Growth response of Abies spectabilis to climate along an elevation gradient of the Manang valley in the central Himalaya
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Growth response of Abies spectabilis to climate along an elevation gradient of the Manang valley in the central Himalayas Samresh Rai1,2 • Binod Dawadi3 • Yafeng Wang4 • Xiaoming Lu1 • Huang Ru1 Shalik Ram Sigdel1
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Received: 13 January 2019 / Accepted: 7 May 2019 The Author(s) 2019
Abstract The Himalayas are characterized by a broad gradient of bioclimatic zones along their elevation. However, less is known how forest growth responds to climatic change along elevation. In this study, four standard treering width chronologies of Himalayan fir (Abies spectabilis) were developed, spanning 142–649 years along an elevation gradient of 3076–3900 m a.s.l. Principal component analysis classified the four chronologies into two groups; the ones at lower elevations (M1 and M2) and higher elevations (M3 and M4) show two distinct growth trends. Radial growth is limited by summer (June–August) precipitation at M3, and by precipitation during spring (March–May) and summer at M4. It is limited by spring temperatures and winter precipitation (December–February) at M1. Tree-ring width chronologies also significantly correlate with winter and spring Palmer Drought Severity Project funding: This study is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (41661144040), Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship Initiative (2018PC0040). The online version is available at http://www.springerlink.com Corresponding editor: Zhu Hong. & Shalik Ram Sigdel [email protected] 1
Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China
2
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100000, People’s Republic of China
3
Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
4
College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, People’s Republic of China
Index (PDSI) at M1, and with summer PDSI at M3 and M4. Thus, Himalayan fir growth at high elevations is mainly limited by moisture stress rather than by low temperatures. Furthermore, the occurrence of missing rings coincides with dry periods, providing additional evidence for moisture limitation of Himalayan fir growth. Keywords Climate signals Tree-ring width Abies spectabilis Radial growth Precipitation Manang valley Himalayas
Introduction In recent decades, climate change has significantly affected the composition, structure, and dynamics of forest ecosystems (IPCC 2014; Allen et al. 2015). These effects are more pronounced on tree physiology and population dynamics in mountainous regions (Ko¨rner 2012). However, forest growth at high altitudes is often subjected to environmental gradients associated with elevation (LaMarche 1974; Hughes and Funkhouser 2003). As showed by different dendroclimatological studies, tree growth is limited by moisture at lower elevations (Fritts et al. 1965; Leel et al. 2007), and by temperatures at higher elevations (Savva et al. 2006;
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