Climate-Growth Relations of Abies georgei along an Altitudinal Gradient in Haba Snow Mountain, Southwestern China

Abstract

Climate warming has been detected and tree growth is sensitive to climate change in Northwestern Yunnan Plateau. Abies georgei is the main component of subalpine forest in the area. In this study, A. georgei ring width chronologies were constructed at four sites ranging from 3300 to 4150 m a.s.l. in Haba Snow Mountain, Southeastern edge of Tibetan Plateau. We analyzed the relationship between four constructed chronologies and climatic variables (monthly minimum temperature, monthly mean temperature, monthly maximum temperature, monthly total precipitation, the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index, and monthly relative humidity) by using response function analysis, moving interval analysis, and redundancy analysis. Overall, the growth of A. georgei was positively affected by common climatic factors (winter moisture conditions, autumn temperature, and previous autumn precipitation). At low and middle-low sites, May moisture condition and previous December precipitation controlled its radial growth with positive correlations. At middle-high and high sites, previous November temperature was the key factor affecting tree growth. The result of moving interval analysis was consistent with correlation analyses, particularly for May moisture at low altitudes.

Divergent responses of Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia) to recent warming along elevational gradients in the central Qilian Mountains, Northwest China

“…These results are consistent with several previous studies (Fritts, 1976;Mäkinen et al, 2002;Salzer et al, 2009). Similar results have also been reported in the Central Himalaya (Rai et al, 2020), the Southeastern Tibetan Plateau (Sun et al, 2021), and central Europe (Jevšenak et al, 2021).…”

“…The relationships between the radial growth of P. crassifolia and the previous July to current June precipitation and current May to July SPEI-12 gradually changed from a positive correlation to an insignificant correlation with increasing altitude. These patterns further indicate the influence of hydrothermal changes caused by altitude on the growth of trees (Sun et al, 2021). Our results are consistent with the idea that trees tend to be more constrained by moisture at low latitudes (Wang et al, 2006), while trees are more sensitive to temperature at high latitudes (Sidor et al, 2015).…”

“…The negative correlation between tree radial growth and temperature further demonstrates the remarkable influence of drought stress on tree growth induced by high temperatures in low-altitude regions (Walker and Johnstone, 2014). In contrast, higher altitude sites had lower temperatures and less evapotranspiration, meaning that drought stress was not detected (Sun et al, 2021). The finding that tree radial growth of P. crassifolia is mainly limited by the drought conditions within a habitat has also been reported in other regions of the Qilian Mountains (Wang et al, 2020).…”

“…The radial growth of trees is significantly affected by environmental factors (Zhang et al, 2017b;de Wergifosse et al, 2022;Zeng et al, 2022). For example, variable altitude often leads to a change in hydrothermal conditions, which can affect the growth of trees (Sun et al, 2021). Therefore, the elevational gradient is an important environmental factor for studying the relationship between tree growth and the climate (Huo et al, 2017).…”

Radial growth response of Pinus Yunnanensis to climate in high mountain forests of northwestern Yunnan, southwestern China

“…This may cause drought stress for tree growth induced by the acceleration of plant transpiration and soil moisture evaporation, which lead to insufficient water supply (Denmead and Shaw, 1962). Similar results have been reported in other conifers in CHM, such as the A. georgei in HB (Sun et al, 2021), A. forrestii and P. likiangensis in YL (Yang et al, 2022), and T. dumosa in YL (Guo G. et al, 2009), indicating the importance of sufficient moisture condition of this period on tree growth in the area. This water-demand effect was also supported by the results of response function analysis, by showing positive relation to May precipitation (Figure 5).…”