Radial Growth and Physiological Response of Coniferous Trees to Arctic Amplification. Issue 11 (3rd November 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tei, Shunsuke; Sugimoto, Atsuko; Liang, Maochang; Yonenobu, Hitoshi; Matsuura, Yojiro; Osawa, Akira; Sato, Hisashi; Fujinuma, Junichi; Maximov, Trofim
• Is Part Of: Journal of geophysical research. Volume 122:Issue 11(2017)
• Page Start: 2786
• Page End: 2803
• Publication Date: 2017-11-03
• Subjects: circumpolar -- boreal forest -- tree‐ring width -- carbon isotope -- climate change -- dynamic global vegetation model; Geobiology -- Periodicals; Biogeochemistry -- Periodicals; Biotic communities -- Periodicals; Geophysics -- Periodicals; 577.14
• DOI: 10.1002/2016JG003745
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2169-8953

Abstract

Abstract: We describe the physiological responses of boreal conifers to climate change for the past 112 years using ring‐width and carbon isotope ratio (δ 13 C) chronologies at six forest sites in northern Eurasia and Canada. Responses differed among regions, depending on their climatic and/or geographic characteristics. Tree radial growth decreased over the past 52 years in central eastern Siberia with the higher rate of summer temperature increase than other regions, as indicated by the negative correlation between radial growth and summer temperature, but increased in northern Europe and Canada. Changes in tree‐ring δ 13 C indicated that recent climatic conditions have induced stronger drought stress for trees from central eastern Siberia than for those from other regions. The observed tree growth trends were compared to those simulated using a dynamic global vegetation model. Although the modeled annual net primary production (NPP) for trees generally exhibited similar decadal variation to radial growth, simulations did not show a recent decrease in tree growth, even in central eastern Siberia. This was probably due to an overestimation of the sensitivity of modeled tree NPP to precipitation. Our results suggest that the tree NPP forecasted under the expected future increases in temperature and average precipitation might be overestimated, especially in severely dry regions such as central eastern Siberia. Key Points: 112 year circum‐Arctic forest tree‐ring width and stable carbon isotope chronologies were built to examine tree response to climate change The responses varied among regions, but the diverse responses were not well reproduced by model simulation Current models may thus overestimate the predicted net primary productivity under future climate change scenarios