Forests 2018, 9(2), 86; https://doi.org/10.3390/f9020086
Relationships between Wood Formation and Cambium Phenology on the Tibetan Plateau during 1960–2014
Minhui He 1,2,*
, Bao Yang 1, Vladimir Shishov 3,4
, Sergio Rossi 5,6, Achim Bräuning 2, Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist 7,8 and Jussi Grießinger 2
, Sergio Rossi 5,6, Achim Bräuning 2, Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist 7,8 and Jussi Grießinger 21
Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
2
Institute of Geography, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
3
Mathematical Methods and Information Technology Department, Siberian Federal University, L. Prushinskoi Street, 2, Krasnoyarsk 660075, Russia
4
LE STUDIUM Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies, 1 rue Dupanloup, 45000 Orléans, France
5
Département des Sciences Fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, QC G7H 2B1, Canada
6
Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510000, China
7
Department of History, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
8
Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 29 January 2018 / Revised: 8 February 2018 / Accepted: 9 February 2018 / Published: 13 February 2018
(This article belongs to the Section Forest Ecology and Management)
Abstract
The variability of tree stem phenology plays a critical role in determining the productivity of forest ecosystems. Therefore, we aim to identify the relationships between the timings of cambium phenology, and forest growth in terms of tree-ring width over a long-term scale. A meta-analysis was performed that combined the timings of xylem formation, which were calculated by a tree-ring formation model of the VS (Vaganov-Shashkin)-oscilloscope during the period 1960–2014, and a tree-ring width series at 20 composite sites on the Tibetan Plateau. Both the start and length of the growing season significantly affected the formation of wood at 70% of the 20 composite sites within the study region. A wider tree ring probably resulted from an earlier start and a longer duration of the growing season. The influence of ending dates on tree-ring width was less evident, and more site-dependent. Weak relationships were identified between the start and end of the growing season at 85% of the composite sites. Compared to the monitoring results, which could only detect the relationships between cambium phenology and xylem cell production from a limited number of trees and years, our long-term relationships deepened such connections, and therefore should be used to improve mechanism models for the accurate evaluating and predicting of wood production and carbon sequestration in forest ecosystems under current and future climate change. View Full-TextKeywords:
xylogenesis; growing season; growth; dendroclimatology; conifers; forest ecosystems; tree-ring
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MDPI and ACS Style
He, M.; Yang, B.; Shishov, V.; Rossi, S.; Bräuning, A.; Ljungqvist, F.C.; Grießinger, J. Relationships between Wood Formation and Cambium Phenology on the Tibetan Plateau during 1960–2014. Forests 2018, 9, 86.
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