to anthropogenic climate change and insect epidemics.

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“…The influence of non-static factors, such as increasing nitrogen deposition and rising temperatures and CO 2 concentrations, has been recognized as the main cause of site productivity increases (Nunes et al, 2015;de Wergifosse et al, 2022). Site index is a good indicator of the effect of climate change on tree growth and site productivity (Socha et al, 2016;Pau et al, 2022). The ability to capture changes in productivity using differences in SI values is due to the different responses of trees of different ages to changes in growth conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of site productivity for oak in Poland

Viet¹,

Tymińska-Czabańska²,

Socha³

2022

Dendrobiology

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The site index (SI) is the most commonly used and representative measure of the phytocentric approach; it evaluates the site productivity based on the stand height and age. In the case of mixed stands with complex structures, phytocentric methods are very limited, while in non-forest areas, they are not applicable. In situations where the applicability of phytocentric methods is limited, the site productivity is determined by geocentric methods. Geocentric methods allow direct modelling of site productivity, expressed by SI predicted from various environmental variables. The aim of this study was to develop a geocentric model for oak. Site productivity expressed by SI was described by the environmental variables and stand characteristics. To develop the SI model, we used the data from 2490 NFI plots with dominant oak species (Quercus sessilis and Quercus robur). A generalized additive model was used in modelling site productivity. We documented a significant relationship between SI and the environmental variables, age of stands and stand density. Furthermore, the site productivity for oak is shaped by climate factors, soil type, geology, and altitude. The model developed based on the geocentric method, explained 55.1% of the variation of SI

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Site index as a predictor of the effect of climate warming on boreal tree growth

Cited by 25 publications

References 121 publications

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

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

Greater tree species diversity and lower intraspecific competition attenuate impacts from temperature increases and insect epidemics in boreal forests of western Quebec, Canada

Drivers of site productivity for oak in Poland

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