Species- and Age-Specific Growth Reactions to Extreme Droughts of the Keystone Tree Species across Forest-Steppe and Sub-Taiga Habitats of South Siberia

• Published in: Forests
• Main Authors: Belokopytova, Liliana V., Zhirnova, Dina F., Krutovsky, Konstantin V., Mapitov, Nariman B., Vaganov, Eugene A., Babushkina, Elena A.
• Other Authors: Belokopytova, Liliana V.; 1Khakass Technical Institute, Siberian Federal University, 655017 Abakan, Russia; [e-mail] (D.F.Z.); [e-mail] (E.A.B.), Zhirnova, Dina F.; 1Khakass Technical Institute, Siberian Federal University, 655017 Abakan, Russia; [e-mail] (D.F.Z.); [e-mail] (E.A.B.), Krutovsky, Konstantin V.; 2Department of Forest Genetics and Forest Tree Breeding, Georg-August University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; [e-mail], Mapitov, Nariman B.; 7Department of Biology and Ecology, Toraighyrov University, Pavlodar 140008, Kazakhstan; [e-mail], Vaganov, Eugene A.; 8Institute of Ecology and Geography, Siberian Federal University, 660036 Krasnoyarsk, Russia; [e-mail], Babushkina, Elena A.; 1Khakass Technical Institute, Siberian Federal University, 655017 Abakan, Russia; [e-mail] (D.F.Z.); [e-mail] (E.A.B.)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: taiga; Siberia
• Online Access: https://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gro-2/112422; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13071027

Over the coming decades, climate change can decrease forest productivity and stability in many semiarid regions. Tree-ring width (TRW) analysis allows estimation of tree sensitivity to droughts, including resistance (Rt) and resilience (Rc) indexes. It helps to find adaptive potential of individual trees and forest populations. On a forest stand scale, it is affected by habitat conditions and species’ ecophysiological characteristics, and on individual scale by tree genotype, age, and size. This study investigated TRW response to droughts in forest-steppe and sub-taiga of southern Siberia for keystone species Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.), and silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.). Chronologies reacted positively to the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) of the previous July–September and current April–July. Depressed tree growth across region and droughts lasting over both intra-seasonal intervals were registered in 1965, 1974, and 1999. TRW-based Rt and Rc for these droughts did not reveal age- or size-related patterns. Higher growth stability indexes were observed for birch in sub-taiga and for conifers in forest-steppe. Larch at all sites had disadvantage against pine for 1965 and 1999 droughts aggravated by pest outbreaks, but adapted better to drought in 1974. Site aridity affected both tree growth stability and intensity of climatic response. Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education Russian Science Foundation