Recent Tree-growth Responses to Warming Vary by Geographic Region and Ecosystem Type within the Boreal Forest-tundra Transition Zone in Alaska

Abstract:

A critical concern for boreal ecosystems centers on broad-scale responses to warming; i.e., where warming will lead to declining growth and mortality, or enhanced growth and greater productivity. However, few studies have synthesized tree growth along biogeographic gradients in an attempt to address this issue. We sought to develop a broader understanding of how trees have responded to recent warming for a dominant conifer species from the southern boreal to the western forest margin, an area expected to show signs of an early-stage boreal biome shift.  A new 30-site network of ring-width chronologies (1216 trees >4cm dbh) were evaluated for growth differences in Picea glauca across low-elevation, closed forests, open woodlands, and altitudinal treeline from southern interior boreal forest to the western forest-tundra margin. Regional temperature records were used to evaluate 1) whether tree growth near western treeline, which experiences cooler summers but warmer winters than in the interior, showed greater sensitivity to temperature than interior sites, 2) if the temperature-growth response varied through time, across ecosystem types, and by tree age, and 3) if there was a temperature-growth threshold. Positive growth trends since the 1980s in many open stands were consistent with the predicted expansion of western and altitudinal treeline. However, years with temperatures >13^oC corresponded with a growth plateau or decline at all but the altitudinal treeline sites regardless of geographic location. Closed-canopy stands showed growth declines, high spruce beetle activity, and less resiliency to further warming. Warming leads to markedly different responses according to ecosystem type and biogeographical setting at the boreal forest-tundra margin. Low-elevation forests are less resilient to further warming where temperatures have already reached threshold levels and further spruce beetle outbreaks occur, even at the western margin of boreal forest.