Tree rings reveal a major episode of forest mortality in the late 18th century on the Tibetan Plateau
There is a growing research interest on studying forest mortality in relation to ongoing climate warming, but little is known about such events in past history. The study of past forest mortality provides valuable information for determining baselines that establish the normal parameters of function...
Published in: | Global and Planetary Change |
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | http://ir.ibcas.ac.cn/handle/2S10CLM1/20522 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.02.004 |
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ftchiacadscibcas:oai:ir.ibcas.ac.cn:2S10CLM1/20522 2023-05-15T17:31:09+02:00 Tree rings reveal a major episode of forest mortality in the late 18th century on the Tibetan Plateau Fang, Ouya Alfaro, Rene I. Zhang, Qi-Bin 2018 http://ir.ibcas.ac.cn/handle/2S10CLM1/20522 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.02.004 英语 eng ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV GLOBAL AND PLANETARY CHANGE http://ir.ibcas.ac.cn/handle/2S10CLM1/20522 doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.02.004 cn.org.cspace.api.content.CopyrightPolicy@1a459cfb Dendroecology Tree rings Growth release Growth decline Drought Dust storm Geography Physical Geosciences Multidisciplinary NORTH-ATLANTIC OSCILLATION CLIMATE-CHANGE RADIAL-GROWTH BRITISH-COLUMBIA EL-NINO DUST VARIABILITY MONSOON HEALTH Article 期刊论文 2018 ftchiacadscibcas https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.02.004 2022-06-12T18:14:04Z There is a growing research interest on studying forest mortality in relation to ongoing climate warming, but little is known about such events in past history. The study of past forest mortality provides valuable information for determining baselines that establish the normal parameters of functioning in forest ecosystems. Here we report a major episode of previously undocumented forest mortality in the late 18th century on the northern Tibetan Plateau, China. The event was not spatially uniform, in which a more severe mortality happened in dryer sites. We used dendrochronology to compare radial growth trajectories of individual trees from 11 sites in the region, and found that many trees showed positive growth trend, or growth release, during 1796-1800 CE. Growth releases are a proxy indicator of stand thinning caused by tree mortality. The growth release was preceded by an almost two-decade long growth reduction. Long-term drought related to weakened North Atlantic Oscillation and frequent El Nino events are the likely factors causing the tree mortality in a large area of the plateau. Our findings suggest that, besides the effect of drought in the late 18th century, large-scale forest mortality may be an additional factor that further deteriorated the environment and increased the intensity of dust storms. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Institute of Botany: IBCAS OpenIR (Chinese Academy Of Sciences) Global and Planetary Change 163 44 50 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Institute of Botany: IBCAS OpenIR (Chinese Academy Of Sciences) |
op_collection_id |
ftchiacadscibcas |
language |
English |
topic |
Dendroecology Tree rings Growth release Growth decline Drought Dust storm Geography Physical Geosciences Multidisciplinary NORTH-ATLANTIC OSCILLATION CLIMATE-CHANGE RADIAL-GROWTH BRITISH-COLUMBIA EL-NINO DUST VARIABILITY MONSOON HEALTH |
spellingShingle |
Dendroecology Tree rings Growth release Growth decline Drought Dust storm Geography Physical Geosciences Multidisciplinary NORTH-ATLANTIC OSCILLATION CLIMATE-CHANGE RADIAL-GROWTH BRITISH-COLUMBIA EL-NINO DUST VARIABILITY MONSOON HEALTH Fang, Ouya Alfaro, Rene I. Zhang, Qi-Bin Tree rings reveal a major episode of forest mortality in the late 18th century on the Tibetan Plateau |
topic_facet |
Dendroecology Tree rings Growth release Growth decline Drought Dust storm Geography Physical Geosciences Multidisciplinary NORTH-ATLANTIC OSCILLATION CLIMATE-CHANGE RADIAL-GROWTH BRITISH-COLUMBIA EL-NINO DUST VARIABILITY MONSOON HEALTH |
description |
There is a growing research interest on studying forest mortality in relation to ongoing climate warming, but little is known about such events in past history. The study of past forest mortality provides valuable information for determining baselines that establish the normal parameters of functioning in forest ecosystems. Here we report a major episode of previously undocumented forest mortality in the late 18th century on the northern Tibetan Plateau, China. The event was not spatially uniform, in which a more severe mortality happened in dryer sites. We used dendrochronology to compare radial growth trajectories of individual trees from 11 sites in the region, and found that many trees showed positive growth trend, or growth release, during 1796-1800 CE. Growth releases are a proxy indicator of stand thinning caused by tree mortality. The growth release was preceded by an almost two-decade long growth reduction. Long-term drought related to weakened North Atlantic Oscillation and frequent El Nino events are the likely factors causing the tree mortality in a large area of the plateau. Our findings suggest that, besides the effect of drought in the late 18th century, large-scale forest mortality may be an additional factor that further deteriorated the environment and increased the intensity of dust storms. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fang, Ouya Alfaro, Rene I. Zhang, Qi-Bin |
author_facet |
Fang, Ouya Alfaro, Rene I. Zhang, Qi-Bin |
author_sort |
Fang, Ouya |
title |
Tree rings reveal a major episode of forest mortality in the late 18th century on the Tibetan Plateau |
title_short |
Tree rings reveal a major episode of forest mortality in the late 18th century on the Tibetan Plateau |
title_full |
Tree rings reveal a major episode of forest mortality in the late 18th century on the Tibetan Plateau |
title_fullStr |
Tree rings reveal a major episode of forest mortality in the late 18th century on the Tibetan Plateau |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tree rings reveal a major episode of forest mortality in the late 18th century on the Tibetan Plateau |
title_sort |
tree rings reveal a major episode of forest mortality in the late 18th century on the tibetan plateau |
publisher |
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://ir.ibcas.ac.cn/handle/2S10CLM1/20522 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.02.004 |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_relation |
GLOBAL AND PLANETARY CHANGE http://ir.ibcas.ac.cn/handle/2S10CLM1/20522 doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.02.004 |
op_rights |
cn.org.cspace.api.content.CopyrightPolicy@1a459cfb |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.02.004 |
container_title |
Global and Planetary Change |
container_volume |
163 |
container_start_page |
44 |
op_container_end_page |
50 |
_version_ |
1766128485389041664 |