Growth dynamics of black spruce (Picea mariana ) in a rapidly thawing discontinuous permafrost peatland

2016 ◽  
Vol 121 (12) ◽  
pp. 2988-3000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia E. Sniderhan ◽  
Jennifer L. Baltzer
Keyword(s):  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Growth Dynamics ◽  
Discontinuous Permafrost

Non-uniform growth dynamics of a dominant boreal tree species (Picea mariana) in the face of rapid climate change

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Elizabeth Sniderhan ◽  
Steven Mamet ◽  
Jennifer Baltzer
Keyword(s):  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Growth Dynamics ◽  
Growth Patterns ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Positive Growth ◽  
The Face ◽  
Climatic Drivers ◽  
Use Efficiency

Northwestern Canada’s boreal forest has experienced rapid warming, drying, and changes to permafrost, yet the growth responses and mechanisms driving productivity have been understudied at broad scales. Forest responses are largely driven by black spruce – the region’s most widespread and dominant tree. We collected tree-ring samples from four black spruce-dominated sites across 15° latitude, spanning gradients in climate and permafrost. We investigated (1) differences in growth patterns, (2) variations in climatic drivers of growth, and (3) trends in water use efficiency (WUE) through <sup>13</sup>C isotope analysis from 1945 – 2006. We found positive growth trends at all sites except mid-latitude, where rapid permafrost thaw drove declines. Annual growth was lowest at the tree limit site and highest at the treeline. Climatic drivers of these growth patterns varied; positive growth responses at the northerly sites were associated with warmer winters, whereas Δ<sup>13</sup>C trends and climate-growth responses at mid-latitude sites indicated growth was limited by moisture availability. Δ<sup>13</sup>C signatures indicated increased WUE at the southernmost site, with no significant trends at northern sites. These results suggest that warming will increase growth of trees at black spruce’s northern extent, but southerly areas may face drought stress if precipitation does not balance evapotranspiration.

Environmental controls of Picea mariana water use in a boreal subarctic peatland

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nia Perron ◽  
Christoforos Pappas ◽  
Jennifer Baltzer ◽  
Katherine Dearborn ◽  
Oliver Sonnentag
Keyword(s):  
Water Use ◽  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Growth Period ◽  
Meteorological Variables ◽  
Ratio Method ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
Environmental Controls ◽  
Discontinuous Permafrost

&lt;p&gt;Black spruce (Picea mariana) dominated peat plateaus are an important component of northwestern Canada&amp;#8217;s heterogeneousboreal landscape. Threats to these ecosystems, including permafrost thaw and wetland expansion, could impact hydrological fluxes therefore, it is essential to understand the factors affecting the hydraulic function of black spruce in these rapidly changing landscapes. Sap velocity (V&lt;sub&gt;s&lt;/sub&gt;, cm&amp;#183;hr&lt;sup&gt;&amp;#8722;1&lt;/sup&gt;) is the movement of water and minerals through tree stems during the growth period and can be used as an indicator for plant water use and the quantification of tree transpiration. Here, we identified the meteorological variables driving daytime and nighttime V&lt;sub&gt;s&lt;/sub&gt; in Picea mariana (black spruce) trees growing across a 21 hectare (20 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; grid) subarctic boreal peatland complex underlain with discontinuous permafrost, ~630 km west of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (61&amp;#176;18'N, 121&amp;#176;18'W; ForestGEO Plot). For two consecutive growing seasons (2017 and 2018), eighteen black spruce trees were instrumented with sap flow sensors using the heat-ratio method to measure V&lt;sub&gt;s&lt;/sub&gt;. Meteorological variables including vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) accounted for 57 and 73% of the variance in daytime mean V&lt;sub&gt;s&lt;/sub&gt; in 2017 and 2018, respectively, while VPD, PAR and air temperature accounted for 26 and 40% of V&lt;sub&gt;s&lt;/sub&gt; variance at night. VPD and PAR were the strongest meteorological drivers of black spruce V&lt;sub&gt;s&lt;/sub&gt; in the ForestGEO Plot. An increase in either variable corresponded to an increase in V&lt;sub&gt;s&lt;/sub&gt; across various time periods (day/nighttime). In addition, we investigated how daytime seasonal mean/maximum V&lt;sub&gt;s&lt;/sub&gt; for black spruce was affected by local environmental factors including fibric layer depth, organic matter decomposition, black spruce density, black spruce basal area, phosphorus supply rate (P) and soil water content (SWC) when physiological traits of black spruce, including diameter at breast height and crown area, were considered as covariables. It was hypothesised that stand density and basal area would affect V&lt;sub&gt;s&lt;/sub&gt;, but results indicated that only P and SWC had a (weak) influence on black spruce Vs. The variables P and SWC had a greater influence on the amplitude (seasonal daily maximum) of V&lt;sub&gt;s&lt;/sub&gt; over the sampling period. Overstory vegetation in Canada&amp;#8217;s Northwestern boreal forest is important for the terrestrial water cycle through tree water storage, and transpiration, therefore the quantification of black spruce transpiration and an improved understanding of the environmental controls of black spruce V&lt;sub&gt;s&lt;/sub&gt; in boreal peatlands would be a natural next step for this research.&lt;/p&gt;

