scholarly journals Recent Warming-Induced Tree Growth Enhancement at the Tibetan Treeline and the Link to Improved Water-Use Efficiency

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1702
Author(s):  
Xing Pu ◽  
Xiaochun Wang ◽  
Lixin Lyu
Keyword(s):  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Lower Elevation ◽  
Intrinsic Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
High Elevation Forests

Tree growth in high-elevation forests may increase as a result of increasing temperatures and CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere (Ca). However, the pattern and the physiological mechanism on how these two factors interact to affect tree growth are still poorly understood. Here, we analyzed the temporal changes in radial growth and tree-ring δ13C for Picea and Abies trees growing in both treeline and lower-elevation forests on the Tibetan Plateau. We found that the tree growth at the treeline has significantly accelerated during the past several decades but has remained largely stable or slightly declined at lower elevations. Further results based on tree-ring δ13C suggest that intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) was generally higher at the treeline than in lower-elevation forests, although increasing trends of iWUE existed for all sites. This study demonstrated that the synergetic effects of elevated Ca and increasing temperatures have increased tree growth at the treeline but may not lead to enhanced tree growth in lower-elevation forests due to drought stress. These results demonstrate the elevational dependence of tree growth responses to climatic changes in high-elevation forests from a physiologically meaningful perspective.

Increasing intrinsic water-use efficiency over the past 160 years does not stimulate tree growth in southeastern China

2018 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Guo ◽  
K Fang ◽  
J Li ◽  
HW Linderholm ◽  
D Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Southeastern China ◽  
The Past ◽  
Intrinsic Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Use Efficiency

Site-level soil moisture controls water-use efficiency improvement and climate response in sugar maple: a dual dendroisotopic study

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
R. Dietrich ◽  
F.W. Bell ◽  
M. Anand
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
Sugar Maple ◽  
Photosynthetic Capacity ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Tree Level ◽  
Intrinsic Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Use Efficiency

Given the large contribution of forests to terrestrial carbon storage, there is a need to resolve the environmental and physiological drivers of tree-level response to rising atmospheric CO2. This study examines how site-level soil moisture influences growth and intrinsic water-use efficiency in sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.). We construct tree-ring, δ18O, and Δ13C chronologies for trees across a soil moisture gradient in Ontario, Canada, and employ a structural equation modelling approach to ascertain their climatic, ontogenetic, and environmental drivers. Our results support previous evidence for the presence of strong developmental effects in tree-ring isotopic chronologies — in the range of −4.7‰ for Δ13C and +0.8‰ for δ18O — across the tree life span. Additionally, we show that the physiological response of sugar maple to increasing atmospheric CO2 depends on site-level soil moisture variability, with trees only in relatively wet plots exhibiting temporal increases in intrinsic water-use efficiency. These results suggest that trees in wet and mesic plots have experienced temporal increases in stomatal conductance and photosynthetic capacity, whereas trees in dry plots have experienced decreases in photosynthetic capacity. This study is the first to examine sugar maple physiology using a dendroisotopic approach and broadens our understanding of carbon–water interactions in temperate forests.

scholarly journals 20th-century changes in carbon isotopes and water-use efficiency: Tree-ring based evaluation of the CLM4.5 and LPX-Bern models

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin M. Keller ◽  
Sebastian Lienert ◽  
Anil Bozbiyik ◽  
Thomas F. Stocker ◽  
Olga V. Churakova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stomatal Conductance ◽  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
Dynamic Global Vegetation Model ◽  
Isotopic Discrimination ◽  
Tree Ring Data ◽  
Intrinsic Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Use Efficiency

