TREE-LINE DYNAMICS
; CLIMATE-CHANGE
; TIBETAN PLATEAU
; TEMPERATURE RECONSTRUCTION
; FOREST DISTRIBUTION
; ARCTIC TREELINE
; REGIME SHIFTS
; GLOBAL CHANGE
; RING-WIDTHS
; LONG-TERM
WOS学科分类:
Forestry
WOS研究方向:
Forestry
英文摘要:
Biotic interactions between trees and other plants may modulate the responses of alpine treelines to climate. Moderate disturbances could, therefore, accelerate upward shifts of alpine treelines as the climate warms by reducing the coverage of competitor plants and resetting interspecific interactions. Larch (Larix potaninii var. macrocarpa) treelines disturbed by fire on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau are good locales for testing this hypothesis. We characterized treelines in five large rectangular plots spanning undisturbed and fire-disturbed fir (Abies georgei) and larch treelines. The fires in the 1960s caused gaps in the reconstructed age structures of the larches during the 1970s but did not lead to downslope shifts in treeline position. Recruitment has instead increased since the 1980s within the disturbed larch treelines, with treelines shifting upward by 11-44 m. In contrast, the undisturbed larch and fir treeline positions remained mostly unchanged. We hypothesize that upslope shifts of alpine treelines are likely a consequence of climatic warming, but fire disturbances can accelerate these dynamics by altering interspecific interactions.
1.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Tibetan Plateau Res, Key Lab Alpine Ecol, Beijing 100101, Peoples R China 2.Nanjing Forestry Univ, Coll Biol & Environm, Nanjing 210037, Jiangsu, Peoples R China 3.Auckland Univ Technol, Sch Sci, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142, New Zealand 4.Harvard Univ, Harvard Forest, 324 North Main St, Petersham, MA 01366 USA 5.UAB, Global Ecol Unit, CREAF, CSIC, Catalonia 08193, Spain 6.CREAF, Cerdanyola Del Valles 08193, Catalonia, Spain 7.Chinese Acad Sci, CAS Ctr Excellence Tibetan Plateau Earth Sci, Beijing 100101, Peoples R China 8.CSIC, IPE, Avda Montanana 1005, E-50080 Zaragoza, Spain
Recommended Citation:
Wang, Yafeng,Case, Bradley,Lu, Xiaoming,et al. Fire facilitates warming-induced upward shifts of alpine treelines by altering interspecific interactions[J]. TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION,2019-01-01,33(4):1051-1061