An earlier start of the thermal growing season enhances tree growth in cold humid areas but not in dry areas
Gao, Shan (Chinese Academy of Sciences. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research)
Babst, Flurin (University of Arizona. School of Natural Resources and the Environment)
Camarero, Jesús Julio (Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología)
Fu, Yongshuo H.. (Beijing Normal University. College of Water Sciences)
Piao, Shilong (Chinese Academy of Sciences. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research)
Rossi, Sergio (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. Département des Sciences Fondamentales)
Shen, Miaogen (Beijing Normal University. Faculty of Geographical Science)
Wang, Tao (Chinese Academy of Sciences. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research)
Peñuelas, Josep (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Liu, Ruishun (Chinese Academy of Sciences. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research)

Date:	2022
Abstract:	Climatic warming alters the onset, duration and cessation of the vegetative season. While previous studies have shown a tight link between thermal conditions and leaf phenology, less is known about the impacts of phenological changes on tree growth. Here, we assessed the relationships between the start of the thermal growing season and tree growth across the extratropical Northern Hemisphere using 3,451 tree-ring chronologies and daily climatic data for 1948-2014. An earlier start of the thermal growing season promoted growth in regions with high ratios of precipitation to temperature but limited growth in cold-dry regions. Path analyses indicated that an earlier start of the thermal growing season enhanced growth primarily by alleviating thermal limitations on wood formation in boreal forests and by lengthening the period of growth in temperate and Mediterranean forests. Semi-arid and dry subalpine forests, however, did not benefit from an earlier onset of growth and a longer growing season, presumably due to associated water loss and/or more frequent early spring frosts. These emergent patterns of how climatic impacts on wood phenology affect tree growth at regional to hemispheric scales hint at how future phenological changes may affect the carbon sequestration capacity of extratropical forest ecosystems.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2019-110521GB-I00 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-1005
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Biogeography ; Forest ecology ; Phenology
Published in:	Nature ecology & evolution, Vol. 6 (2022) , pages 397-404, ISSN 2397-334X

DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01668-4

Postprint 34 p, 1.6 MB

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