Climate change and tree growth in the Khakass-Minusinsk Depression (South Siberia) impacted by large water reservoirs.

Regional and local climate change depends on continentality, orography, and human activities. In particular, local climate modification by water reservoirs can reach far from shore and downstream. Among the possible ecological consequences are shifts in plant performance. Tree-ring width of affected trees can potentially be used as proxies for reservoir impact. Correlation analysis and t-tests were applied to climatic data and tree-ring chronologies of Pinus sylvestris L. and Larix sibirica Ledeb. from moisture-deficit habitats in the intermontane Khakass-Minusinsk Depression, to assess modification of climate and tree growth by the Krasnoyarsk and Sayano-Shushenskoe Reservoirs on the Yenisei River. Abrupt significant cooling in May-August and warming in September-March occurred after the launch of the turbines in dams, more pronounced near the Sayano-Shushenskoe dam (up to - 0.5 °C in summer and to + 3.5 °C in winter) than near the Krasnoyarsk Reservoir headwaters (- 0.3 °C and + 1.4 °C). Significant lengthening of the warm season was also found for temperature thresholds 0-8 °C. Shifts of seasonality and intensity occurred in climatic responses of all tree-ring chronologies after development of water reservoirs. Patterns of these shifts, however, depended on species-specific sensitivity to climatic modification, distance from reservoirs, and physiographic regions. Mitigation of climate continentality and extremes by reservoirs appears to have offset possible negative effects of warming on tree growth.

Recent atmospheric drying in Siberia is not unprecedented over the last 1,500 years.

Newly developed millennial δ13C larch tree-ring chronology from Siberia allows reconstruction of summer (July) vapor pressure deficit (VPD) changes in a temperature-limited environment. VPD increased recently, but does not yet exceed the maximum values reconstructed during the Medieval Warm Anomaly. The most humid conditions in the Siberian North were recorded in the Early Medieval Period and during the Little Ice Age. Increasing VPD under elevated air temperature affects the hydrology of these sensitive ecosystems by greater evapotranspiration rates. Further VPD increases will significantly affect Siberian forests most likely leading to drought and forest mortality even under additional access of thawed permafrost water. Adaptation strategies are needed for Siberian forest ecosystems to protect them in a warming world.

[Extreme Climatic Events in the Altai Republic According to Dendrochronological Data].

The results of dating of extreme climatic events by damage to the anatomical structure and missing tree rings of the Siberian larch in the upper forest boundary of the Altai Republic are given. An analysis of the spatial distribution of the revealed dates over seven plots (Kokcy, Chind, Ak-ha, Jelo, Tute, Tara, and Sukor) allowed us to distinguish the extreme events on interregional (1700, 1783, 1788, 1812, 1814, 1884), regional (1724, 1775, 1784, 1835, 1840, 1847, 1850, 1852, 1854, 1869, 1871, 1910, 1917, 1927, 1938, 1958, 1961), and local (1702, 1736, 1751, 1785, 1842, 1843,1874, 1885, 1886, 1919, 2007, and 2009) scales. It was shown that the events of an interregional scale correspond with the dates of major volcanic eruptions (Grimsvotn, Lakagigar, Etna, Awu, Tambora, Soufriere St. Vinsent, Mayon, and Krakatau volcanos) and extreme climatic events, crop failures, lean years, etc., registered in historical sources.

[Energy and mass transfer and the productivity of the main ecosystems of Siberia (according to the results of measurements by the method of turbulent pulsations). 2. Carbon exchange and productivity].

Using direct measurements of CO2 fluxes by the method of turbulent pulsations, it was shown that the studied middle-taiga pine forest, raised bog, true steppe, and southern tundra along the Yenisei meridian (approximately 90 degrees E) are stocks of carbon of different capacity in the annual output. The tundra starts to function as a stock of carbon from June; the forest and bog, from May; and the steppe, from the end of April. In the transitional seasons and winter, the ecosystems are a weak source of carbon: the tundra already in September; the forest and bog, from October; and the steppe, from November. The photosynthetic productivity of the forest and steppe ecosys- tems (480-530 g C/(m x year) exceeds 2-2.5 times the productivity ofbogs and tundras (200-220 g C/(m x year). The relationships between the thermal balance structure and CO2 exchange are shown. Possible feedbacks between the carbon exchange between the ecosystems and the atmosphere as a result of climate warming in the region are assessed.

[Energy and mass exchange and the productivity of the main ecosystems of Siberia (from eddy covariance measurements). 1. Heat balance structure in the vegetation season].

Direct measurements of heat balance (turbulent heat transfer and evaporation heat consumption) by the method of turbulent pulsations in 1998-2000 and 2002-2004 were used to obtain information on the daily, seasonal, and annual dynamics of energy fluxes and mass transfer between the atmosphere and the typical ecosystems of Siberia (middle-taiga pine forest and raised bog, true four-grass steppe, with the use of data for typical tundra) along the Yenisei meridian (90 degrees E).

[A source of high frequency variations in the tracheid size in annual tree rings of conifers]. / Istochnik vysokochastotnykh kolebanii razmerov trakheid v godichnykh kol'tsakh khvoinykh.

Statistical analysis of high-frequency variations in the radial dimensions of tracheids was carried out using precise measurements of five radial rows in each annual tree ring for several coniferous species: Larix gmelinii, L. leptolepis, L. sibirica, Picea abies, Pinus sylvestris, P. rigida, and P. densiflora. More than 25 tree rings with a varying number of cells and width were measured for each species. High-frequency variations in radial dimensions were found to have a regular (cyclic) characteristic and accumulated 5 to 11% of the total variability. The cyclic pattern was identified using Fourier analysis of time-related or successive series statistical procedure. The first order autocorrelations (-0.45 to -0.74) and the mean cycle of high-frequency variations (2.1-2.5) did not depend on the number of cells in the annual ring, i.e., they are determined by internal causes. The cyclic pattern of high-frequency variation in tracheid dimensions is used to interpret the seasonal mechanism of xylem formation. Specifically, (1) high-frequency variations in the tracheid radial size take place during the last asymmetrical division of the xylem mother cell before transition to the elongation zone, (2) the final tracheid radial size is mostly determined within the zone of division due to the last asymmetrical division, and (3) acceleration of cell cycle from the initial to the periphery of the cambial zone. The results obtained are also discussed with respect to the mechanisms of xylem differentiation.