Abstract
The temperature in northwestern China has increased significantly since the 1990s. However, the responses of mountainous forests to warming have not been extensively examined. We collected tree rings of two dominant coniferous species of Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia) and Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) in the eastern part of the Qilian Mountains, and analyzed the differences in the response dynamic of the radial growth of two species to climate change. The results showed that (1) the annual radial growth of Qinghai spruce was mainly restricted by the minimum temperature in July and October, and the growth of Chinese pine was mainly restricted by the mean temperature in September of the previous year, January, and July and the maximum temperature in March, May, and July. In particular, Qinghai spruce increased its sensitivity to total precipitation in the growing seasons in March, May, and July after the temperature abruptly increased. (2) In comparison to Qinghai spruce, Chinese pine showed a consistent response to the main climatic factors and was more severely affected by drought stress. Qinghai spruce had divergent responses to mean temperatures in March and May and minimum temperatures in April and June. (3) The growth of Qinghai spruce increased with a significant fluctuation at the end of the twentieth century, while the growth of Chinese pine first showed an increase and then a significant decreasing trend. At present, the increase in temperature has adversely affected the growth of Chinese pine in the eastern Qilian Mountains and promoted the growth of Qinghai spruce. However, a continuous temperature increase could negatively affect the growth of Qinghai spruce because of the increasing probability of drought stress. Therefore, we should pay more attention to the growth dynamics of Qinghai spruce, especially with the different water supply and demand, and to the effects of drought on Chinese pine in forest ecosystems in arid and semiarid areas.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen CD, Macalady AK, Chenchouni H, Bachelet D, McDowell N, Vennetier M, Kitzberger T, Rigling A, Breshears DD, Hogg EH(T), Gonzalez P, Fensham R, Zhang Z, Castro J, Demidova N, Lim JH, Allard G, Running SW, Semerci A, Cobb N (2010) A global overview of drought and heat-induced tree mortality reveals emerging climate change risks for forests. For Ecol Manag 259:660–684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2009.09.001
Biondi F (1997) Evolutionary and moving response functions in dendroclimatology. Dendrochronologia 15:139–150
Biondi F (2000) Are climate–tree growth relationships changing in north-central Idaho? Arct Antarct Alp Res 32:111–116
Biondi F, Waikul K (2004) DENDROCLIM2002: A C++ program for statistical calibration of climate signals in tree-ring chronologies. Comput Geosci 30:303–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2003.11.004
Black TA, Chen WJ, Barr AG, Arain MA, Chen Z, Nesic Z, Hogg EH, Neumann HH, Yang PC (2000) Increased carbon sequestration by a Boreal deciduous forest in years with a warm spring. Geophys Res Lett 27:1271–1274. https://doi.org/10.1029/1999GL011234
Bradshaw WE, Holzapfe CM (2006) Climate change. Evolutionary response to rapid climate change Science 312:1477–1478. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1127000
Briffa KR, Osborn TJ, Schweingruber FH (2004) Large-scale temperature inferences from tree rings: a review. Glob Planet Chang 40:11–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8181(03)00095-X
Büntgen ULF, Frank D, Wilson ROB, Carrer M, Urbinati C, Esper JAN (2008) Testing for tree-ring divergence in the European Alps. Glob Chang Biol 14:2443–2453. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01640.x
Castagneri D, Nola P, Motta R, Carrer M (2014) Summer climate variability over the last 250 years differently affected tree species radial growth in a mesic Fagus–Abies–Picea old-growth forest. For Ecol Manag 320:21–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.02.023
Chmielewski FM, Rötzer T (2001) Response of tree phenology to climate change across Europe. Agric For Meteorol 108:101–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0168-1923(01)00233-7
Cook ER (1985) A time series approach to tree-ring standardization. PhD thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson
