Competition alters tree growth responses to climate at individual and stand scales

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin R. Ford ◽  
Ian K. Breckheimer ◽  
Jerry F. Franklin ◽  
James A. Freund ◽  
Steve J. Kroiss ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Tsuga Heterophylla ◽  
Individual Growth ◽  
Thuja Plicata ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Scale Growth ◽  
Important Variation ◽  
Hierarchical Bayesian Methods

Understanding how climate affects tree growth is essential for assessing climate change impacts on forests but can be confounded by effects of competition, which strongly influences tree responses to climate. We characterized the joint influences of tree size, competition, and climate on diameter growth using hierarchical Bayesian methods applied to permanent sample plot data from the montane forests of Mount Rainier National Park, Washington State, USA, which are mostly comprised of Abies amabilis Douglas ex Forbes, Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg., Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco, and Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don. Individual growth was sensitive to climate under low but not high competition, likely because tree ability to increase growth under more favorable climates (generally greater energy availability) was constrained by competition, with important variation among species. Thus, climate change will likely increase individual growth most in uncrowded stands with lower competition. However, crowded stands have more and (or) larger trees, conferring greater capacity for aggregate absolute growth increases. Due to these contrasting effects, our models predicted that climate change will lead to greater stand-scale growth increases in stands with medium compared with low crowding but similar increases in stands with medium and high crowding. Thus, competition will mediate the impacts of climate change on individual- and stand-scale growth in important but complex ways.

scholarly journals What evidence exists on the effects of competition on trees’ responses to climate change? A systematic map protocol

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana G. de S. Magalhães ◽  
Mariano M. Amoroso ◽  
Bruce C. Larson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Full Text ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Forest Type ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Species Selection ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Systematic Map ◽  
Individual Tree

Abstract Background Projections of climate change impacts upon forests are likely inaccurate if based on the premise that only climate controls tree growth. Species interactions control growth, but most research has ignored these effects on how trees respond to climate change. Climate change is inducing natural species selection. However, this selection does not occur at the community level. Species selection starts with competition amongst individual trees. Competition is an individual-to-individual antagonistic interaction that, if severe, can constrain the presence of trees within a particular environment. Thus, climate change impacts individual tree selection within forests. Projecting climate change impacts on forests should account for the effects of climate on tree growth and the effects of competition. The inclusion of competition can increase the predictive power of simulations. Methods We propose a protocol to systematically map the available literature on climate change impacts on forests and produce a comprehensive list of methods applied to measure competition and model the competition effects on tree growth responses to climate change. This systematic map is not limited to any country or continent or specific tree species or forest type. The scope of the search focuses on time (when the evidence was published), location (geographic location of the evidence) and research design (competition indices and modelling methods). We will evaluate articles at three levels: title, abstract and full text. We will conduct a full-text assessment on all articles that pass a screening at the title and abstract stages. We will report the extracted evidence in a narrative synthesis to summarize the evidence’s trends and report knowledge gaps.

scholarly journals Intra-Annual Wood Formation of Cryptomeria fortunei and Cunninghamia lanceolata in Humid Subtropical China

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuangpeng Zheng ◽  
Feifei Zhou ◽  
Patrick Fonti ◽  
Ping Ren ◽  
Xiaoxia Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Cambial Activity ◽  
Cunninghamia Lanceolata ◽  
Growth Monitoring ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Summer Drought ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Xylem Growth

