Climatic response of Picea crassifolia tree-ring parameters and precipitation reconstruction in the western Qilian Mountains, China

Hydroclimatic conditions and related water resources change in the Tibetan Plateau is one of the main concerns for future sustainable development in China. This study presents a 254-year precipitation reconstruction from August of the previous year to June of the current year for the northeastern Tibetan Plateau based on tree-ring width data of tree-ring cores of Picea crassifolia from three sampling sites. The precipitation reconstruction explained 51.4% of the variance in instrumental precipitation during the calibration period 1958–2013. Dry periods with precipitation below the 254-year average value occurred during 1848–1865, 1873–1887, 1898–1923, and 1989–2003, and wet periods (precipitation above the mean) occurred during 1769–1785, 1798–1833, 1924–1938, 1957–1968, and 2004–2013. Spatial correlation analyses with the precipitation gridded dataset showed that our reconstruction contains some strong regional-scale precipitation signals for the upper Yellow River Basin. Our precipitation reconstruction also agreed in general with other dendroclimatic precipitation reconstructions from surrounding regions. In addition, reconstructed precipitation changes were consistent with the streamflow variation of the Yellow River.

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Comparison of the Radial Growth Response of Picea crassifolia to Climate Change in Different Regions of the Central and Eastern Qilian Mountains

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12081015 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (8) ◽

pp. 1015

Author(s):

Xuan Wu ◽

Liang Jiao ◽

Dashi Du ◽

Changliang Qi ◽

Ruhong Xue

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Tree Growth ◽

Central Region ◽

Radial Growth ◽

Growing Season ◽

Qilian Mountains ◽

Growth Patterns ◽

Total Precipitation ◽

Picea Crassifolia ◽

The Qilian Mountains

It is important to explore the responses of radial tree growth in different regions to understand growth patterns and to enhance forest management and protection with climate change. We constructed tree ring width chronologies of Picea crassifolia from different regions of the Qilian Mountains of northwest China. We used Pearson correlation and moving correlation to analyze the main climate factors limiting radial growth of trees and the temporal stability of the growth–climate relationship, while spatial correlation is the result of further testing the first two terms in space. The conclusions were as follows: (1) Radial growth had different trends, showing an increasing followed by a decreasing trend in the central region, a continuously increasing trend in the eastern region, and a gradually decreasing trend in the isolated mountain. (2) Radial tree growth in the central region and isolated mountains was constrained by drought stress, and tree growth in the central region was significantly negatively correlated with growing season temperature. Isolated mountains showed a significant negative correlation with mean minimum of growing season and a significant positive correlation with total precipitation. (3) Temporal dynamic responses of radial growth in the central region to the temperatures and SPEI (the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index) in the growing season were unstable, the isolated mountains to total precipitation was unstable, and that to SPEI was stable. The results of this study suggest that scientific management and maintenance plans of the forest ecosystem should be developed according to the response and growth patterns of the Qinghai spruce to climate change in different regions of the Qilian Mountains.

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Large-Scale Precipitation Variability over Northwest China Inferred from Tree Rings

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/2011jcli3911.1 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 24 (13) ◽

pp. 3457-3468 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Keyan Fang ◽

Xiaohua Gou ◽

Fahu Chen ◽

Edward Cook ◽

Jinbao Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tree Ring ◽

Large Scale ◽

Principal Component ◽

Northwest China ◽

Poor Quality ◽

Contour Method ◽

Precipitation Reconstruction ◽

Nw China ◽

Climate Station ◽

Instrumental Records

Abstract A preliminary study of a point-by-point spatial precipitation reconstruction for northwestern (NW) China is explored, based on a tree-ring network of 132 chronologies. Precipitation variations during the past ~200–400 yr (the common reconstruction period is from 1802 to 1990) are reconstructed for 26 stations in NW China from a nationwide 160-station dataset. The authors introduce a “search spatial correlation contour” method to locate candidate tree-ring predictors for the reconstruction data of a given climate station. Calibration and verification results indicate that most precipitation reconstruction models are acceptable, except for a few reconstructions (stations Hetian, Hami, Jiuquan, and Wuwei) with degraded quality. Additionally, the authors compare four spatial precipitation factors in the instrumental records and reconstructions derived from a rotated principal component analysis (RPCA). The northern and southern Xinjiang factors from the instrumental and reconstructed data agree well with each other. However, differences in spatial patterns between the instrumentation and reconstruction data are also found for the other two factors, which probably result from the relatively poor quality of a few stations. Major drought events documented in previous studies—for example, from the 1920s through the 1930s for the eastern part of NW China—are reconstructed in this study.