D’Arrigo R, Wilson R, Liepert B, Cherubini P (2008) On the ‘Divergence Problem’ in Northern Forests: a review of the tree-ring evidence and possible causes. Glob Planet Chang 60:289–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2007.03.004
De Grandpre L, Tardif JC, Hessl A, Pederson N, Conciatori F, Green TR, Oyunsanaa B, Baatarbileg N (2011) Seasonal shift in the climate responses of Pinus sibirica, Pinus sylvestris, and Larix sibirica trees from semi-arid, north-central Mongolia. Can J For Res 41:1242–1255. https://doi.org/10.1139/X11-051
Deng Y, Gou X, Gao L, Zhao Z, Cao Z, Yang M (2013) Aridity changes in the eastern Qilian Mountains since AD 1856 reconstructed from tree-rings. Quat Int 283:78–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2012.04.039
Driscoll WW, Wiles GC, D’Arrigo RD, Wilmking M (2005) Divergent tree growth response to recent climatic warming, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Geophys Res Lett 32:423–436. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL024258
Engelbrecht BMJ (2012) Plant ecology: forests on the brink. Nature 491:675–677. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11756
Fritts HC (1976) Tree rings and climate. Academic Press, London
Gao L, Gou X, Deng Y, Yang MX, Huo YX, Chen QY (2013) The advance of dendroclimatology in arid area of northwest China. Mar Geol Quat Geol 33:25–36. https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1140.2013.04025
Gao L, Gou X, Deng Y, Yang M, Zhang F (2017) Assessing the influences of tree species, elevation and climate on tree-ring growth in the Qilian Mountains of northwest China. Trees 31:393–404
Gazol A, Camarero JJ (2016) Functional diversity enhances silver fir growth resilience to an extreme drought. J Ecol 104:1063–1075. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12575
Gechev TS, Van Breusegem F, Stone JM, Denev I, Laloi C (2006) Reactive oxygen species as signals that modulate plant stress responses and programmed cell death. BioEssays 28:1091–1101. https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.20493
Green TH, Mitchell RJ (2006) Effects of nitrogen on the response of loblolly pine to water stress I. Photosynthesis and stomatal conductance. New Phytol 122:627–633. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1992.tb00090.x
Han H, He H, Wu Z, Yu C (2020) Non-structural carbohydrate storage strategy explains the spatial distribution of treeline species. Plants 9:384. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9030384
Hart SJ, Laroque CP (2013) Searching for thresholds in climate-radial growth relationships of Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. Dendrochronologia 31:9–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2012.04.005
He M, Yang B, Wang Z, Bräuning A, Pourtahmasi K, Oladi R (2015) Climatic forcing of xylem formation in Qilian juniper on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Trees 30:923–933
Holmes RL (1983) Computer-assisted quality control in tree-ring dating and measurement. Tree-Ring Bull 43:69–75
Hou Y, Niu Z, Zheng F, Wang N, Wang J, Li Z, Zhang X (2016) Drought fluctuations based on dendrochronology since 1786 for the Lenglongling Mountains at the northwestern fringe of the East Asian summer monsoon region. Journal of Arid Land 8:492–505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-016-0009-8
IPCC (2014) Climate change 2014: synthesis report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Geneva, Switzerland
Jacoby GC, D’Arrigo RD (1995) Tree ring width and density evidence of climatic and potential forest change in Alaska. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 9:227–234. https://doi.org/10.1029/95GB00321
Jarvis PG, Linder S (2000) Botany: constraints to growth of boreal forests. Nature 405:904–905. https://doi.org/10.1038/35016154
Jiao L, Jiang Y, Zhang W, Wang M, Wang S, Liu X (2019) Assessing the stability of radial growth responses to climate change by two dominant conifer trees species in the Tianshan Mountains, northwest China. For Ecol Manag 433:667–677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.11.046
Jiao L, Liu X, Wang S, Chen K (2020) Radial growth adaptability to drought in different age groups of Picea schrenkiana Fisch. & C.A. Mey in the Tianshan Mountains of northwestern China. Forests 11:455. https://doi.org/10.3390/f11040455
