Topographic influences on ring widths of trees and shrubs across alpine treelines in southwest Yukon

Dearborn, Katherine D.; Danby, Ryan K.

doi:10.1080/15230430.2018.1495445

Cited by 11 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…These differences are likely leading to colder temperatures and shorter growing seasons at QN. Significantly higher inter‐series correlations (rbar) on the west‐facing slope also suggest (Dearborn and Danby, ) that growth patterns at QW would be more governed by broad‐scale climatic patterns influencing growth of all individuals. At QN, by contrast, we hypothesize that microtopography may induce substantial spatial variability in shrub growth as previously observed in topographically complex regions (Danby and Hik, ; Leonelli et al., ; Ropars et al., ; Young et al., ; Dearborn and Danby, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Some (do not) like it hot: shrub growth is hampered by heat and drought at the alpine treeline in recent decades

Francon

Corona

Till–Bottraud

et al. 2020

American J of Botany

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PREMISE:Mountain ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate change. However, only a very small number of studies exist so far using annually resolved records of alpine plant growth spanning the past century. Here we aimed to identify the effects of heat waves and drought, driven by global warming, on annual radial growth of Rhododendron ferrugineum. METHODS:We constructed two century-long shrub ring-width chronologies from R. ferrugineum individuals on two adjacent, north-and west-facing slopes in the southern French Alps. We analyzed available meteorological data (temperature, precipitation and drought) over the period 1960-2016. Climate-growth relationships were evaluated using bootstrapped correlation functions and structural equation models to identify the effects of rising temperature on shrub growth. RESULTS: Analysis of meteorological variables during 1960-2016 revealed a shift in the late 1980s when heat waves and drought increased in intensity and frequency. In response to these extreme climate events, shrubs have experienced significant changes in their main limiting factors. Between 1960 and 1988, radial growth on both slopes was strongly controlled by the sum of growing degree days during the snow free period. Between 1989 and 2016, August temperature and drought have emerged as the most important. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing air temperatures have caused a shift in the growth response of shrubs to climate. The recently observed negative effect of high summer temperature and drought on shrub growth can, however, be buffered by topographic variability, supporting the macro-and microrefugia hypotheses.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Some (do not) like it hot: shrub growth is hampered by heat and drought at the alpine treeline in recent decades

Francon

Corona

Till–Bottraud

et al. 2020

American J of Botany

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“…Cross-dating was statistically validated using the software COFECHA (Tree-Ring Lab, Colombia University). Each series was individually detrended with the program ARSTAN (Tree-Ring Lab, Colombia University) using either a negative-exponential curve or linear regression line (Dearborn and Danby 2018 ). Ring-width series from 7–9 shrubs in each habitat-type were selected as the most confidently cross-dated, and then averaged to yield master chronologies for each habitat-type.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Growth and Expansion of Birch Shrubs Across a Low Arctic Landscape in Continental Canada: Are These Responses More a Consequence of the Severely Declining Caribou Herd than of Climate Warming?

2020

Self Cite

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The recent widespread expansion of deciduous shrubs across much of the Arctic has been largely attributed to climate warming. This study investigated decadal growth rates of dwarf birch (Betula glandulosa) across a low Arctic landscape in the continental interior of Canada. Detailed birch cover (100 m 2 replicate plots) and individual shrub stature measurement datasets for five representative habitat-types were compared between 2006 and 2016, and evaluated in relation to environmental characteristics. Furthermore, dendrochronologically-based annual growth rates were assessed in relation to the 20-year climate record. Birch height, lateral dimensions, and patch groundcover all increased 20-25% relative to 2006 values, but these increases were similar among the habitat-types. Together, the limited evidence of recent warming at this site, the absence of significant habitat-type growth rate differences, and the lack of correlation between annual climate and stem secondary growth strongly suggest that climate change was not the principal cause. Instead, we propose that release from caribou impacts following the recent severe herd decline may explain the net shrub growth. Individual shrub growth rates were correlated with soil nutrient availability, but the latter was highly variable, suggesting that growth rates are primarily determined by fine-scale rather than habitat-scale spatial heterogeneity in nutrient supply. Together, our results demonstrate that birch growth has been enhanced across a variety of habitat-types in the Daring Lake landscape over the decade since 2006, and suggest that the recent severe caribou herd declines may be at least as

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“…2) which could lead to different soil moisture at the site level. Study in the alpine treeline sites in Yukon also showed that willow shrub growth variation is influenced by the soil moisture content in early growth season (Dearborn & Danby, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Climate response of Salix oritrepha growth along a latitudinal gradient on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Lu¹,

Sigdel²,

Dawadi³

et al. 2019

Dendrobiology

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Shrubs are widespread at higher altitudes and latitudes. Dendrochronology of shrub growth has been intensively studied in the circumpolar Arctic, Mediterranean and Patagonia. However, relatively little is known about shrub growth responses to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau. Herein, we investigate climate sensitivity of Salix oritrepha growth along a north-south (35-39° N) latitudinal gradient on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Four S. oritrepha shrub sites were selected for dendrochronology study. Pearson and partial correlation analyses were used to estimate strength of the climate sensitivity of the growth time series at each site. We found that not all of the site chronologies show consistent variations. Despite of this, its radial growth was primarily limited by the July mean temperature across the latitudinal gradient, and warming summer climate tends to increase the growth of S. oritrepha on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau.

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Topographic influences on ring widths of trees and shrubs across alpine treelines in southwest Yukon

Cited by 11 publications

References 53 publications

Some (do not) like it hot: shrub growth is hampered by heat and drought at the alpine treeline in recent decades

Some (do not) like it hot: shrub growth is hampered by heat and drought at the alpine treeline in recent decades

Recent Growth and Expansion of Birch Shrubs Across a Low Arctic Landscape in Continental Canada: Are These Responses More a Consequence of the Severely Declining Caribou Herd than of Climate Warming?

Climate response of Salix oritrepha growth along a latitudinal gradient on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

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