Shifts in Climate–Growth Relationships of Sky Island Pines
1
USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, 5985 Highway K, Rhinelander, WI 54501, USA
2
W.J. Beal Botanical Garden, Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Forests 2019, 10(11), 1011; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10111011
Received: 27 September 2019 / Revised: 29 October 2019 / Accepted: 30 October 2019 / Published: 12 November 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Climate Change on Tree Physiology and Responses of Forest Ecosystems)
Rising temperatures and changes in precipitation may affect plant responses, and mountainous regions in particular are sensitive to the impacts of climate change. The Santa Catalina Mountains, near Tucson, Arizona, USA, are among the best known Madrean Sky Islands, which are defined by pine-oak forests. We compared the sensitivity and temporal stability of climate–growth relationships to quantify the growth responses of sympatric taxa of ponderosa pine to changing climate. Three taxa (three-needle, mixed-needle, and five-needle types) collected from southern slopes of two contact zones (Mt. Lemmon, Mt. Bigelow) were evaluated. Positive climate–growth correlations in these semiarid high-elevation pine forests indicated a seasonal shift from summer- to spring-dominant precipitation since 1950, which is a critical time for reproduction. Mixed- and five-needle types responded to winter precipitation, and growth was reduced for the five-needle type when spring conditions were dry. Growth trends in response to temperature and specific to site were observed, which indicated the climate signal can be weakened when data are combined into a single chronology. Significant fluctuations in temperature–growth correlations since 1950 occurred for all needle types. These results demonstrated a dramatic shift in sensitivity of annual tree growth to the seasonality of the limiting factor, and a climatic trend that increases local moisture stress may impact the stability of climate–growth relationships. Moreover, output from temperature–growth analyses based on ring-width data (for example from semiarid sites) that does not account for positive and negative growth trends may be adversely affected, potentially impacting climate reconstructions.
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Keywords:
dendrochronology; ecology; moving window analysis; Pinaceae; Pinus arizonica Engelm.; Pinus ponderosa var. brachyptera (Engelm.); Ponderosae; response function; tree rings
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MDPI and ACS Style
Marquardt, P.E.; Miranda, B.R.; Telewski, F.W. Shifts in Climate–Growth Relationships of Sky Island Pines. Forests 2019, 10, 1011. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10111011
AMA Style
Marquardt PE, Miranda BR, Telewski FW. Shifts in Climate–Growth Relationships of Sky Island Pines. Forests. 2019; 10(11):1011. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10111011
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarquardt, Paula E.; Miranda, Brian R.; Telewski, Frank W. 2019. "Shifts in Climate–Growth Relationships of Sky Island Pines" Forests 10, no. 11: 1011. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10111011
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