Using Novel Approaches in Process-Based Modeling for Interpreting Inter-Annual Variability in Tree Ring Widths, Wood Density Profiles, and Cellulose Isotopic Ratios

Abstract:

Time series annual of tree ring width, density variation, and oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions have the potential to substantially increase our knowledge of forest responses to environmental variation. However, their interpretation is not straightforward due to the simultaneous influences of a number of confounding factors, including carry-over effects from previous years, variable resource allocation with size, age, and canopy position, species-specific physiologies, and complex interactions between forcings such as temperature, soil moisture, and atmospheric CO₂. Here we attempt to tease these factors apart and so substantially improve the interpretability of tree ring archives through the construction and application of novel approaches within a process-based model of individual tree growth. The model incorporates descriptions of xylem cell division, expansion, and secondary wall thickening, apical and lateral meristem activities with internal controls from internal signals, internal carbon storage, and the dynamics of canopy photosynthesis, stomatal movements, evapotranspiration, canopy temperatures, and soil moisture. Alternative treatments of isotopic fractionation and growth controls are evaluated using measured datasets. We demonstrate how this new model approach can be used to assess the information contained in tree rings concerning the influence of increasing atmospheric CO₂ over the past century on growth and water use efficiency at a range of sites.