Elisabeth Düthorn, Lea Schneider, Oliver Konter, Philipp Schön, Mauri Timonen, Jan Esper. (2015). On the hidden significance of differing micro-sites on tree-ring based climate reconstructions. Silva Fennica vol. 49 no. 1 article id 1220. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.1220

Keywords: Pinus sylvestris; climate change; Picea abies; Finland; temperature reconstruction; RCS detrending

Highlights: Pines and spruces show growth level differences in wet and dry micro-sites with higher growth rates in the dry sites; Spruces show a robust climate-growth relationship with June-July temperatures; Application of collective detrending methods can bias long-term trends in climate reconstructions, if relict and recent samples originate from different micro-sites.

Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Tree-ring chronologies are commonly extended back in time by combining samples from living trees with relict material preserved in man-made structures or natural archives (e.g. lakes). Although spatially close, these natural archives and living-tree-sites often comprise different micro-climates. Inhomogeneous growth conditions among these habitats, which may yield offsets in growth-rates, require caution in data processing. Here we assess species-specific growth dynamics in two micro-habitats and their potential effects on long chronologies by combining tree-ring data from different living-tree-sites with an “artificial” subfossil dataset. Well replicated (n > 80) Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) chronologies from northern Fennoscandia, sampled directly at the lakeshore (wet) and several meters beyond the lakeshore (dry) reveal high coherence of the variance between micro-sites (r_spruce = 0.59, r_pine = 0.68). Significant differences of the Regional Curves (RC) indicate faster growth of both species at the drier site though. Growth differences are more pronounced between the spruce micro-sites. The combination of recent dry and wet spruce data with artificial relict data results in two long chronologies covering the last 800 years with substantially different trends, although they consist of the same relict material and the micro-site chronologies correlate significantly over the past two centuries. The combination of spruce samples from dry inland micro-sites with subfossil samples originating from the wet lake shore can result in an underestimation of past temperatures prior to the 19th century. Such effects, hidden in the composition of long chronologies (living trees + subfossil samples) can bias long-term trends in climate reconstructions.

Düthorn, Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Becherweg 21, 55099 Mainz, Germany E-mail: duethorn@uni-mainz.de
Schneider, Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Becherweg 21, 55099 Mainz, Germany E-mail: l.schneider@geo.uni-mainz.de
Konter, Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Becherweg 21, 55099 Mainz, Germany E-mail: O.Konter@geo.uni-mainz.de
Schön, Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Becherweg 21, 55099 Mainz, Germany E-mail: philipp.schoen@gmx.de
Timonen, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Natural resources and bioproduction, FI-96301 Rovaniemi, Finland E-mail: mauri.timonen@metla.fi
Esper, Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Becherweg 21, 55099 Mainz, Germany E-mail: J.Esper@geo.uni-mainz.de

article id 436, category Research article

Martti Varmola, Hannu Salminen, Mauri Timonen. (2004). Thinning response and growth trends of seeded Scots pine stands at the arctic timberline. Silva Fennica vol. 38 no. 1 article id 436. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.436

Keywords: Pinus sylvestris; thinning; growth and yield; northern timberline

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Growth patterns and reactions of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) to thinning in extremely harsh climatic conditions were studied in two seeded Scots pine stands located on the arctic timberline. Coniferous trees usually do not form closed stands at the timberline, but occur only in scattered tree groups. The trial was established in two stands in 1985–1986 when the trees were at an age of 47 and 56 years and an average dominant height of 6.0–6.9 m. The trial was remeasured in 1998. The thinning treatments reduced the stem number for five different levels; final density of 300, 550, 800, 1050, and 1300 stems ha–1 and unthinned. The experiment had a randomised block design with four replications in each stand. The increased growing space provided by thinning accelerated diameter growth after a delay of 2–3 years. The differences between the radial growth of the thinning treatments were very clear during the whole 13- to 14-year observation period. Annual increment of the mean diameter was regularly the higher, the larger the spacing. Dominant diameter was less influenced by treatments. There were no significant differences in dominant height between any of the treatments. Both basal area and volume were regularly the greater the higher the stem number was. Even a relatively light thinning had a distinct positive effect on tree growth, i.e. not carrying out thinning resulted in a production loss of merchantable wood. According to the results, seeded stands on the arctic timberline can grow surprisingly well in favourable conditions and reach a dominant height of 12–14 m in 100 years and a mean annual increment of 1.0–1.5 m3 ha–1 y–1 over a rotation period of 130–160 years. Based on increment figures and thinning reactions, a spacing of ca. 1000 stems ha–1 can be recommended.

Varmola, The Finnish Forest Research Institute, Rovaniemi Research Station, P.O.Box 16, FIN-96301 Rovaniemi, Finland E-mail: martti.varmola@metla.fi
Salminen, The Finnish Forest Research Institute, Rovaniemi Research Station, P.O.Box 16, FIN-96301 Rovaniemi, Finland E-mail: hs@nn.fi
Timonen, The Finnish Forest Research Institute, Rovaniemi Research Station, P.O.Box 16, FIN-96301 Rovaniemi, Finland E-mail: mt@nn.fi

article id 616, category Research article

Markus Lindholm, Hannu Lehtonen, Taneli Kolström, Jouko Meriläinen, Matti Eronen, Mauri Timonen. (2000). Climatic signals extracted from ring-width chronologies of Scots pines from the northern, middle and southern parts of the boreal forest belt in Finland. Silva Fennica vol. 34 no. 4 article id 616. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.616

Keywords: boreal forest; Scots pine; tree-rings; ring-width chronologies; growth variability; growth responses; spectral analysis

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Climatic signals were extracted from ring-width chronologies of Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) from natural stands of the northern, middle, and southern parts of the boreal forest belt in Finland. The strength of the common growth signals (forcing factors) were quantified as a function of time. This was achieved by mean inter-series correlations, calculated over a moving 30-year window, both within and between the regional chronologies. Strong regional signals and also evidence for common forcings were found, especially between northern and central, central and eastern, as well as central/eastern and southern chronologies. Response function analyses revealed that growing season temperatures govern the growth rates of northern pines, while towards south, pine growth becomes less affected by temperatures, and more affected by e.g. precipitation. During some periods, growing conditions seem to have been favorable in the south, while they have been unfavorable in the north (growth inversions). Going from the north to the south, the variability of radial growth clearly decreases, and the variance of ring-width series becomes smaller. Growth variability in the four regions was compared during the common interval of the chronologies, from 1806 to 1991. The spectral densities of the northern, central, eastern and southern chronologies were also compared as functions of frequency, viz. cycles per year. The variance is much greater and there is more periodic behavior in the north than in the south in high, medium, as well as lower frequencies.

Lindholm, Saima Centre for Environmental Sciences, University of Joensuu, Linnankatu 11, FIN-57130 Savonlinna, Finland E-mail: ml@nn.fi
Lehtonen, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu Research Station, Box 68, FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: hl@nn.fi
Kolström, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu Research Station, Box 68, FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: tk@nn.fi
Meriläinen, Saima Centre for Environmental Sciences, University of Joensuu, Linnankatu 11, FIN-57130 Savonlinna, Finland E-mail: jm@nn.fi
Eronen, Department of Geology, Division of Geology and Palaeontology, Box 11, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: me@nn.fi
Timonen, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Rovaniemi Research Station, Box 16, FIN-96301 Rovaniemi, Finland E-mail: mt@nn.fi

Click this link to register to Silva Fennica.

If you are a registered user, log in to save your selected articles for later access.

Contents alert

Your selected articles

Follow @SilvaFennica