Diverse climate sensitivities in Picea crassifolia and Juniperus przewalskii promote different responses to climate warming in Qilian Mountains, northwest China

ABSTRACT

The effects of climate warming are widely recognized; however, some studies have suggested that the rate of warming has slowed since the end of the twentieth century. However, the relationships between climate and the radial growth of trees during different periods of climate change have yet to be investigated fully. In the present study, tree-ring core samples were collected from Picea crassifolia and Juniperus przewalskii in the Qilian Mountains of northwest China to study the relationships between climate and radial growth. The core samples were divided into two groups: one with significant tree-growth reduction and another with insignificant reduction. Trees showing with significant growth reduction were more sensitive to climate change than trees showing insignificant growth reduction during the period of climate warming. P. crassifolia exhibited a stronger response to precipitation during May–June of the current year and from August of the previous year to June of the current year, both before and after climate warming. P. crassifolia exhibited a positive coherence with precipitation from August–September of the previous year and a negative coherence with the temperature of the current June during climate warming. After climate warming, J. przewalskii responded positively to precipitation in the current May and from the previous August to the current May. J. przewalskii also responded positively to temperature during January–February of the current year after warming. P. crassifolia responded to precipitation more strongly than J. przewalskii, whereas J. przewalskii showed a closer relationship to temperature than P. crassifolia.

KEYWORDS:

• Tree–ring
• radial growth–climate relationships
• climate sensitivity
• wavelet coherence analysis
• intraspecies
• Qilian Mountains

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the forest rangers at Longchanghe forestry stations for providing assistance in sampling and the help of Xiaomin Zeng and Guobao Xu in the fieldwork.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the [National Science Foundation of China] under Grant [No. 41801024]; [China Postdoctoral Science Foundation] under Grant [2018M640946]; [Shaanxi Province Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China] under Grant [2018BSHEDZZ30].

Notes on contributors

Yilin Ran

Yilin Ran is a graduate at School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University (China). She focused on dendroecology in the undergraduate years. At the moment, she is a prospective graduate student of Institute of International Rivers and Eco-security, Yunnan University.

Lingnan Zhang

Lingnan Zhang is a former doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University (China). In her PhD, she focused on dendroecology and xylem anatomy. At the moment, she is an associate researcher at the School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University.

Rui Wang

Rui Wang is a graduate at School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University (China). She focused on dendroecology in the undergraduate years. At the moment, she is a prospective graduate student of School of Geography Science, East China Normal University.

Shoudong Zhao

Shoudong Zhao is a former doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University (China). In his PhD, he focused on dendroecology. At the moment, he is an assistant researcher at China Academy of Meteorological Sciences.

Xiaohong Liu

Xiaohong Liu is a former doctoral researcher at Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences (China). In his PhD, he focused on tree-ring stable isotope and global change ecology. At the moment, he is a professor at the School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University.