Recent spring warming limits near‐treeline deciduous and evergreen alpine dwarf shrub growth

• Published in: Ecosphere
• Main Authors: Weijers, Stef, Beckers, Niklas, Löffler, Jörg
• Other Authors: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2018
• Subjects: Betula nana; Empetrum nigrum; Tundra
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2328; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fecs2.2328; https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2328

Abstract Warming may lead to a cover increase of tundra shrubs and a north‐ and upward shift of treelines. The latter may be inhibited by a densification of shrub stands. However, the climatic drivers of near‐treeline shrub growth are relatively unexplored, especially that of shrub species from different functional groups growing intertwined, in competition for light and resources. We measured ring widths from two dominant dwarf shrubs species, the deciduous Betula nana and the evergreen Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum from a near‐treeline alpine ridge in the Central Norwegian Scandes, and tested the influence of on‐site and regional climate, and changes therein, over the past 55 yr. Radial growth of B. nana was found to be negatively influenced by early summer (June–July) precipitation, possibly related to low amounts of photosynthetically active radiation and nitrogen leaching, and positively by July temperatures. That of E. hermaphroditum was positively correlated with late summer (July–August) temperatures. In recent decades, the influence of summer climate on both species’ growth has declined and been replaced by a negative influence of May temperatures. Rising spring temperatures in recent decades have likely advanced key phenology events in B. nana and E. hermaphroditum , such as budburst and flowering. This may have left the shrubs’ soft tissues vulnerable to late frost events, which in recent decades occur more frequently after the advanced start of the growing season, resulting in suppressed growth.