Monsoon Season Moisture Deficit Limits Growth in Co-Occurring Alpine Shrub (Cassiope fastigata) and Tree (Abies spectabilis) Species in the Central Himalayas, Nepal

Abstract:

Recent evidence indicates changing climatological conditions in the Nepalese Himalayas including decreasing precipitation, a weakening Indian monsoon and rising temperatures. Trees and shrubs found at treeline are considered to be highly sensitive to climate, but the climatic effects on these ecotone species in the Himalayas are not well understood. Dendrochronological techniques applied to co-occurring shrubs and trees up-and down-slope of treeline extend our understanding of vegetation response at range margins and into tree-less environments. We developed tree-ring width and annual height increment chronologies for Abies spectabilis (Himalayan fir) and the first annual growth increment and annual production of leaves chronologies for Cassiope fastigata (Himalayan heather) at a high elevation site in central Nepal. C. fastigata chronologies showed moisture availability in late pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons of the previous year are critical to stem elongation and leaf production (AGI and previous May-August SPEI-12, r = 0.790; LEAF and previous June-September SPEI-12, r = 0.708) A. spectabilis chronologies were significantly and negatively correlated with monsoon season temperature during the current year (tree-ring width and June mean temperature, r = -0.677; height-increment and Sept maximum temperature, r = -0.605). In addition to both long-term and recent declines in moisture in the Himalayas, moisture deficit may be further exacerbated at high elevation sites via run-off and higher levels of evapotranspiration resulting in growth reductions, dieback and even death of these species. These results highlight that not all mid-latitude, high elevation treelines are limited by temperature as previously thought and that severe drought stress may initiate downslope treeline retraction. Understanding the response of co-occurring tree and shrub species to climate, now and in the future, may help to elucidate the physiological mechanisms controlling local and landscape transitions from forest to alpine shrubs and have important implications for future land surface-atmosphere interactions in the region.