Abstract. Measurements of the stable carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) on annual tree rings offer new opportunities to evaluate mechanisms of variations in photosynthesis and stomatal conductance under changing CO2 and climate, especially in conjunction with process-based biogeochemical model simulations. The isotopic discrimination is indicative of the ratio between the CO2 partial pressure in the intercellular cavities and the atmosphere (ci / ca) and of the ratio of assimilation to stomatal conductance, termed intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE). We performed isotope-enabled simulations over the industrial period with the land biosphere module (CLM4.5) of the Community Earth System Model and the LPX-Bern dynamic global vegetation model. Results for C3 tree species show good agreement with a global compilation of δ13C measurements on leaves, though modeled 13C discrimination by C3 trees is smaller in arid regions than measured. A compilation of seventy-six tree-ring records, mainly from Europe, boreal Asia, and western North America, suggest on average small 20th-century changes in isotopic discrimination and an increase in iWUE of about 27 % since 1900. LPX-Bern results match these century-scale reconstructions, supporting the idea that the physiology of stomata has evolved to optimize trade-offs between carbon gain by assimilation and water loss. In contrast, CLM4.5 simulates an increase in discrimination and in turn a change in iWUE that is almost twice as large as revealed by the tree-ring data. Factorial simulations show that these changes are mainly in response to rising atmospheric CO2. The results suggest that the down-regulation of ci / ca and of photosynthesis by nitrogen limitation is possibly too strong in the standard setup of CLM4.5 or there may be more fundamental problems associated with the prescribed relationship between conductance and assimilation.

scholarly journals Drought Enhances the Role of Competition in Mediating the Relationship between Tree Growth and Climate in Semi-Arid Areas of Northwest China

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanglong Lu ◽  
Ning Chen ◽  
Cankun Zhang ◽  
Xiaoxue Dong ◽  
Changming Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Radial Growth ◽  
Intrinsic Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Adverse Weather ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
The Relationship

Climate variability can exert a powerful impact on biotic competition, but past studies have focused largely on short-lived species, with a lack of attention to long-lived species such as trees. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate how competition regulates the climate-growth relationship in mature trees. We sampled the dominant tree species, Picea wilsonii Mast., on Xinglong Mountain, China, and studied the above issues by analyzing the relationship between tree radial growth, precipitation, and competition. In relatively wet years (precipitation > average), there was no significant difference in climate sensitivity between different competition classes. However, trees suffering from highly competitive stress were more sensitive to climate variability in all years, and particularly in the subset of years that was relatively drought (precipitation < average). These results suggest that competition enhances its ability to regulate tree growth response to climate variability in adverse weather conditions. Competition for resources between trees was asymmetrical, and an increase in height could give trees a disproportionate benefit. Thus, at trunk-level, both basal area incremental growth and intrinsic water-use efficiency of trees subjected to low competitive stress were significantly higher than trees that are subjected to highly competitive stress. Although the intrinsic water-use efficiency of trees under highly competitive stress increased more rapidly as the drought level increases, this did not change the fact that the radial growth of them declined more. Our research is valuable for the development of individual-tree growth models and advances our understanding for forest management under global climate change.

Rapid increases in shrubland and forest intrinsic water-use efficiency during an ongoing megadrought

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (52) ◽  
pp. e2118052118
Author(s):  
Steven A. Kannenberg ◽  
Avery W. Driscoll ◽  
Paul Szejner ◽  
William R. L. Anderegg ◽  
James R. Ehleringer
Keyword(s):  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Pinus Ponderosa ◽  
Plant Density ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Intrinsic Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Negative Impacts

Globally, intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) has risen dramatically over the past century in concert with increases in atmospheric CO2 concentration. This increase could be further accelerated by long-term drought events, such as the ongoing multidecadal “megadrought” in the American Southwest. However, direct measurements of iWUE in this region are rare and largely constrained to trees, which may bias estimates of iWUE trends toward more mesic, high elevation areas and neglect the responses of other key plant functional types such as shrubs that are dominant across much of the region. Here, we found evidence that iWUE is increasing in the Southwest at one of the fastest rates documented due to the recent drying trend. These increases were particularly large across three common shrub species, which had a greater iWUE sensitivity to aridity than Pinus ponderosa, a common tree species in the western United States. The sensitivity of both shrub and tree iWUE to variability in atmospheric aridity exceeded their sensitivity to increasing atmospheric [CO2]. The shift to more water-efficient vegetation would be, all else being equal, a net positive for plant health. However, ongoing trends toward lower plant density, diminished growth, and increasing vegetation mortality across the Southwest indicate that this increase in iWUE is unlikely to offset the negative impacts of aridification.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document