Climate response of tree-ring width in Larix sibirica growing in the drought-stressed forest-steppe ecotone of northern Mongolia

Dulamsuren, Choimaa; Hauck, Markus; Leuschner, Hanns Hubert; Leuschner, Christoph

doi:10.1007/s13595-011-0043-9

Cited by 55 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…4.1 Climate-growth response Dulamsuren et al (2011) found that radial growth of L. sibirica growing at low-elevation sites, northern Mongolia was positively associated with precipitation during the growing season. However, in this case, the negative responses of RW and MXD of L. sibirica to precipitation at the sites suggest that the growth of L. sibirica is not limited by moisture stress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic response of ring width and maximum latewood density of Larix sibirica in the Altay Mountains, reveals recent warming trends

Chen

Yuan

Wang

et al. 2012

Annals of Forest Science

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& Introduction Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) is a highly climate sensitive species. Presently, the Altay Mountains is covered by widespread forests dominated by Siberian larch and thus has a great potential for dendroclimatological studies. However, tree-ring network of the Altay Mountains has not yet been well developed. The development of the new chronologies and the knowledge about the influence of climatic variables on tree growth is needed. & Method X-ray densitometric techniques were applied to obtain ring width (RW) and maximum latewood density (MXD) of Siberian larch from two upper tree line sites in the Altay Mountains, China. Climatic responses in ring widths and maximum latewood densities from the Altay Mountains (China, Russia, and Mongolia) were investigated by simple correlation analyses. To assess the common growth forces among the individual sites of the Altay Mountains, simple correlation, principal component analyses, and spatial correlation analysis were applied over the common period of the chronologies. & Results Ring width and maximum latewood density increases with decreasing precipitation, increasing temperature from late spring to late summer during the growing season. Based on the results of principal component analyses and spatial correlation analysis, summer temperature (June-July) is the most important forces on the Siberian larch growth of the Altay Mountains. The growth of Siberian larch in the Altay Mountains captures the current warming trend. The growth of Siberian larch did not clearly lose its sensitivity under most recent warming in our study areas. & Conclusions The new MXD chronologies is presently the longest, absolutely dated, tree-ring density record yet developed from China. The climate response analysis shows that the RW and MXD of Siberian larch have strong responses to temperature in the growing season. Thus, MXD and RW of Siberian larch provides the best information for climate reconstruction in the warm season. Tree-rings of Siberian larch allow detecting the recently observed warming trend and putting it into the long-term climatic context in the Altay Mountains, due to the strong growth sensitivity to temperature change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic response of ring width and maximum latewood density of Larix sibirica in the Altay Mountains, reveals recent warming trends

Chen

Yuan

Wang

et al. 2012

Annals of Forest Science

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“…Cores were extracted with an increment borer of 5 mm in diameter at a height of 1 m above the ground, according to Dulamsuren et al (2011). Cores from young trees <45 years were exempted from further analyses since they did not cover the whole period of the climate records.…”

Section: Development Of the Larch Tree-ring Chronologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our general objectives in this study were: (i) to describe and understand specific responses of Siberian larch to climatic factors observed in the Mongolian mountain forest steppe zone, and (ii) to compare our results with those recently obtained for white birch observed in the same area using the same methodology (Gradel et al 2017). Building on previous studies on larch, pine and birch in the Selenge Aimag of Mongolia (Dulamsuren et al 2011;Haensch 2015;Gradel et al 2015a;Gradel et al 2017), we hypothesize that larch growth depends largely on sufficient levels of rainfall specifically in late summer and autumn of the previous year, and that temperature-growth relationships for the two species will differ during the peak fire season in spring.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Moreover, numerous natural forest sites in Northern Mongolia have degraded over past decades and the overall forest area has decreased (Hansen et al 2013;Khishigjargal et al 2014). In addition to increasing anthropogenic pressures such as logging and livestock breeding, global climate change is expected to influence the future distribution, composition and structure of forests in Mongolia, and have an impact on larch forests in particular (Dulamsuren et al 2011;Natsagdorj 2014). According to the National Forest Inventory, larch and birch forests together represent more than 70% of the total forest land area in Northern Mongolia (MET 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In regions of the Selenge Aimag in Northern Mongolia, logging activity and high intensity fires caused larch forest area as pure or mixed-species to decrease, while increasing birch forest area (Gradel et al 2010). Larch forest degradation in the mountain forest steppe has been the subject of considerable research (Dulamsuren 2010a(Dulamsuren , 2010bDulamsuren et al 2011;Kishigjargal et al 2014). To our knowledge, no study has yet compared how Siberian larch and white birch are influenced by climatic factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate-growth relationships and pointer year analysis of a Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) chronology from the Mongolian mountain forest steppe compared to white birch (Betula platyphylla Sukaczev)

