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Age-related growth responses of birch to warming along an elevational gradient on Changbai Mountain
Ist Teil von
European journal of forest research, 2022-04, Vol.141 (2), p.293-305
Ort / Verlag
Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Erscheinungsjahr
2022
Link zum Volltext
Quelle
Alma/SFX Local Collection
Beschreibungen/Notizen
Accelerated tree growth in the alpine treeline ecotone (ATE) has been linked to the recent rapid climate warming. However, the role of tree age and elevation in the growth response of trees to climate change remains unclear. Here, we developed basal area increment chronologies of
Betula ermanii
from the closed forest belt (CFB) at lower elevation to the ATE of Changbai Mountain with three tree age classes (young: 0–60 years, middle-aged: 60–120 years, and old: > 120 years). In ATE, all age classes of
B. ermanii
have been experiencing dramatic growth acceleration since 1981. Young trees, with higher temperature sensitivity, exhibited the most prominent warming-induced growth enhancement relative to middle and old-aged trees. In CFB, young and middle-aged trees exhibited similar sensitivity to the temperature increase during the warm period relative to the cold period, with strikingly accelerated growth enhancement trends. In contrast, old trees did not show any significant growth trend. Moreover, young trees in ATE showed significantly (
p
< 0.01) higher growth rates than those in CFB, whereas middle-aged trees in ATE showed significantly (
p
< 0.05) lower growth rates than those in CFB. Our results reveal that the response of tree growth to climate change varies with tree age and elevation. Therefore, these factors should be considered to avoid overestimation or underestimation of tree growth trends and bias in estimating potential forest production.