Energy and water limitations of tree growth remain insufficiently understood at large spatiotemporal scales, hindering model representation of interannual or longer-term ecosystem processes. By assessing and statistically scaling the climatic drivers from 2710 tree-ring sites, we identified the boreal and temperate land areas where tree growth during 1930-1960 CE responded positively to temperature (20.8 +/- 3.7 Mio km(2); 25.9 +/- 4.6%), precipitation (77.5 +/- 3.3 Mio km(2); 96.4 +/- 4.1%), and other parameters. The spatial manifestation of this climate response is determined by latitudinal and altitudinal temperature gradients, indicating that warming leads to geographic shifts in growth limitations. We observed a significant (P < 0.001) decrease in temperature response at cold-dry sites between 1930-1960 and 1960-1990 CE, and the total temperature-limited area shrunk by -8.7 +/- 0.6 Mio km(2). Simultaneously, trees became more limited by atmospheric water demand almost worldwide. These changes occurred under mild warming, and we expect that continued climate change will trigger a major redistribution in growth responses to climate.
1.Swiss Fed Res Inst WSL, Dendro Sci Grp, Zurcherstr 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland 2.Polish Acad Sci, W Szafer Inst Bot, Dept Ecol, Ul Lubicz 46, PL-31512 Krakow, Poland 3.Univ Arizona, Lab Tree Ring Res, 1215 E Lowell St, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA 4.Stefan cel Mare Univ Suceava, Str Univ 13, Suceava 720229, Romania 5.NASA, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA 6.Nat Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Serv, Laurentian Forestry Ctr, Quebec City, PQ G1V4C7, Canada 7.Univ Quebec Montreal, Ctr Etud Foret, CP 8888, Montreal, PQ H3C 3P8, Canada
Recommended Citation:
Babst, Flurin,Bouriaud, Olivier,Poulter, Benjamin,et al. Twentieth century redistribution in climatic drivers of global tree growth[J]. SCIENCE ADVANCES,2019-01-01,5(1)