et al. 2017

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Background: Forest area, stand quality and growth of Siberian larch in Mongolia have decreased significantly over recent decades. This forest decline is frequently attributed to factors such as unregulated logging, increased ecological disturbances (primarily fire) and climate change. In this study, we analyzed climate-growth response and pointer years for Siberian larch observed in the Altansumber forest research area in the Mongolian mountain forest steppe zone. We compare our results with previously published results of white birch from the same area. Methods: We built a reference chronology from wood core samples taken from 30 trees in three neighboring larch stands. Climate-growth relationships were analyzed monthly and seasonally over the period 1962-2009 using climate data from the Eroo weather station. Pointer year analysis covered the same time frame. Results: Our analysis of the larch chronology showed that precipitation during autumn of the previous year and directly before the growing season of the current year was the most decisive factor determining tree-ring growth. Regional pointer year analysis further indicated that a humid summer and autumn followed by a warm spring support current-year tree-ring growth in these larch stands. Our findings were comparable to a white birch study in the same area. The larch trees, however, showed stronger growth performance and were more tolerant of higher temperatures, notably in spring during peak fire season.Conclusions: Water availability is the decisive factor for larch growth in the mountain forest steppe zone. The chronologies showed no climatic indication of insect infestations. Differences in climate-growth relationships of birch and larch trees during peak fire season may to some degree be explained by their respective means of protecting themselves against low-intensity surface fires (e.g. thick bark of larch). These fire events occur regularly in the region and are influenced by climatic factors. Our analysis and comparison of climate tree-growth relationships may be valuable for developing climate-and disturbance-resilient forestry practices in Mongolian mountain forest ecosystems.

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Endurance of larch forest ecosystems in eastern Siberia under warming trends

Sato

Kobayashi

Iwahana

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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The larch (Larix spp.) forest in eastern Siberia is the world's largest coniferous forest. Its persistence is considered to depend on near‐surface permafrost, and thus, forecast warming over the 21st century and consequent degradation of near‐surface permafrost is expected to affect the larch forest in Siberia. However, predictions of these effects vary greatly, and many uncertainties remain about land – atmosphere interactions within the ecosystem. We developed an integrated land surface model to analyze how the Siberian larch forest will react to current warming trends. This model analyzed interactions between vegetation dynamics and thermo‐hydrology, although it does not consider many processes those are considered to affect productivity response to a changing climate (e.g., nitrogen limitation, waterlogged soil, heat stress, and change in species composition). The model showed that, under climatic conditions predicted under gradual and rapid warming, the annual net primary production of larch increased about 2 and 3 times, respectively, by the end of the 21st century compared with that in the previous century. Soil water content during the larch‐growing season showed no obvious trend, even when surface permafrost was allowed to decay and result in subsurface runoff. A sensitivity test showed that the forecast temperature and precipitation trends extended larch leafing days and reduced water shortages during the growing season, thereby increasing productivity. The integrated model also satisfactorily reconstructed latitudinal gradients in permafrost presence, soil moisture, tree leaf area index, and biomass over the entire larch‐dominated area in eastern Siberia. Projected changes to ecosystem hydrology and larch productivity at this geographical scale were consistent with those from site‐level simulation. This study reduces the uncertainty surrounding the impact of current climate trends on this globally important carbon reservoir, and it demonstrates the need to consider complex ecological processes to make accurate predictions.

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Climate response of tree-ring width in Larix sibirica growing in the drought-stressed forest-steppe ecotone of northern Mongolia

Cited by 55 publications

References 27 publications

Climatic response of ring width and maximum latewood density of Larix sibirica in the Altay Mountains, reveals recent warming trends

Climatic response of ring width and maximum latewood density of Larix sibirica in the Altay Mountains, reveals recent warming trends

Climate-growth relationships and pointer year analysis of a Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) chronology from the Mongolian mountain forest steppe compared to white birch (Betula platyphylla Sukaczev)

Endurance of larch forest ecosystems in eastern Siberia under warming trends

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