Monitoring cambial activity is important for a better understanding of the mechanisms governing xylem growth responses to climate change, providing a scientific basis for tree-ring-based climate reconstructions and projections about tree growth under future climate scenarios. It plays an even more important role in investigating evergreen tree growth in regions with less distinct seasonal cycles. Subtropical evergreen forests have been studied in recent years for their sensitivity to climate change, but it remains unclear how xylem growth is driven by subtropical climates. To further understand the climate-growth response strategies of subtropical conifers, we micro-cored Cryptomeria fortunei and Cunninghamia lanceolata weekly in 2016 and 2017 at the humid subtropical Gushan Mountain in southeastern China. Our weekly growth monitoring showed that the vegetation periods of these two species were both approximately 2–3 months longer than trees in temperate and boreal forests. The growth of C. fortunei in 2016 and 2017 and C. lanceolata in 2017 showed a bimodal pattern of xylogenesis, which was induced by summer drought. The results also indicated that the earlier end of the xylem formation was related to the yearly drought stress. These findings provide more specific information about tree growth and evidence of how climate influences wood production at the cellular level in subtropical regions.

scholarly journals Climate change impacts on crop yield and quality with CO 2 fertilization in China

2005 ◽  
Vol 360 (1463) ◽  
pp. 2149-2154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Erda ◽  
Xiong Wei ◽  
Ju Hui ◽  
Xu Yinlong ◽  
Li Yue ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Regional Climate Change ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Crop Models ◽  
Average Annual Temperature

A regional climate change model (PRECIS) for China, developed by the UK's Hadley Centre, was used to simulate China's climate and to develop climate change scenarios for the country. Results from this project suggest that, depending on the level of future emissions, the average annual temperature increase in China by the end of the twenty-first century may be between 3 and 4 °C. Regional crop models were driven by PRECIS output to predict changes in yields of key Chinese food crops: rice, maize and wheat. Modelling suggests that climate change without carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) fertilization could reduce the rice, maize and wheat yields by up to 37% in the next 20–80 years. Interactions of CO 2 with limiting factors, especially water and nitrogen, are increasingly well understood and capable of strongly modulating observed growth responses in crops. More complete reporting of free-air carbon enrichment experiments than was possible in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Third Assessment Report confirms that CO 2 enrichment under field conditions consistently increases biomass and yields in the range of 5–15%, with CO 2 concentration elevated to 550 ppm Levels of CO 2 that are elevated to more than 450 ppm will probably cause some deleterious effects in grain quality. It seems likely that the extent of the CO 2 fertilization effect will depend upon other factors such as optimum breeding, irrigation and nutrient applications.

scholarly journals Divergent Growth Responses to Warming between Stand-Grown and Open-Grown Trees in a Dryland Montane Forest in Northwestern China

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Hao Shi ◽  
Pengtao Yu ◽  
Yanhui Wang ◽  
Shufen Pan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Elevation Gradient ◽  
Montane Forest ◽  
Growth Patterns ◽  
Forest Growth ◽  
Northwestern China ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
High Elevations

Dryland montane forests conserve water for people living in the fluvial plains. The fate of these forests under climate warming is strongly affected by local environmental factors. The question remains of how internal factors contribute to climate change impacts on forest growth in these regions. Here, we investigated tree ring records for similar-aged stand-grown trees and their neighboring open-grown trees at elevation in a dryland montane forest (Picea crassifolia Kom.) in northwestern China. The growth rate of open-grown trees is much higher than their neighboring stand-grown trees across the entire elevation gradient, and the lower the altitude, the greater the difference. Open-grown trees at different elevations showed similar growth patterns, as tree growth at all sites was accelerated over time. In contrast, growth patterns of stand-grown trees were divergent at different altitudes, as growth at high elevations (3100–3300 m a.s.l.) was accelerated, whereas growth at low elevations (2700–2900 m a.s.l.) became stable after the year 1990. Analysis of growth–climate relationships indicated that warming promoted open-grown tree growth across the entire altitude gradient, and also stand-grown tree growth at high elevations, but negatively affected the growth of stand-grown trees at low elevations. Water scarcity can be exacerbated by competition within forests, inhibiting the warming-induced benefits on tree growth. Moving window correlation analysis suggested the negative effect of warming on tree growth at low elevations was diminished after the late 1990s, as the drought stress was alleviated. Our research shows the divergent growth responses to warming of stand-grown and open-grown trees along elevation. It reveals effects of internal factors in determining tree growth response to warming and holds the potential to aid forest management and ecosystem models in responding to climate change.

