Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Du, Haibo
• Liu, Jie
• Li, Mai‐He
• Büntgen, Ulf
• Yang, Yue
• Wang, Lei
• Wu, Zhengfang
• He, Hong S.

Titel

Warming‐induced upward migration of the alpine treeline in the Changbai Mountains, northeast China

Ist Teil von

• Global change biology, 2018-03, Vol.24 (3), p.1256-1266

Ort / Verlag

England: Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2018

Quelle

Wiley Online Library E-Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Treeline responses to environmental changes describe an important phenomenon in global change research. Often conflicting results and generally too short observations are, however, still challenging our understanding of climate‐induced treeline dynamics. Here, we use a state‐of‐the‐art dendroecological approach to reconstruct long‐term changes in the position of the alpine treeline in relation to air temperature at two sides in the Changbai Mountains in northeast China. Over the past 160 years, the treeline increased by around 80 m, a process that can be divided into three phases of different rates and drives. The first phase was mainly influenced by vegetation recovery after an eruption of the Tianchi volcano in 1702. The slowly upward shift in the second phase was consistent with the slowly increasing temperature. The last phase coincided with rapid warming since 1985, and shows with 33 m per 1°C, the most intense upward shift. The spatial distribution and age structure of trees beyond the current treeline confirm the latest, warming‐induced upward shift. Our results suggest that the alpine treeline will continue to rise, and that the alpine tundra may disappear if temperatures will increase further. This study not only enhances mechanistic understanding of long‐term treeline dynamics, but also highlights the effects of rising temperatures on high‐elevation vegetation dynamics. We reconstruct long‐term changes in the alpine treeline position using a dendroecological approach. The treeline elevation shifted upward by around 80 m over the past 160 years that can be separated for three phases depending on the forcing and shift rate. The most rapid upward shift started in the 1980s corresponding to the rapid air warming since then. This study contributes to the current debate on the mechanistic causes of the recent treeline upward shift. Our results suggest that the alpine treeline will continue to rise, and that the alpine tundra may disappear if temperatures will increase further.