Jing Mengdan, Zhu Liangjun, Liu Shuguang, Cao Yang, Zhu Yu, Yan Wende
National Engineering Laboratory for Applied Technology of Forestry and Ecology in South China, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China.
College of Life Science and Technology, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2022 Sep 23;13:964400. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.964400. eCollection 2022.
Subtropical forests provide diverse ecosystem services to human society. However, how subtropical tree species respond to climate change is still unclear. Using a dendrochronological method, we studied the radial growth patterns and species-specific responses of four main tree species in subtropical China to recent warming and drought. Results showed that the long-term drought caused by global warming and reduced precipitation since 1997 had resulted in the growth decline of , and but not for . Four species had similar sensitivities to the previous year and the current year, which is probably due to the carryover effect and temporal autocorrelation of climate data. Tree growth was positively correlated with growing season precipitation and relative humidity while negatively correlated with vapor pressure deficit. The negative relationship of tree radial growth with temperatures in the previous and current summer and the positive correlation with precipitation gradually strengthened after 1997. Therefore, we highlighted that drought-induced tree decline in subtropical forests is probably a common phenomenon, and it needed to verify by more tree-ring studies on a large scale. The species-specific responses of tree radial growth to climate change are not obvious, but they still should be considered in regional carbon balance and forest dynamics. Considering future climate change, species that are more drought tolerant should be considered as potential plantation species.
亚热带森林为人类社会提供了多样的生态系统服务。然而，亚热带树种如何应对气候变化仍不清楚。利用树木年代学方法，我们研究了中国亚热带四种主要树种的径向生长模式以及对近期变暖和干旱的物种特异性响应。结果表明，自1997年以来全球变暖及降水减少导致的长期干旱，致使[树种名称1]、[树种名称2]和[树种名称3]生长下降，但[树种名称4]未出现这种情况。四个树种对前一年和当年的敏感性相似，这可能是由于气候数据的滞后效应和时间自相关性。树木生长与生长季降水量和相对湿度呈正相关，与水汽压亏缺呈负相关。1997年后，树木径向生长与前一个夏季和当年夏季温度的负相关以及与降水量的正相关逐渐增强。因此，我们强调亚热带森林中干旱导致树木生长下降可能是一种普遍现象，需要通过更多大规模的树木年轮研究来验证。树木径向生长对气候变化的物种特异性响应并不明显，但在区域碳平衡和森林动态研究中仍应予以考虑。考虑到未来气候变化，应将更耐旱的物种视为潜在的造林树种。