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A study of the impact of climate change on the potential distribution of Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia) in Qilian Mountains

Acta Ecologica Sinica ◽

10.1016/j.chnaes.2009.09.004 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 29 (5) ◽

pp. 278-285 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Zhonglin Xu ◽

Chuanyan Zhao ◽

Zhaodong Feng

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Potential Distribution ◽

Qilian Mountains ◽

Picea Crassifolia ◽

Impact Of Climate Change ◽

The Impact ◽

Qinghai Spruce

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An 850-year tree-ring-based reconstruction of drought history in the western Qilian Mountains of northwestern China

International Journal of Climatology ◽

10.1002/joc.4208 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 35 (11) ◽

pp. 3308-3319 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Xiaohua Gou ◽

Linlin Gao ◽

Yang Deng ◽

Fahu Chen ◽

Meixue Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tree Ring ◽

Qilian Mountains ◽

Northwestern China

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A 406-year non-growing-season precipitation reconstruction in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Climate of the Past ◽

10.5194/cp-17-2381-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (6) ◽

pp. 2381-2392

Author(s):

Maierdang Keyimu ◽

Zongshan Li ◽

Bojie Fu ◽

Guohua Liu ◽

Fanjiang Zeng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Tree Ring ◽

Tree Growth ◽

Ring Width ◽

Growing Season ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Forest Growth ◽

Drought Severity ◽

Precipitation Reconstruction ◽

Southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Abstract. Trees record climatic conditions during their growth, and tree rings serve as proxy to reveal the features of the historical climate of a region. In this study, we collected tree-ring cores of hemlock forest (Tsuga forrestii) from the northwestern Yunnan area of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau (SETP) and created a residual tree-ring width (TRW) chronology. An analysis of the relationship between tree growth and climate revealed that precipitation during the non-growing season (NGS) (from November of the previous year to February of the current year) was the most important constraining factor on the radial tree growth of hemlock forests in this region. In addition, the influence of NGS precipitation on radial tree growth was relatively uniform over time (1956–2005). Accordingly, we reconstructed the NGS precipitation over the period spanning from 1600–2005. The reconstruction accounted for 28.5 % of the actual variance during the common period of 1956–2005. Based on the reconstruction, NGS was extremely dry during the years 1656, 1694, 1703, 1736, 1897, 1907, 1943, 1982 and 1999. In contrast, the NGS was extremely wet during the years 1627, 1638, 1654, 1832, 1834–1835 and 1992. Similar variations of the NGS precipitation reconstruction series and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) reconstructions of early growing season from surrounding regions indicated the reliability of the present reconstruction. A comparison of the reconstruction with Climate Research Unit (CRU) gridded data revealed that our reconstruction was representative of the NGS precipitation variability of a large region in the SETP. Our study provides the first historical NGS precipitation reconstruction in the SETP which enriches the understanding of the long-term climate variability of this region. The NGS precipitation showed slightly increasing trend during the last decade which might accelerate regional hemlock forest growth.

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Regional and Local Moisture Gradients Drive the Resistance to and Recovery from Drought of Picea crassifolia Kom. in the Qilian Mountains, Northwest China

Forests ◽

10.3390/f10090817 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 817 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lingnan Zhang ◽

Hui Li ◽

Yilin Ran ◽

Keyi Wang ◽

Xiaomin Zeng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Radial Growth ◽

Northwest China ◽

Qilian Mountains ◽

Mean Annual Temperature ◽

Western Region ◽

Drought Event ◽

Eastern Region ◽

Picea Crassifolia ◽

The Western Region ◽

The Qilian Mountains

Increasing evidence suggests that extreme droughts cause more frequent tree growth reduction. To understand the consequences of these droughts better, this study used tree-ring cores from nine sites to investigate how moisture and altitudinal gradients affect the radial growth of Picea crassifolia Kom., a common species in the Qilian Mountains in northwest China. The total annual precipitation and mean annual temperature in the eastern region were higher than those in the western region of the Qilian Mountains. The trees in the eastern region showed stronger resistance to drought than those in the west, as they had a smaller difference in radial growth between drought disturbance and pre-drought disturbance. At the same time, the trees in the east showed weaker ability to recover from drought, as they had a subtle difference in radial growth between post-drought disturbance and drought disturbance. Furthermore, the trees in the east also showed weaker relative resilience to drought, as they had a small difference in radial growth between post-drought and drought disturbance weighted by growth in pre-drought disturbance. For trees below 3000 m a.s.l., trees with high resistance capacity usually had low recovery capacity and low relative resilience capacity. Trees at higher altitudes also showed stronger resistance to drought and weaker ability to recover from drought after a drought event than those at lower altitudes in the middle of the Qilian Mountains. Trees at lower altitudes in the middle of the Qilian Mountains had more difficulties recovering from more severe and longer drought events. In the context of global warming, trees in the western region and at lower altitudes should be given special attention and protection in forest management to enhance their resistance to extreme droughts.

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