Influence of different detrending methods on climate signal in tree-ring chronologies in Wolong National Natural Reserve, western Sichuan, China

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1258.2011.00707

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Tree rings are valuable for paleoenvironmental studies; however, the methods by which tree-ring series are processed are controversial. Our objective is to assess the impacts of different tree-ring detrending methods on climate-growth response patterns in Wolong National Natural Reserve, western Sichuan, China.
Methods Fifty-four increment cores were taken from living trees of Abies faxoniana at a treeline site (3 450 m). We standardized tree-ring data with systematic growth forcing by five methods: conservative curve fits, 67% of series length and fixed 30 years, 60 years and 90 years cubic smoothing splines, and the resulted chronologies are abbreviated as CCF, CSS67%, CSS30, CSS60 and CSS90, respectively. We also composed the original tree-ring-width chronology (ORW) without standardization. Tree ring chronologies were correlated against (a) monthly climate data (mean, minimum and maximum temperatures, precipitation and relative humidity) from the nearby meteorological station and (b) monthly climate data (mean, minimum and maximum temperatures, precipitation and frequency of frost) from a high resolution gridded climate dataset.
Important findings In spite of differences in the strength of growth-climate correlations among the chronologies, a similar linear response was the dominant mode. Radial growth was positively correlated with temperature in September of the prior year and March and July of the current year, as well as precipitation in October-December of the prior year and April and July in the current year. In contrast, radial growth was negatively correlated with relative humidity in November of the prior year and March of the current year, as well as frequency of frost in February-March and July-August of the current year. Of the climatic response patterns for different chronologies considered, CCF, CSS67%, CSS60 and CSS90 chronologies had average higher inter- correlations and the strongest climate signals. In contrast, CSS30 chronology exhibited weaker correlations with other chronologies, and showed a similar, albeit much lower sensitivity to climate. ORW chronology had the highest statistical values among the chronologies and could provide valuable climate information for tree-ring studies.

Key words: climate response, detrending method, tree-ring, western Sichuan, Wolong National Natural Reserve

LI Zong-Shan, LIU Guo-Hua, FU Bo-Jie, ZHANG Qi-Bing, HU Chan-Juan, LUO Shu-Zheng. Influence of different detrending methods on climate signal in tree-ring chronologies in Wolong National Natural Reserve, western Sichuan, China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2011, 35(7): 707-721.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.3724/SP.J.1258.2011.00707

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2011/V35/I7/707

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 Location map of tree-ring sampling site and meteorological station in Wolong National Natural Reserve.

Fig. 2 Monthly variations of precipitation (bars), mean air temperature (line with triangles), maximum air temperature (line with squares), and minimum air temperature (line with circles) for Dujiangyan Meteorological Station (A) and CRU gridded climate dataset (B) in western Sichuan, China.

Table 1 Main characteristic parameters of tree-ring chronologies developed from different detrending methods in Wolong National Natural Reserve of western Sichuan, China

去趋势方法 Detrending method	ORW	CCF	CSS67%	CSS30	CSS60	CSS90
平均树轮宽度 Mean tree-ring width (mm)	0.856	0.991	0.992	0.99	0.986	0.991
标准偏差 Standard deviation	0.167	0.144	0.157	0.099	0.123	0.152
平均敏感度 Mean sensitivity	0.308	0.092	0.093	0.089	0.091	0.092
一阶自相关 Autocorrelation order 1	0.772	0.648	0.679	0.341	0.545	0.672
样芯间相关系数 Mean inter-series correlation	0.498	0.412	0.406	0.432	0.411	0.408
信噪比 Signal-to-noise ratio	14.397	8.381	7.861	8.777	8.243	8.143
群体表达信号 Express population signal	0.935	0.893	0.887	0.898	0.892	0.891
第一特征向量解释量 Explained variance in first eigenvector	34.59%	23.21%	19.41%	21.96%	19.57%	20.6%

Fig. 3 Tree-ring chronologies developed from different detrending methods in Wolong National Natural Reserve of western Sichuan, China. The time span is A.D. 1848 to 2008, inclusive. The bold smoothed curves superimposed on the annual tree-ring indices emphasize the series of 11-year smoothing average. CCF, the chronology detrended by conservative curve fits; CSS67%, CSS30, CSS60 and CSS90 represent the chronologies detrended by cubic smoothing splines at 67% of the series length, fixed 30 years, 60 years and 90 years, respectively; ORW, the original tree-ring-width chronology.

Table 2 Correlation matrix of tree-ring chronologies developed from different detrending methods for the well replicated period A.D. 1848-2008

	ORW	CCF	CSS67%	CSS30	CSS60
CCF	0.627*	―
CSS67%	0.661*	0.92*	―
CSS30	0.571*	0.766*	0.815*	―
CSS60	0.613*	0.915*	0.965*	0.911*	―
CSS90	0.65*	0.941*	0.991*	0.807*	0.968*

Fig. 4 Correlation analysis between chronologies derived from different detrending methods and monthly climate data at Dujiang- yan Meteorological Station. A, Correlation analysis between the chronologies and mean air temperature (black bar), maximum air temperature (grey bar) and minimum air temperature (white bar). B, Correlation analysis between the chronologies and precipitation (black bar) and relative humidity (white bar). The horizontal dashed lines indicate statistically significant correlations at the p < 0.05 level. Numbers below x-axis refer to the corresponding months from prior August (-8) to current September (9) in the correlation analysis. CCF, the chronology detrended by conservative curve fits; CSS67%, CSS30, CSS60 and CSS90 represent the chronologies detrended by cubic smoothing splines at 67% of the series length, fixed 30 years, 60 years and 90 years, respectively; ORW, the original tree-ring-width chronology.

Fig. 5 Correlation analysis between chronologies derived from different detrending methods and monthly climate data from CRU grids. A, Correlation analysis between the chronologies and mean air temperature (black bar), maximum air temperature (grey bar) and minimum air temperature (white bar). B, Correlation analysis between the chronologies and precipitation (black bar) and frequency of frost (white bar). The horizontal dashed lines indicate statistically significant correlations at the p < 0.05 level. Numbers below x-axis refer to the corresponding months from prior August (-8) to current September (9) in the correlation analysis. CCF, the chronology detrended by conservative curve fits; CSS67%, CSS30, CSS60 and CSS90 represent the chronologies detrended by cubic smoothing splines at 67% of the series length, fixed 30 years, 60 years and 90 years, respectively; ORW, the original tree-ring-width chronology.

Fig. 6 Scatter plots of annual air temperature and precipitation data of Dujiangyan Meteorological Station and the CRU grids. A, Mean air temperature. B, Maximum air temperature. C, Minimum air temperature. D, Precipitation.

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