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Different tree-ring responses of Norway spruce to air temperature across an altitudinal gradient in the Eastern Carpathians (Romania)

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A global increase in temperature could potentially increase the trees’ growth at high altitude and decrease at low altitude. Another immediate consequence would be an increase of the altitude threshold where the inversion of tree growth response to temperature occurs.

Abstract

The first network of 18 tree-ring chronologies of Norway spruce (Picea abies) from the Eastern Carpathians (Romania) was studied in relation to the climatic factors and regional patterns in tree growth responses to climate. The sites are distributed along a latitudinal and altitudinal transect. The tree growth reaction to climate variability was analyzed by means of response functions. We used redundancy analysis (RDA) to identify regional patterns in the climatic response. The Norway spruce diameter growth patterns in Eastern Carpathians from Romania correspond to different climatic responses according to three elevation levels: low (≤1000 m a.s.l.); intermediate (1000–1300 m a.s.l.); high (≥1300 m a.s.l.). At high altitudinal level tree growth is strongly limited by summer temperatures. This climatic signal progressively decreases with decreasing altitude and increasing mean temperature. Tree growth at low elevation sites is controlled mainly by summer precipitations and in the intermediate elevation sites there is not any statistically significant correlation with climatic variables. At elevations of 1000–1100 m a.s.l., at a mean temperature of 13–13.5 °C in June and 15.5–16 °C in July, further increases in mean temperature result in an inversion of the relationship between tree-ring growth and temperature (i.e., the response becomes negative). A global increase in temperature could potentially increase the trees’ growth at high altitude and decrease at low altitude. Another immediate consequence would be an increase of the altitude threshold where the inversion of tree growth response to temperature occurs.

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Author contribution statement

Cristian Gheorghe SIDOR and Ionel POPA conceived the ideas, collected the data, analyzed the data and wrote the paper. Radu VLAD and Paolo CHERUBINI contributed to the data analyses and to the writing of the paper.

Acknowledgments

The work was supported by CNCS-UEFISCDI project number PN-II-RU-TE-2011-3-0040. We are grateful to Silvia Dingwall for editing and revising the usage of English language.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forest Research and Management Institute, Research Station for Norway Spruce Silviculture, Calea Bucovinei 73 bis, Câmpulung Moldovenesc, Romania

    Cristian Gheorghe Sidor, Ionel Popa & Radu Vlad

  2. WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Paolo Cherubini

Authors
  1. Cristian Gheorghe Sidor
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  2. Ionel Popa
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  3. Radu Vlad
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  4. Paolo Cherubini
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Correspondence to Cristian Gheorghe Sidor.

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Communicated by E. Liang.

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Sidor, C.G., Popa, I., Vlad, R. et al. Different tree-ring responses of Norway spruce to air temperature across an altitudinal gradient in the Eastern Carpathians (Romania). Trees 29, 985–997 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-015-1178-3

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