Kramer PJ, Kozlowski TT (1979) Physiology of woody plants. New York
Kurz-Besson CB, Lousada JL, Gaspar MJ, Correia IE, David TS, Soares PMM, Cardoso RM, Russo A, Varino F, Mériaux C, Trigo RM, Gouveia CM (2016) Effects of recent minimum temperature and water deficit increases on Pinus pinaster radial growth and wood density in southern Portugal. Front Plant Sci 7:1170. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2016.01170
Laasimer LM (1977) Review of the study of Estonian spruce forests. Estonian contributions to the International Biological Programme; progress report 11:7–20
Lawlor DW (2002) Limitation to photosynthesis in water-stressed leaves: stomata vs. metabolism and the role of ATP. Ann Bot 89:871–885. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcf110
Lebourgeois F, Mérian P, Courdier F, Ladier J, Dreyfus P (2012) Instability of climate signal in tree-ring width in Mediterranean Mountains: a multi-species analysis. Trees 26:715–729. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-011-0638-7
Liang E, Shao X, Eckstein D, Huang L, Liu X (2006) Topography- and species dependent growth responses of Sabina przewalskii and Picea crassifolia to climate on the northeast Tibetan Plateau. For Ecol Manag 236:268–277
Liang E, Shao XM, Eckstein D, Liu XH (2010) Spatial variability of tree growth along a latitudinal transect in the Qilian Mountains, northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Can J For Res 40:200–211
Lloyd AH, Fastie CL (2002) Spatial and temporal variability in the growth and climate response of treeline trees in Alaska. Clim Chang 52:481–509. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014278819094
Lysenko SA, Loginov VF (2020) Current changes in winter air temperature in the middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Russ Meteorol Hydrol 45:219–226. https://doi.org/10.3103/S1068373920040019
Marshall JG, Rutledge RG, Blumwald E, Dumbroff EB (2000) Reduction in turgid water volume in jack pine, white spruce and black spruce in response to drought and paclobutrazol. Tree Physiol 20:701–707. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/20.10.701
Massetti E, Mendelsohn R (2020) Temperature thresholds and the effect of warming on American farmland value. Clim Chang 161:601–615. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02694-6
Meng Y, Liu X, Ding C, Xu B, Zhou G, Zhu L (2020) Analysis of ecological resilience to evaluate the inherent maintenance capacity of a forest ecosystem using a dense Landsat time series. Ecological Informatics 57:101064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2020.101064
Ogaya R, Barbeta A, Başnou C, Peñuelas J (2015) Satellite data as indicators of tree biomass growth and forest dieback in a Mediterranean holm oak forest. Ann For Sci 72:135–144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-014-0408-y
Oliveira MT, Souza GM, Silvia P, Oliveira, Oliveira DAS, Figueiredo-Lima KV, Arruda E, Santos MG (2017) Seasonal variability in physiological and anatomical traits contributes to invasion success of Prosopis juliflora in tropical dry forest. Tree Physiol 3:326–337. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpw123
Panin GN, Solomonova IV, Vyruchalkina TY (2009) Climatic trends in the middle and high latitudes of the northern hemisphere. Water Res 36:718–730. https://doi.org/10.1134/s0097807809060116
Pellizzari E, Camarero JJ, Gazol A, Granda E, Shetti R, Wilmking M, Moiseev P, Pividori M, Carrer M (2017) Diverging shrub and tree growth from the Polar to the Mediterranean biomes across the European continent. Glob Chang Biol 23:3169–3180. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13577
Peng J, Gou X, Chen F, Liu P, Zhang Y, Fang K (2007) Characteristics of ring width chronologies of Picea crassifolia and their responses to climate at different elevations in the Anyemaqen Mountains. Acta Ecol Sin 27:3268–3276
Peng C, Ma Z, Lei X, Zhu Q, Chen H, Wang W, Liu S, Li W, Fang X, Zhou X (2011) A drought-induced pervasive increase in tree mortality across Canada’s boreal forests. Nat Clim Chang 1:467–471. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1293
Pisaric MFJ, Carey SK, Kokelj SV, Youngblut D (2007) Anomalous 20th century tree growth, Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada. Geophys Res Lett 34:247–260. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL029139
