[Growth decline characteristics of Picea schrenkiana at different altitudes in Yili River Basin, western Tian-shan Mountains, Xinjiang, China]. / 新疆天山西部伊犁河流域不同海拔雪岭云杉生长衰退特征.

Picea schrenkiana is the dominant tree species in Ili River Basin located in the western Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang. We investigated the growth decline characteristics of P. schrenkiana at different altitudes (1800, 2300 and 2800 m) based on tree-ring index (TRI) and percentage growth change (GC), aiming to understand the growth response of P. schrenkiana to drought events at different altitudes and the impacts of altitude on tree growth decline in this region. The results showed that P. schrenkiana experienced multiple decline events at low-altitude (1800 m). TRI and GC identified inconsistent occurrence time of the decline events. The variations of TRI indicated that P. schrenkiana at low-altitude experienced two large-scale declines during 1927-1933 and 2017-2014, respectively. The variations of GC identified four decline events, including 1891-1893, 1924-1926, 1973-1975, and 2004-2009. The radial growth of P. schrenkiana across altitudes from low to high was significantly affected by the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI) of the previous growing season. The impact of current PDSI on P. schrenkiana during the growing season initially enhanced but later decreased with increasing altitude. In the extreme drought year 1917, the magnitude of growth decline increased with altitude. At low-altitude (1800 m), the TRI was 0.65, which was 35% lower than the normal level. At mid-altitude (2300 m) and high-altitude (2800 m), it was 0.56 and 0.54, respectively, being 40% lower than the average level. The drought event in 1917 had a 2-year legacy effect on the growth of P. schrenkiana at all the altitudes, with the TRI in 1920 recovered to exceeding 0.9, being close to the normal level. The impact of altitude on drought-induced forest decline was significant. Tree growth in low-altitude areas was more vulnerable to drought events due to the relatively poorer water and temperature conditions at low-altitude, which could lead to multiple large-scale decline events. In mid- and high-altitude areas, where hydrothermal conditions were more favorable, trees could experience even more severe decline during extreme droughts.

[Response of radial growth of Pinus sylvestriformis and Picea jezoensis to climate warming in the ecotone of Changbai Mountain, Northeast China]. / 长白山群落交错带长白松和鱼鳞云杉径向生长对气候变暖的响应.

Changbai Mountain is a typical distribution area of temperate coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests, with significant influence of global climate change. In order to understand the responses of forest ecosystem to climate change, we examined the responses of dominant arbor species in the community ecotone of broad-leaved Korean pine forest and spruce-fir forest (also known as dark coniferous forest), Pinus sylvestriformis and Picea jezoensis. The standard chronologies were established by obtaining tree ring width data in order to identity the key climatic factors that confine the radial growth of both species. The responses of P. sylvestriformis and P. jezoensis to climate factors were different.P. sylvestriformis was more sensitive than P. jezoensis, indicating that P. sylvestriformis was more suitable for dendroclimatological analysis. The radial growth of P. sylvestriformis was consistent with the increases of mean temperature, while the radial growth of P. jezoensis showed a "divergence problem" which decreased with the increases of mean temperature. The radial growth of P. sylvestriformis was mainly limited by temperature, especially the mean temperature in last July and August and current September. However, there was a negative correlation between standard chronologies of P. jezoensis and mean temperature in most months, which was limited by both temperature and precipitation. The correlation between radial growth of both species and climate factors after sudden temperature rise, was weaker than that before sudden temperature rise. The correlation between radial growth and climate factors changed from positive to negative in some months. Current temperature rise might not exceed the critical threshold of the radial growth of P. sylvestriformis, which could promote the radial growth. In addition, the wavelet analysis showed that the radial growth of trees in this area might be affected by large-scale coupling effects of atmospheric-ocean-land changes. In conclusion, climate warming was beneficial to the radial growth of P. sylvestriformis, while drought stress caused by warming was the main factor limiting the radial growth of P. jezoensis. If the global temperature continues to increase in the future, it will have an adverse impact on P. jezoensis. The results would help improve our understanding of the responses of radial growth of P. sylvestriformis and P. jezoensis to future climate change, and provide some basic data for climate reconstruction using both species.

Scale-dependent effects of neighborhood biodiversity on individual tree productivity in a coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest in China.

