Impacts of climatic variation on the growth of black spruce across the forest-tundra ecotone : positive effects of warm growing seasons and heat waves are offset by late spring frosts
Climate strongly limits the physiological processes of trees near their range limits, leading to increased growth sensitivity. Northeastern North America is experiencing considerable warming, so the growth of trees near the northern treeline represents a key indicator of forest responses to climate...
Published in: | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Other/Unknown Material |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/111483 https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2020.613523 |
id |
ftunivlavalcorp:oai:corpus.ulaval.ca:20.500.11794/111483 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivlavalcorp:oai:corpus.ulaval.ca:20.500.11794/111483 2024-09-09T20:12:16+00:00 Impacts of climatic variation on the growth of black spruce across the forest-tundra ecotone : positive effects of warm growing seasons and heat waves are offset by late spring frosts Moreau, Guillaume Chagnon, Catherine Auty, David Caspersen, John Peter Achim, Alexis Amérique du Nord (Nord-Est) 2023-02-16T19:33:14Z application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/111483 https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2020.613523 eng eng Frontiers Media S.A. 2624-893X http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/111483 doi:10.3389/ffgc.2020.613523 http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 Black spruce–lichen forests Climate warming Heat wave Frost injuries Nunavik Northern Quebec and Labrador Cold wave Growth-climate relationships Épinette noire -- Croissance Épinette noire -- Facteurs climatiques Climat -- Changements Taïgas article de recherche 2023 ftunivlavalcorp https://doi.org/20.500.11794/11148310.3389/ffgc.2020.613523 2024-06-17T23:42:35Z Climate strongly limits the physiological processes of trees near their range limits, leading to increased growth sensitivity. Northeastern North America is experiencing considerable warming, so the growth of trees near the northern treeline represents a key indicator of forest responses to climate change. However, tree-ring series and corresponding climatic data are scarce across the forest-tundra ecotone when compared to southern boreal regions, resulting in fewer studies on growth-climate relationships focused on this ecotone. Using daily climatic data, we identified trends in growing season heat accumulation and the intensity of acute climatic events over the last several decades in the southern and the northern parts of the forest-tundra ecotone in northeastern North America, and investigated their influence on black spruce radial growth. We found that black spruce trees responded positively to the increase in growing season temperatures and heat wave intensity, suggesting that growth is currently limited by suboptimal temperatures. While tree growth in the southern region generally benefited from warm spring temperatures, vulnerability to late spring frosts reduced tree growth in the northern region and increased probability of abrupt growth decline. In this region, late spring frosts offset approximately half of the additional growth that would otherwise occur over the course of a warm growing season. This vulnerability of northern trees may result from local adaptations to short growing seasons, which initiate biological activities at colder temperatures in the spring. Overall, our results highlight the need to explicitly incorporate acute climatic events into modeling efforts in order to refine our understanding of the impact of climate change on forest dynamics. Other/Unknown Material Tundra Nunavik Université Laval: CorpusUL Noire ENVELOPE(140.019,140.019,-66.666,-66.666) Nunavik Frontiers in Forests and Global Change 3 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Université Laval: CorpusUL |
op_collection_id |
ftunivlavalcorp |
language |
English |
topic |
Black spruce–lichen forests Climate warming Heat wave Frost injuries Nunavik Northern Quebec and Labrador Cold wave Growth-climate relationships Épinette noire -- Croissance Épinette noire -- Facteurs climatiques Climat -- Changements Taïgas |
spellingShingle |
Black spruce–lichen forests Climate warming Heat wave Frost injuries Nunavik Northern Quebec and Labrador Cold wave Growth-climate relationships Épinette noire -- Croissance Épinette noire -- Facteurs climatiques Climat -- Changements Taïgas Moreau, Guillaume Chagnon, Catherine Auty, David Caspersen, John Peter Achim, Alexis Impacts of climatic variation on the growth of black spruce across the forest-tundra ecotone : positive effects of warm growing seasons and heat waves are offset by late spring frosts |
topic_facet |
Black spruce–lichen forests Climate warming Heat wave Frost injuries Nunavik Northern Quebec and Labrador Cold wave Growth-climate relationships Épinette noire -- Croissance Épinette noire -- Facteurs climatiques Climat -- Changements Taïgas |
description |
Climate strongly limits the physiological processes of trees near their range limits, leading to increased growth sensitivity. Northeastern North America is experiencing considerable warming, so the growth of trees near the northern treeline represents a key indicator of forest responses to climate change. However, tree-ring series and corresponding climatic data are scarce across the forest-tundra ecotone when compared to southern boreal regions, resulting in fewer studies on growth-climate relationships focused on this ecotone. Using daily climatic data, we identified trends in growing season heat accumulation and the intensity of acute climatic events over the last several decades in the southern and the northern parts of the forest-tundra ecotone in northeastern North America, and investigated their influence on black spruce radial growth. We found that black spruce trees responded positively to the increase in growing season temperatures and heat wave intensity, suggesting that growth is currently limited by suboptimal temperatures. While tree growth in the southern region generally benefited from warm spring temperatures, vulnerability to late spring frosts reduced tree growth in the northern region and increased probability of abrupt growth decline. In this region, late spring frosts offset approximately half of the additional growth that would otherwise occur over the course of a warm growing season. This vulnerability of northern trees may result from local adaptations to short growing seasons, which initiate biological activities at colder temperatures in the spring. Overall, our results highlight the need to explicitly incorporate acute climatic events into modeling efforts in order to refine our understanding of the impact of climate change on forest dynamics. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Moreau, Guillaume Chagnon, Catherine Auty, David Caspersen, John Peter Achim, Alexis |
author_facet |
Moreau, Guillaume Chagnon, Catherine Auty, David Caspersen, John Peter Achim, Alexis |
author_sort |
Moreau, Guillaume |
title |
Impacts of climatic variation on the growth of black spruce across the forest-tundra ecotone : positive effects of warm growing seasons and heat waves are offset by late spring frosts |
title_short |
Impacts of climatic variation on the growth of black spruce across the forest-tundra ecotone : positive effects of warm growing seasons and heat waves are offset by late spring frosts |
title_full |
Impacts of climatic variation on the growth of black spruce across the forest-tundra ecotone : positive effects of warm growing seasons and heat waves are offset by late spring frosts |
title_fullStr |
Impacts of climatic variation on the growth of black spruce across the forest-tundra ecotone : positive effects of warm growing seasons and heat waves are offset by late spring frosts |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impacts of climatic variation on the growth of black spruce across the forest-tundra ecotone : positive effects of warm growing seasons and heat waves are offset by late spring frosts |
title_sort |
impacts of climatic variation on the growth of black spruce across the forest-tundra ecotone : positive effects of warm growing seasons and heat waves are offset by late spring frosts |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/111483 https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2020.613523 |
op_coverage |
Amérique du Nord (Nord-Est) |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(140.019,140.019,-66.666,-66.666) |
geographic |
Noire Nunavik |
geographic_facet |
Noire Nunavik |
genre |
Tundra Nunavik |
genre_facet |
Tundra Nunavik |
op_relation |
2624-893X http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/111483 doi:10.3389/ffgc.2020.613523 |
op_rights |
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11794/11148310.3389/ffgc.2020.613523 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change |
container_volume |
3 |
_version_ |
1809946855033798656 |