Annual increments of juniper dwarf shrubs above the tree line on the central Tibetan Plateau: a useful climatic proxy
Background and Aims Dendroclimatology is playing an important role in understanding past climatic changes on the Tibetan Plateau. Forests, however, are mainly confined to the eastern Tibetan Plateau. On the central Tibetan Plateau, in contrast, shrubs and dwarf shrubs need to be studied instead of t...
Published in: | Annals of Botany |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Oxford University Press
2012
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/109/4/721 https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcr315 |
id |
fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:annbot:109/4/721 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:annbot:109/4/721 2023-05-15T15:14:52+02:00 Annual increments of juniper dwarf shrubs above the tree line on the central Tibetan Plateau: a useful climatic proxy Liang, Eryuan Lu, Xiaoming Ren, Ping Li, Xiaoxia Zhu, Liping Eckstein, Dieter 2012-03-01 00:00:00.0 text/html http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/109/4/721 https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcr315 en eng Oxford University Press http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/109/4/721 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcr315 Copyright (C) 2012, Oxford University Press ORIGINAL ARTICLES TEXT 2012 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcr315 2016-11-16T18:39:16Z Background and Aims Dendroclimatology is playing an important role in understanding past climatic changes on the Tibetan Plateau. Forests, however, are mainly confined to the eastern Tibetan Plateau. On the central Tibetan Plateau, in contrast, shrubs and dwarf shrubs need to be studied instead of trees as a source of climate information. The objectives of this study were to check the dendrochronological potential of the dwarf shrub Wilson juniper ( Juniperus pingii var. wilsonii ) growing from 4740 to 4780 m a.s.l. and to identify the climatic factors controlling its radial growth. Methods Forty-three discs from 33 stems of Wilson juniper were sampled near the north-eastern shore of the Nam Co (Heavenly Lake). Cross-dating was performed along two directions of each stem, avoiding the compression-wood side as far as possible. A ring-width chronology was developed after a negative exponential function or a straight line of any slope had been fit to the raw measurements. Then, correlations were calculated between the standard ring-width chronology and monthly climate data recorded by a weather station around 100 km away. Key Results Our study has shown high dendrochronological potential of Wilson juniper, based on its longevity (one individual was 324 years old), well-defined growth rings, reliable cross-dating between individuals and distinct climatic signals reflected by the ring-width variability. Unlike dwarf shrubs in the circum-arctic tundra ecosystem which positively responded to above-average temperature in the growing season, moisture turned out to be growth limiting for Wilson juniper, particularly the loss of moisture caused by high maximum temperatures in May–June. Conclusions Because of the wide distribution of shrub and dwarf shrub species on the central Tibetan Plateau, an exciting prospect was opened up to extend the presently existing tree-ring networks far up into one of the largest tundra regions of the world. Text Arctic Tundra HighWire Press (Stanford University) Arctic Annals of Botany 109 4 721 728 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
op_collection_id |
fthighwire |
language |
English |
topic |
ORIGINAL ARTICLES |
spellingShingle |
ORIGINAL ARTICLES Liang, Eryuan Lu, Xiaoming Ren, Ping Li, Xiaoxia Zhu, Liping Eckstein, Dieter Annual increments of juniper dwarf shrubs above the tree line on the central Tibetan Plateau: a useful climatic proxy |
topic_facet |
ORIGINAL ARTICLES |
description |
Background and Aims Dendroclimatology is playing an important role in understanding past climatic changes on the Tibetan Plateau. Forests, however, are mainly confined to the eastern Tibetan Plateau. On the central Tibetan Plateau, in contrast, shrubs and dwarf shrubs need to be studied instead of trees as a source of climate information. The objectives of this study were to check the dendrochronological potential of the dwarf shrub Wilson juniper ( Juniperus pingii var. wilsonii ) growing from 4740 to 4780 m a.s.l. and to identify the climatic factors controlling its radial growth. Methods Forty-three discs from 33 stems of Wilson juniper were sampled near the north-eastern shore of the Nam Co (Heavenly Lake). Cross-dating was performed along two directions of each stem, avoiding the compression-wood side as far as possible. A ring-width chronology was developed after a negative exponential function or a straight line of any slope had been fit to the raw measurements. Then, correlations were calculated between the standard ring-width chronology and monthly climate data recorded by a weather station around 100 km away. Key Results Our study has shown high dendrochronological potential of Wilson juniper, based on its longevity (one individual was 324 years old), well-defined growth rings, reliable cross-dating between individuals and distinct climatic signals reflected by the ring-width variability. Unlike dwarf shrubs in the circum-arctic tundra ecosystem which positively responded to above-average temperature in the growing season, moisture turned out to be growth limiting for Wilson juniper, particularly the loss of moisture caused by high maximum temperatures in May–June. Conclusions Because of the wide distribution of shrub and dwarf shrub species on the central Tibetan Plateau, an exciting prospect was opened up to extend the presently existing tree-ring networks far up into one of the largest tundra regions of the world. |
format |
Text |
author |
Liang, Eryuan Lu, Xiaoming Ren, Ping Li, Xiaoxia Zhu, Liping Eckstein, Dieter |
author_facet |
Liang, Eryuan Lu, Xiaoming Ren, Ping Li, Xiaoxia Zhu, Liping Eckstein, Dieter |
author_sort |
Liang, Eryuan |
title |
Annual increments of juniper dwarf shrubs above the tree line on the central Tibetan Plateau: a useful climatic proxy |
title_short |
Annual increments of juniper dwarf shrubs above the tree line on the central Tibetan Plateau: a useful climatic proxy |
title_full |
Annual increments of juniper dwarf shrubs above the tree line on the central Tibetan Plateau: a useful climatic proxy |
title_fullStr |
Annual increments of juniper dwarf shrubs above the tree line on the central Tibetan Plateau: a useful climatic proxy |
title_full_unstemmed |
Annual increments of juniper dwarf shrubs above the tree line on the central Tibetan Plateau: a useful climatic proxy |
title_sort |
annual increments of juniper dwarf shrubs above the tree line on the central tibetan plateau: a useful climatic proxy |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/109/4/721 https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcr315 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Tundra |
op_relation |
http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/109/4/721 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcr315 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2012, Oxford University Press |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcr315 |
container_title |
Annals of Botany |
container_volume |
109 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
721 |
op_container_end_page |
728 |
_version_ |
1766345272233820160 |