Clonal and nonclonal genetic structure of subarctic black spruce (Picea mariana) populations in Yukon territory

Botany ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marios Viktora ◽  
Rodney A. Savidge ◽  
Om P. Rajora
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Structure ◽  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Nuclear Genome ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Fire Disturbance ◽  
Clone Size ◽  
Flat Terrain ◽  
Individual Trees

Black spruce (Picea mariana) reproduces sexually from seeds and asexually by layering. There is a prevalent concept that clonal reproduction maintains populations of this species in the subarctic and arctic regions. We used microsatellite DNA markers of the nuclear genome to investigate the genetic structure of montane and subalpine black spruce populations from the Western Yukon Plateau in relation to this concept. Sixty individual trees at a minimum distance of 4 m from each other were sampled from each of four populations and individual trees were genotyped for eight microsatellite loci. Each of the 60 individuals from three montane pure black spruce populations growing on flat terrain at relatively low elevations had unique multilocus genotypes, indicating an absence of clonal structure in those populations. However, in an anthropologically undisturbed climax white spruce-dominated subalpine black spruce population on a northwest slope near Mount Nansen, the majority of the sampled individuals belonged to eight genetically distinct clones (genets). Clone size differed by altitude, the dominant genet being nearest the timberline–tundra ecotone. The results indicate that black spruce reproduction is variable and adaptive, being primarily sexual in flat-terrain montane populations previously subjected to fire disturbance, but mixed vegetative–sexual in the anthropogenically undisturbed subalpine population. This study is the first to employ molecular markers a priori to examine the mode of reproduction in natural black spruce populations.

scholarly journals Comparative Height Growth of Eastern Larch and Black Spruce in Northwestern Ontario

1978 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 296-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Mead
Keyword(s):  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Height Growth ◽  
Larix Laricina ◽  
Stem Analysis ◽  
Northwestern Ontario ◽  
Analysis Methods ◽  
Spruce Stands

Height growth of eastern larch (Larix laricina (Du Roi) K. Koch) and black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) was determined using standard stem analysis methods on trees from two sites in northwestern Ontario. The data were obtained from mixed larch-spruce stands which were relatively undisturbed. The larch exhibited substantially better height growth than the spruce through age 65.

SEASONAL DAMAGE BY INSECTS AND SQUIRRELS TO FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE STRUCTURES OF BLACK SPRUCE, PICEA MARIANA (MILL.) B.S.P.

1988 ◽  
Vol 120 (12) ◽  
pp. 1113-1121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.H. Prévost ◽  
J.E. Laing ◽  
V.F. Haavisto
Keyword(s):  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Choristoneura Fumiferana ◽  
Tamiasciurus Hudsonicus ◽  
Red Squirrel ◽  
Red Squirrels ◽  
Reproductive Structures ◽  
Cone Axis ◽  
Viable Seeds ◽  
Cone Growth

AbstractThe seasonal damage to female reproductive structures (buds, flowers, and cones) of black spruce, Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P., was assessed during 1983 and 1984. Nineteen insects (five Orders) and the red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus (Erxleben), were found feeding on these reproductive structures. Collectively, these organisms damaged 88.9 and 53.5% of the cones in 1983 and 1984, respectively. In the 2 years, Lepidoptera damaged 61.8% of the cones in 1983 and 44.4% of the cones in 1984. The spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.), and the spruce coneworm, Dioryctria reniculelloides Mut. and Mun., were the most important pests. Cones damaged by Lepidoptera could be classed into three categories: (a) severe, yielding no seeds; (b) moderate, yielding 22.3 seeds per cone; and (c) light, yielding 37.5 seeds per cone. Undamaged cones yielded on average 39.9 seeds per cone. Red squirrels removed 18.8% of the cones in 1983 and none in 1984. The spruce cone axis midge, Dasineura rachiphaga Tripp, and the spruce cone maggot, Lasiomma anthracinum (Czerny), caused minor damage in both years. Feeding by spruce cone axis midge did not reduce cone growth significantly or the number of viable seeds per cone, but feeding by the spruce cone maggot did. During both years new damage by insects to the female reproductive structures of the experimental trees was not observed after mid-July. In 1983 damage by red squirrels occurred from early to late September. In 1984 damage to cones on trees treated with dimethoate was 15.6% compared with 53.5% for untreated trees, without an increase in the number of aborted cones.

Prediction and evaluation of borate distribution in Eastern black spruce (Picea mariana var. mariana) wood products

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Koumbi-Mounanga ◽  
Paul I. Morris ◽  
Myung J. Lee ◽  
Nasmus M. Saadat ◽  
Brigitte Leblon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Wood Products
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document