Reduced growth of Alaskan white spruce in the twentieth century from temperature-induced drought stress

The extension of growing season at high northern latitudes seems increasingly clear from satellite observations of vegetation extent and duration. This extension is also thought to explain the observed increase in amplitude of seasonal variations in atmospheric CO2 concentration. Increased plant respiration and photosynthesis both correlate well with increases in temperature this century and are therefore the most probable link between the vegetation and CO2 observations. From these observations, it has been suggested that increases in temperature have stimulated carbon uptake in high latitudes and for the boreal forest system as a whole. Here we present multi-proxy tree-ring data (ring width, maximum late-wood density and carbon-isotope composition) from 20 productive stands of white spruce in the interior of Alaska. The tree-ring records show a strong and consistent relationship over the past 90 years and indicate that, in contrast with earlier predictions, radial growth has decreased with increasing temperature. Our data show that temperature-induced drought stress has disproportionately affected the most rapidly growing white spruce, suggesting that, under recent climate warming, drought may have been an important factor limiting carbon uptake in a large portion of the North American boreal forest. If this limitation in growth due to drought stress is sustained, the future capacity of northern latitudes to sequester carbon may be less than currently expected.

[1]  J. Storhoff,et al.  A DNA-based method for rationally assembling nanoparticles into macroscopic materials , 1996, Nature.

[2]  G. P. Smith,et al.  Antibody-selectable filamentous fd phage vectors: affinity purification of target genes. , 1988, Gene.

[3]  L. Conkey.  Red Spruce Tree-Ring Widths and Densities in Eastern North America as Indicators of Past Climate , 1986, Quaternary Research.

[4]  F. Joos,et al.  A first‐order analysis of the potential rôle of CO2 fertilization to affect the global carbon budget: a comparison of four terrestrial biosphere models , 1999 .

[5]  K. Briffa,et al.  Seeing the Wood from the Trees , 1999, Science.

[6]  John E. Walsh,et al.  Recent Variations of Sea Ice and Air Temperature in High Latitudes , 1993 .

[7]  E. Hogg,et al.  The aspen parkland in western Canada: A dry-climate analogue for the future boreal forest? , 1995 .

[8]  Gordon C. Jacoby,et al.  Tree ring width and density evidence of climatic and potential forest change in Alaska , 1995 .

[9]  P. Schultz,et al.  Organization of 'nanocrystal molecules' using DNA , 1996, Nature.

[10]  L. Brubaker,et al.  Modern climate–tree-growth relationships and climatic reconstruction in sub-Arctic Alaska , 1980, Nature.

[11]  Paul J. Kramer,et al.  Physiology of Woody Plants , 1983 .

[12]  S. Leavitt,et al.  Sampling strategy for stable carbon isotope analysis of tree rings in pine , 1984, Nature.

[13]  Paul A. Keddy,et al.  North American Terrestrial Vegetation , 1988 .

[14]  M. Brust,et al.  Novel gold‐dithiol nano‐networks with non‐metallic electronic properties , 1995 .

[15]  CO2 fluctuation at high latitudes , 1996, Nature.

[16]  G. MacDonald,et al.  Relations between tree-ring widths, climate, and annual area burned in the boreal forest of Alberta , 1995 .

[17]  D. Spittlehouse,et al.  Carbon isotope fractionation in tree ring early and late wood in relation to intra‐growing season water balance , 1996 .

[18]  G. Jacoby,et al.  Tree-ring width and maximum latewood density at the North American tree line: parameters of climatic change , 1992 .

[19]  A. Alivisatos,et al.  Semiconductor nanocrystals covalently bound to metal surfaces with self-assembled monolayers , 1992 .

[20]  Berrien Moore,et al.  The response of global terrestrial ecosystems to interannual temperature variability , 1997 .

[21]  G. Jacoby,et al.  Mongolian Tree Rings and 20th-Century Warming , 1996, Science.

[22]  C. T. Dyrness,et al.  Forest Ecosystems in the Alaskan Taiga , 1986, Ecological Studies.

[23]  H. Lyr,et al.  The physiology of woody plants. , 1967 .

[24]  C. Tucker,et al.  Increased plant growth in the northern high latitudes from 1981 to 1991 , 1997, Nature.

[25]  S. Leavitt,et al.  Method for batch processing small wood samples to holocellulose for stable-carbon isotope analysis , 1993 .

[26]  D. Etheridge,et al.  A 1000-year high precision record of δ 13 C in atmospheric CO 2 , 1999 .

[27]  G. Jacoby,et al.  A 263-year record of summer temperature for northern Quebec reconstructed from tree-ring data and evidence of a major climatic shift in the early 1800's , 1988 .

[28]  C. D. Keeling,et al.  Increased activity of northern vegetation inferred from atmospheric CO2 measurements , 1996, Nature.

[29]  G. Stucky,et al.  Silicatein filaments and subunits from a marine sponge direct the polymerization of silica and silicones in vitro. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[30]  R. Frankel,et al.  Electron microscopy study of magnetosomes in two cultured vibrioid magnetotactic bacteria , 1993, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[31]  E. Cook,et al.  Methods of Dendrochronology - Applications in the Environmental Sciences , 1991 .

[32]  S. Mann,et al.  Organization of Inorganic Nanoparticles Using Biotin−Streptavidin Connectors , 1999 .

[33]  Stanley Brown,et al.  Metal-recognition by repeating polypeptides , 1997, Nature Biotechnology.

[34]  M. Denne.  Effects of Environmental Change on Wood Production and Wood Structure in Picea sitchensis Seedlings , 1976 .

[35]  S. Brown,et al.  Engineered iron oxide-adhesion mutants of the Escherichia coli phage lambda receptor. , 1992, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[36]  R. Ruess,et al.  Contributions of fine root production and turnover to the carbon and nitrogen cycling in taiga forests of the Alaskan interior , 1996 .

[37]  Leslie A. Viereck,et al.  Forest ecosystems in the Alaskan taiga. A synthesis of structure and function. , 1986 .

[38]  F. H. Schweingruber,et al.  Reduced sensitivity of recent tree-growth to temperature at high northern latitudes , 1998, Nature.

[39]  P. Black,et al.  Potential evapotranspiration and climate in Alaska by Thornthwaite's classification / , 1968 .

[40]  Gordon C. Jacoby,et al.  An image analysis system for determining densitometric and ring-width time series , 1991 .

[41]  Rosanne D'Arrigo,et al.  Reconstructed Northern Hemisphere annual temperature since 1671 based on high-latitude tree-ring data from North America , 1989 .