Comparison of growth-climate relationship of Sabina przewalskii at different timberlines along a precipitation gradient in the northeast Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, China

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2017.0251

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims To test the hypothesis that water is the main limiting factor of tree growth at the arid alpine timberline, and to explore the effects of water on growth-climate relationships of Sabina przewalskii along a precipitation gradient in the northeast Qinghai-Xizang Plateau.

Methods Three sides were selected to sample the alpine timberline along a precipitation gradient in the northeast Qinghai-Xizang Plateau: Halihatu National Forest Park in Wulan County (HL, annual precipitation 217 mm), Qushigang in Dulan County (QS, 281 mm) and Hebei Forest Farm in Tongde County (HB, 470 mm). The correlation and response analysis at seasonal and extreme climate year scales were used to examine the spatial variations of the growth-climate relationship of S. przewalskii at different timberlines.

Important findings Our results do not support the hypothesis that water is the main limiting factor of tree growth at the arid alpine timberline. The effect of precipitation on the radial growth of S. przewalskii were consistent across all three sampling sites, while the effects of temperature were different across sites. At HL site (low precipitation), the winter and summer minimum temperature were the main limiting factor of S. przewalskii radial growth, and this relationship did not significantly change in different extreme climate years. At QS site (middle precipitation), the radial growth of S. przewalskii was mainly limited by the minimum temperature in spring and summer, but its effect was weaker than that at low precipitation site. At HB site (high precipitation), the spring temperature had a significant negative effect on tree growth, and the positive effect of spring precipitation on tree growth was significantly enhanced in comparison with those at low and middle precipitation sites, especially in extreme high temperature and drought years. Summer precipitation did not significantly affect tree growth at high precipitation site. Our results did not support the hypothesis that the radial growth of trees at alpine timberline in arid/humid area is mainly limited by water/temperature. However, precipitation at timberline will affect the relationship between tree growth and temperature at different seasons. With the warming and humidification of the northeastern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, the climatic limiting factors of tree growth in different timberline areas may be complicated.

http://jtp.cnki.net/bilingual/detail/html/ZWSB201801007

Key words: alpine timberline, climate limiting factors, precipitation gradient, Sabina przewalskii, Qinghai-?Xizang Plateau, tree-ring index

SONG Wen-Qi, ZHU Liang-Jun, ZHANG Xu, WANG Xiao-Chun, ZHANG Yuan-Dong. Comparison of growth-climate relationship of Sabina przewalskii at different timberlines along a precipitation gradient in the northeast Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2018, 42(1): 66-77.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2017.0251

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2018/V42/I1/66

Figures/Tables 7

Fig. 1 Location of the sampling sites, weather stations and grid weather stations. HB, Hebei Forest Farm; HL, Halihatu National Forest Park; QS, Qushigang; Prec, precipitation.

Table 1 The information of the sampling sites for tree-ring standard chronologies of Sabina przewalskii

采样点 Sampling sites	纬度 Latitude (N)	经度 Longitude (E)	海拔 Altitude (m)	坡向 Aspect	坡度 Slope (°)	年降水量 Annual precipitation (mm)	年平均气温 Annual mean air temperature (°C)
哈里哈图 Halihatu (HL)	37.05°	98.67°	3β972	西 West	25	217	-2.0
曲什岗 Qushi hillock (QS)	36.03°	98.19°	4β024	东 East	20	281	-1.8
河北林场 Hebei forest farm (HB)	34.76°	100.79°	3β791	西南 Southwest	21	470	-1.2

Fig. 2 Monthly and seasonally mean, maximum, and minimum air temperatures, and precipitation at each sampling site, 1955-2015. HB, Hebei Forest Farm; HL, Halihatu National Forest Park; QS, Qushigang. pWin, last winter; Spr, current spring; Sum, current summer; Aut, current autumn.

Fig. 3 Tree-ring index of Sabina przewalskii in timberline and sampling depth of each chronology. The left and right figures indicate the tree-ring index of young- and old-growth S. przewalskii respectively. HB, Hebei Forest Farm; HL, Halihatu National Forest Park; QS, Qushigang.

Table 2 Statistics of the standard chronologies of Sabina przewalskii

采样点 Sampling site	时间跨度 Time span	标准年表特征值 Eigenvalue of standard chronology				公共区间统计量 Common interval analysis
采样点 Sampling site	时间跨度 Time span	MS	SD	MC	AC	SNR	EPS	VF
HL (高龄) HL (Old-growth)	1β112-2β015	0.17	0.22	0.29	0.45	27.1	0.96	30.7
HL (低龄) HL (Young-growth)	1β845-2β015	0.13	0.22	0.51	0.76	19.6	0.95	56.6
QS (高龄) QS (Old-growth)	1β275-2β015	0.14	0.18	0.20	0.50	15.2	0.94	25.0
QS (低龄) QS (Young-growth)	1β825-2β015	0.23	0.29	0.26	0.52	1.70	0.63	51.7
HB (低龄) HB (Young-growth)	1β841-2β015	0.24	0.27	0.29	0.48	17.6	0.95	32.7

Fig. 4 Correlation coefficients between the radial growth of Qilian juniper and seasonal climatic data along the precipitation gradient. The red rectangles denote positive correlations. The blue rectangles denote negative correlations. The shaded background denotes significance at p < 0.05 level of Pearson correlation. HB, Hebei Forest Farm; HL, Halihatu National Forest Park; QS, Qushigang.

Fig. 5 Correlation coefficients between the radial growth of Qilian juniper and seasonal climate data in different temperature and precipitation years along the precipitation gradient. The red rectangles denote the positive value. The blue rectangles denote the negative value. The shaded background denotes significance at p < 0.05 level of Pearson correlation. GHT, year of growing-season high temperature; GLT, year of growing-season low temperature; PHT, year of pre-season high temperature; PLT, year of pre-season low temperature. GD, year of drought growing season; GW, year of wet growing season; PD, year of drought pre-season; PW, year of wet pre-season. HB, Hebei Forest Farm; HL, Halihatu National Forest Park; QS, Qushigang.

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