Qin C, Yang B, Melvin TM, Fan Z, Zhao Y, Briffa KR (2013) Radial growth of Qilian Juniper on the northeast Tibetan Plateau and potential climate associations. PLoS One 8:e79362. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0079362
Rathgeber C, Nicault A, Guiot J, Keller T, Guibal F, Roche P (2000) Simulated responses of Pinus halepensis forest productivity to climatic change and CO2 increase using a statistical model. Glob Planet Chang 26:405–421. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0921-8181(00)00053-9
Schuster R, Oberhuber W (2013) Drought sensitivity of three co-occurring conifers within a dry inner Alpine environment. Trees 27:61–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-012-0768-6
Schweingruber FH (1988) Tree rings basics and applications of dendrochronology. Boston, London, Dordrecht
Shao X, Xu Y, Yin ZY, Liang E, Zhu H, Wang S (2010) Climatic implications of a 3585-year tree-ring width chronology from the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Quat Sci Rev 29:2111–2122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.05.005
Swidrak I, Gruber A, Kofler W, Oberhuber W (2011) Effects of environmental conditions on onset of xylem growth in Pinus sylvestris under drought. Tree Physiol 31:483–493. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpr034
Takahashi K, Takahashi H (2016) Effects of climatic conditions on tree-ring widths of three deciduous broad-leaved tree species at their northern distribution limit in Mont St. Hilaire, eastern Canada. J For Res 21:178–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10310-016-0530-9
Tian Q, He Z, Xiao S, Peng X, Ding A, Lin P (2017) Response of stem radial growth of Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia) to environmental factors in the Qilian Mountains of China. Dendrochronologia 44:76–83
Tognetti R, Cherubini P, Innes JL (2000) Comparative stem-growth rates of Mediterranean trees under background and naturally enhanced ambient CO2 concentrations. New Phytol 146:59–74. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1469-8137.2000.00620.x
Vaganov EA, Hughes MK, Kirdyanov AV, Schweingruber FH, Silkin PP (1999) Influence of snowfall and melt timing on tree growth in subarctic Eurasia. Nature 400:149–151. https://doi.org/10.1038/22087
Wang M, Bai S, Tao D, Shan J (1995) Effect of rise in air temperature on tree-ring growth of forest on Changbai Mountain. Chin J Appl Ecol 6:128–132
Wang T, Ren H, Ma K (2005) Climatic signals in tree ring of Picea schrenkiana along an altitudinal gradient in the central Tianshan Mountains, northwestern China. Trees 19:736–742
Wang B, Chen T, Xu G, Liu X, Wang W, Wu G, Zhang Y (2016) Alpine timberline population dynamics under climate change: a comparison between Qilian juniper and Qinghai spruce tree species in the middle Qilian Mountains of northeast Tibetan Plateau. Boreas 45:411–422. https://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12161
Wang B, Yu P, Zhang L, Wang Y, Yu Y, Wang S (2019) Differential trends of Qinghai Spruce growth with elevation in northwestern China during the recent warming hiatus. Forests 10:712. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10090712
Waring R, Gao L (2016) Recent reduction in the frequency of frost accounts for most of the increased growth of a high elevation spruce forest in northwestern China. Trees 30:1225–1236. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-016-1360-2
White PB, Soulé P, Gevel SVD (2014) Impacts of human disturbance on the temporal stability of climate–growth relationships in a red spruce forest, southern Appalachian Mountains, USA. Dendrochronologia 32:71–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2013.10.001
Wieser G, Oberhuber W, Waldboth B, Gruber A, Matyssek R, Siegwolf RTW, Grams TEE (2018) Long-term trends in leaf level gas exchange mirror tree-ring derived intrinsic water-use efficiency of Pinus cembra at treeline during the last century. Agric For Meteorol 248:251–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2017.09.023
Wilmking M (2005) Increased temperature sensitivity and divergent growth trends in circumpolar boreal forests. Geophys Res Lett 32:291–310
Wu X, Liu H, He L, Qi Z, Anenkhonov OA, Korolyuk AY, Yu Y, Guo D, Korolyuk AY (2014) Stand-total tree-ring measurements and forest inventory documented climate-induced forest dynamics in the semi-arid Altai Mountains. Ecol Indic 36:231–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2013.07.005
