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Spatiotemporal evidence of tree-growth resilience to climate variations for Yezo spruce (Picea jezoensis var. komarovii) on Changbai Mountain, Northeast China

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Abstract

Global warming-induced changes in tree-growth resilience to climate variations have been widely reported for mid- and high-latitude regions around the world. Most studies have focused on the spatial variability of trees in radial growth–climate relationships on Changbai Mountain in Northeast China, but little is known about temporal changes in tree growth in response to climate. We explored the stability of effect of climate variables on radial growth of Yezo spruce [Picea jezoensis Carr. var. komarovii (V.Vassil.) Cheng et L.K.Fu] at 1200, 1400, and 1600 m above sea level, representing low, middle, and upper ranges of the spruce–fir mixed forest on Changbai Mountain. The results showed that the relation between tree growth and climate did not vary with altitude, but the stability of the tree-growth–climate relationship did vary with altitude as the climate changed. Radial growth of Yezo spruce at all three elevations was influenced primarily by maximum temperature during May (Tmax5) and mean minimum temperature from January to March (Tmin1–3). More specifically, the relationship strengthened significantly at lower elevations, but weakened significantly at higher elevation, and fluctuated at mid elevations since 1980. Increase in Tmin1–3 and decrease in Tmax5 were the main reasons for the decrease in the radial growth at three altitudes. The findings of this study clarified that the decrease in radial growth on Changbai Mountain is not a “divergence problem” of an unexpected decrease in tree growth in response to an increase in mean temperature and provides a reference for using tree-ring data to reconstruct climate patterns and/or predict the growth of trees under various climate change scenarios.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the anonymous referees for their careful and helpful comments and suggestions regarding this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, People’s Republic of China

    Xuerui Gai, Li Zhou, Jian Wu, Wangming Zhou, Limin Dai & Dapao Yu

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Xuerui Gai & Shoule Wang

  3. Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, People’s Republic of China

    Shoule Wang

  4. Shenyang University, Shenyang, 110044, People’s Republic of China

    Jianhua Bi & Linlin Cao

Authors
  1. Xuerui Gai
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  2. Shoule Wang
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  3. Li Zhou
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  4. Jian Wu
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  5. Wangming Zhou
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  6. Jianhua Bi
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  7. Linlin Cao
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  8. Limin Dai
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  9. Dapao Yu
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Contributions

Gai XR was responsible for fieldwork, sampling, sample measurement, calculations and manuscript writing. Wang SL was responsible for fieldwork, sampling, and data analysis. Zhou L is responsible for the fieldwork, sampling, and calculations. Wu J, Zhou WM, Bi JH and Cao LL was responsible for fieldwork and sample measurement. Dai LM provided many interesting ideas, suggestions and comments. Yu DP was responsible for fieldwork design, data analysis, manuscript writing and improvement, and funding.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dapao Yu.

Additional information

Project funding: The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 41371124).

The online version is available at http://www.springerlink.com

Corresponding editor: Tao Xu.

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Gai, X., Wang, S., Zhou, L. et al. Spatiotemporal evidence of tree-growth resilience to climate variations for Yezo spruce (Picea jezoensis var. komarovii) on Changbai Mountain, Northeast China. J. For. Res. 31, 927–936 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-018-0802-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-018-0802-7

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