scholarly journals Climate change impacts on long‐term forest productivity might be driven by species turnover rather than by changes in tree growth

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 1360-1372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raúl García‐Valdés ◽  
Alba Estrada ◽  
Regan Early ◽  
Veiko Lehsten ◽  
Xavier Morin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Forest Productivity

Ten-year postharvest effects of silviculture systems on soil-resource availability and conifer nutrition in a northern temperate forest

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 800-809 ◽  
Author(s):  
J M Kranabetter ◽  
K D Coates
Keyword(s):  
Tree Growth ◽  
Forest Floor ◽  
Light Availability ◽  
Tsuga Heterophylla ◽  
Picea Sitchensis ◽  
Western Hemlock ◽  
Thuja Plicata ◽  
Net N Mineralization ◽  
Mature Trees ◽  
Foliar N

Silviculture systems (clear-cut, partial-cut, and unharvested forest) were compared 9–10 years after harvesting to determine their effects on conifer nutrition and the availability of soil resources, especially nitrogen. These results were used to discuss the effects of silviculture systems on tree growth in relation to the more commonly described effects of light. Differences in soil properties across the silviculture treatments were most apparent in the forest floor. Depth and C/N ratio of the forest floor had decreased slightly in clearcuts, and forest-floor moisture was highest under partial-cut forest. Despite these differences in soil chemistry and soil moisture, no differences were detected in mineralizable N (anaerobic incubation) or in situ net N mineralization among treatments. Height growth and foliar mass were reduced under the low-light conditions of the partial-cut forest, but there were no differences in foliar N concentrations of hybrid white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss × Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carrière), western redcedar (Thuja plicata Dougl. ex D. Don), or western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) saplings. Mature western hemlock trees in partial-cut forest also had concentrations of foliar N equal to that of mature trees in the unharvested forest. Overall, we detected only minor effects of silviculture systems on soils after 10 years, and we conclude that light availability is likely more responsible for the current differences in tree growth.

scholarly journals Contrasted effects of climate change on low-altitude relict Pinus uncinata stands in the Northern French Alps

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Corona ◽  
Markus Stoffel ◽  
Jérôme Lopez Saez
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Soil Water Potential ◽  
Soil Conditions ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Cold Air ◽  
French Alps ◽  
Pinus Uncinata ◽  
Low Altitude

AbstractThis paper reports on climate-induced growth changes in relict, low-altitude mountain pines (Pinus uncinata Mill. ex. Mirb.) from two refugia with cold microclimates located in the Northern French Alps. The P. uncinata stands analyzed grow at the lower bound of their ecological limit and are thus thought to be sensitive indicators of ongoing climate change. Using dendroecological approaches, we compare tree-ring growth at two closely spaced low-altitude stands in the Chartreuse massif (French Alps): La Plagne and Cirque de Bresson. La Plagne is a N-NW-exposed, ventilated slope with cold air circulating in the scree during summer, and the presence of sporadic permafrost as well as ground overcooling, whereas Cirque de Bresson is located on a small, S-exposed fan with sporadic avalanche activity. At both sites, growth responses of P. uncinata to changes in twentieth and twenty-first centuries temperature and precipitation conditions were investigated by means of moving correlation analyses. At Cirque de Bresson, a significant and rapid decline in tree-ring widths has been observed since the early 1990s. We attribute this decline to (i) increasing air temperatures at the beginning of the growing season (May–June) as well as to (ii) a decrease in soil water potential. At La Plagne, we do not detect any significant trend between the higher summer temperatures and tree growth, presumably as a result of the circulation of cold air in the scree slope, which is thought to maintain fresh and humid soil conditions and therefore favor tree growth. These forest stands provide prime examples on how dendroecology can contribute to the study of the dynamics and local variability of tree growth and climate change in relict forest populations with high ecological and conservation values.