Xu ZL, Zhao CY, Feng ZD (2009) A study of the impact of climate change on the potential distribution of Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia) in Qilian Mountains. Acta Ecol Sin 29:278–285
Xu J, Lu J, Bao F, Evans R, Downes G, Huang R, Zhao Y (2012) Cellulose microfibril angle variation in Picea crassifolia tree rings improves climate signals on the Tibetan plateau. Trees 26:1007–1016
Xu C, Liu H, Anenkhonov OA, Korolyuk AY, Sandanov DV, Balsanova LD, Naidanov BB, Wu X (2017) Long-term forest resilience to climate change indicated by mortality, regeneration and growth in semi-arid southern Siberia. Glob Chang Biol 23:2370–2382
Yin C, Duan B, Wang X, Li C (2004) Morphological and physiological responses of two contrasting poplar species to drought stress and exogenous abscisic acid application. Plant Sci 167:1091–1097. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2004.06.005
Yin ZY, Shao X, Qin N, Liang E (2008) Reconstruction of a 1436-year soil moisture and vegetation water use history based on tree-ring widths from Qilian junipers in northeastern Qaidam Basin, northwestern China. Int J Climatol 28:37–53. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1515
Yin ZY, Li M, Zhang Y, Shao X (2016) Growth–climate relationships along an elevation gradient on a southeast-facing mountain slope in the semi-arid eastern Qaidam Basin, northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Trees 30:1095–1109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-015-1348-3
Yu A (2019) Tree growth and stand structure of Pinus tabulaeformi in the eastern Qilian Mountains. Dissertation, Lanzhou University
Yue TX, Fan ZM (2014) A review of responses of typical terrestrial ecosystems to climate change (in Chinese). Chin Sci Bull 59:217–231. https://doi.org/10.1360/972013-261
Zhai L, Bergeron Y, Huang JG, Berninger F (2012) Variation in intra-annual wood formation, and foliage and shoot development of three major Canadian boreal tree species. Am J Bot 99:827–837. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1100235
Zhang Y, Wilmking M, Gou X (2008) Changing relationships between tree growth and climate in Northwest China. Plant Ecol 201:39–50. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-008-9478-y
Zhang MX, Pei HJ, Zhang YF, Chen T, Liu JX (2015) Foliar carbohydrate differs between Picea crassifolia and Sabina przewalskii with the altitudinal variation of Qilian Mountains. China. Sciences in Cold and Arid Regions 7:0180–0188
Zhang L, Jiang Y, Zhao S, Zhang W (2018) Age and climate sensitivity of radial growth of Picea crassifolia to climate in a transitional climatic zone in Northwest China. Pol J Ecol 66:114–125
Zhang Y, Evans MN, Yu L, Huang L, Wang Y (2020) What causes variable response in tree growth to climate change at a single site? A case study of Picea crassifolia at the upper treeline, Qilian mountains, China. Trees 34:615–622. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-019-01943-1
Zhou G, Houlton BZ, Wang W, Huang W, Xiao Y, Zhang Q, Liu S, Cao M, Wang X, Wang S, Zhang Y, Yan J, Liu J, Tang X, Zhang D (2013) Substantial reorganization of China’s tropical and subtropical forests: based on the permanent plots. Glob Chang Biol 20:240–250. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12385
Zhuang L, Axmacher JC, Sang W (2017) Different radial growth responses to climate warming by two dominant tree species at their upper altitudinal limit on Changbai Mountain. J For Res 28:795–804. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-016-0364-5
Acknowledgements
We thank the anonymous referees for their helpful comments on the manuscript.
Funding
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41861006), Project Supported by State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology (Grant No. 2020-KF-04), and the Research Ability Promotion Program for Young Teachers of Northwest Normal University (NWNU-LKQN2019-4).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jiao, L., Xue, R., Qi, C. et al. Comparison of the responses of radial growth to climate change for two dominant coniferous tree species in the eastern Qilian Mountains, northwestern China. Int J Biometeorol 65, 1823–1836 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-021-02139-4
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-021-02139-4