The relationship between biodiversity and productivity has stimulated an increasing body of research over the past decades, and this topic still occupies a central place in ecology. While most studies have focused on biomass production in quadrats or plots, few have investigated the scale-dependent relationship from an individual plant perspective. We present an analysis of the effects of biodiversity (species diversity and functional diversity) on individual tree growth with a data set of 16,060 growth records from a 30-ha temperate forest plot using spatially explicit individual tree-based methods. A significant relationship between species diversity and tree growth was found at the individual tree level in our study. The magnitude and direction of biodiversity effects varies with the spatial scale. We found positive effects of species diversity on tree growth at scales exceeding 9 m. Individual tree growth rates increased when there was a greater diversity of species in the neighborhood of the focal tree, which provides evidence of a niche complementarity effect. At small scales (3-5 m), species diversity had negative effects on tree growth, suggesting that competition is more prevalent than complementarity or facilitation in these close neighborhoods. The results also revealed many confounding factors which influence tree growth, such as elevation and available sun light. We conclude that the use of individual tree-based methods may lead to a better understanding of the biodiversity-productivity relationship in forest communities.

[Sexual differences in climatic response of dioecious Populus davidiana tree].

The tree-ring width series and standardized chronologies of Populus davidiana trees in broad-leaved and Korean pine forest in Changbai Mountains were developed separately for male and female trees. Their differential radial growth and their relationship with climatic conditions were analyzed to reveal the effect of gender on radial growth and their climatic responses. It was found that there was a significant differential growth pattern before and after climate change for dioecious trees. The differential responses of the females and males to climate were also observed. The radial increment of female trees before 1980 was significantly higher than that of male trees, and the growth of female was negatively related with the monthly minimum temperature at the end of current growing season and precipitation in the previous and current growing season. The male was significantly positively related with the current growing season temperature. After 1980, the monthly temperature significantly increased, especially the monthly minimum temperature. The increment of dioecious trees decreased. The annual radial growth rate of the female was significantly lower than that of the male. Compared with the male tree, the female was more sensitive to the monthly minimum temperature. The female was significantly positively related with the spring minimum temperature and significantly negatively with the minimum temperature at the end of previous growing season. There was no significant correlation between the male and monthly minimum temperature. The monthly minimum temperature had an important impact on female P. davidiana trees in Changbai Mountains. Under the condition of stable precipitation, the increase of minimum temperature would restrain the growth of females, but lightly influenced the males' growth.

[Effect of climate change on net primary productivity of Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) at different successional stages of broad-leaved Korean pine forest].

Pinus koraiensis in broad-leaved Korean pine forests of Changbai Mountain at different successional stages (secondary poplar-birch forest, secondary coniferous and broad-leaved forest and the primitive Korean pine forest) were selected in this paper as the research objects. In this research, the annual growth of net primary productivity (NPP) (1921-2006) of P. koraiensis was obtained by combining the tree-ring chronology and relative growth formulae, the correlation between NPP of P. koraiensis and climatic factors was developed, and the annual growth of NPP of P. koraiensis at different successional stages in relation to climatic variation within different climate periods were analyzed. The results showed that, in the research period, the correlations between climatic factors and NPP of P. koraiensis at different successional stages were different. With increasing the temperature, the correlations between NPP of P. koraiensis in the secondary poplar-birch forest and the minimum temperatures of previous and current growing seasons changed from being significantly negative to being significantly positive. The positive correlation between NPP of P. koraiensis in the secondary coniferous and broad-leaved forest and the minimum temperature in current spring changed into significantly positive correlation between NPP of P. koraiensis and the temperatures in previous and current growing seasons. The climatic factors had a stronger hysteresis effect on NPP of P. koraiensis in the secondary coniferous and broad-leaved forest, but NPP of P. koraiensis in the primitive Korean pine forest had weaker correlation with temperature but stronger positive correlation with the precipitation of previous growing season. The increases of minimum and mean temperatures were obvious, but no significant variations of the maximum temperature and precipitation were observed at our site. The climatic variation facilitated the increase of the NPP of P. koraiensis in the secondary poplar-birch forest at the initial successional stage and in secondary coniferous and broad-leaved forest at the intermediate successional stage, and this effect was especially obvious for the secondary coniferous and broad-leaved forest, but very small for the primitive Korean pine forest which was at the climax phase.