scholarly journals Tree-growth response to climatic variability in two climatically contrasting treeline ecotone areas, central Himalaya, Nepal

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (11) ◽  
pp. 1643-1653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishna B. Shrestha ◽  
Annika Hofgaard ◽  
Vigdis Vandvik
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Growth Response ◽  
Summer Temperature ◽  
Seasonal Temperature ◽  
Central Himalaya ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Drought Effect ◽  
Treeline Ecotone ◽  
Positive Growth

Tree growth at the treeline ecotone is known to be sensitive to climate variability and is thus considered to be a worldwide biomonitor of climate change. However, our understanding of within-region variation in growth responses through space and time is limited. A dry south-facing slope dominated by Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jacks. and a wet north-facing slope dominated by Abies spectabilis (D. Don) Spach in Nepal, central Himalaya, were used to analyze the intersite (i.e., dry vs. wet sites) and intrasite (i.e., treeline vs. forest line elevations) tree-growth relationships, as well as response to monthly and seasonal temperature and precipitation at annual and bidecadal time scales. At both study sites and at two elevations within each site, growth can be strongly affected by growing-season and nongrowing-season factors; however, there are inconsistencies in terms of the climate–growth relationship across space and over time. At the dry site, only a weak positive growth response to summer temperature is observed. At both sites, there is a negative growth response to winter precipitation at both high and low elevations, and this response is markedly independent of the summer and winter temperature trends of the respective site. At the wet site, growth at the higher elevation is negatively correlated to the early summer temperature, whereas a positive growth response to spring precipitation is observed at the lower elevation, indicating a possible drought effect. The results illustrate how different climatic drivers may govern tree-growth responses both between sites with contrasting climates within a region and along elevational gradients within the treeline ecotone. This underlines the need for multiscale studies and a focus on multiple climate variables when analyzing treeline ecotone responses to climate change.

scholarly journals Geographical, Climatological, and Biological Characteristics of Tree Radial Growth Response to Autumn Climate Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shunsuke Tei ◽  
Ayumi Kotani ◽  
Atsuko Sugimoto ◽  
Nagai Shin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Radial Growth ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Ring Width ◽  
Biological Characteristics ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
Tree Radial Growth

Terrestrial forest ecosystems are crucial to the global carbon cycle and climate system; however, these ecosystems have experienced significant warming rates in recent decades, whose impact remains uncertain. This study investigated radial tree growth using the tree-ring width index (RWI) for forest ecosystems throughout the Northern Hemisphere to determine tree growth responses to autumn climate change, a season which remains considerably understudied compared to spring and summer, using response function and random forest machine learning methods. Results showed that autumn climate conditions significantly impact the RWI throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Spatial variations in the RWI response were influenced by geography (latitude, longitude, and elevation), climatology, and biology (tree genera); however, geographical and/or climatological characteristics explained more of the response compared to biological characteristics. Higher autumn temperatures tended to negatively impact tree radial growth south of 40° N in regions of western Asia, southern Europe, United State of America and Mexico, which was similar to the summer temperature response found in previous studies, which was attributed to temperature-induced water stress.

Predicting growth of plantation conifers in the Adirondack Mountains in response to climate change

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yude Pan ◽  
Dudley J. Raynal
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Growth Models ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Adirondack Mountains ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Conifer Species ◽  
Climatic Effects ◽  
Extrinsic Factors

Three conifer species grown in plantations in the southeastern Adirondack Mountains of New York were chosen to model tree growth. Annual growth of trees was decomposed into several components that reflect various intrinsic or extrinsic factors. Growth signals indicative of climatic effects were used to construct growth-climate models using both multivariate regression analysis and Kalman filter methods. Two growth models were used to simulate tree growth response to future climate change projected by GCMs. The consistent results of both models indicate that different conifer species have individualistic growth responses to future climatic change. The response behaviors of trees are affected greatly by local stand conditions and species tolerance to drought.

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