Topoclimate effects on growing season length and montane conifer growth in complex terrain
Spatial variability in the topoclimate-driven linkage between forest phenology and tree growth in complex terrain is poorly understood, limiting our understanding of how ecosystems function as a whole. To characterize the influence of topoclimate on phenology and growth, we determined the start, end...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2017-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa6da8 |
| _version_ | 1827870951568572416 |
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| author | D M Barnard H R Barnard N P Molotch |
| author_facet | D M Barnard H R Barnard N P Molotch |
| author_sort | D M Barnard |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Spatial variability in the topoclimate-driven linkage between forest phenology and tree growth in complex terrain is poorly understood, limiting our understanding of how ecosystems function as a whole. To characterize the influence of topoclimate on phenology and growth, we determined the start, end, and length of the growing season (GS _start , GS _end , and GSL, respectively) using the correlation between transpiration and evaporative demand, measured with sapflow. We then compared these metrics with stem relative basal area increment (relative BAI) at seven sites among elevation and aspects in a Colorado montane forest. As elevation increased, we found shorter GSL (−50 d km ^−1 ) due to later GS _start (40 d km ^−1 ) and earlier GS _end (−10 d km ^−1 ). North-facing sites had a 21 d shorter GSL than south-facing sites at similar elevations (i.e. equal to 200 m elevation difference on a given aspect). Growing season length was positively correlated with relative BAI, explaining 83% of the variance. This study shows that topography exerts strong environmental controls on GSL and thus forest growth. Given the climate-related dependencies of these controls, the results presented here have important implications for ecosystem responses to changes in climate and highlight the need for improved phenology representation in complex terrain. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:03:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ded328a39bb24b52bcafd9bfbe63879b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:03:03Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-ded328a39bb24b52bcafd9bfbe63879b2023-08-09T14:33:22ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262017-01-0112606400310.1088/1748-9326/aa6da8Topoclimate effects on growing season length and montane conifer growth in complex terrainD M Barnard0H R Barnard1N P Molotch2Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, 4001 Discovery Drive , University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, United States of AmericaInstitute of Arctic and Alpine Research, 4001 Discovery Drive , University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, United States of America; Department of Geography , University of Colorado, Guggenheim 210, UCB 260, Boulder, CO 80309, United States of AmericaInstitute of Arctic and Alpine Research, 4001 Discovery Drive , University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, United States of America; Department of Geography , University of Colorado, Guggenheim 210, UCB 260, Boulder, CO 80309, United States of America; Jet Propulsion Laboratory , California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91190, United States of AmericaSpatial variability in the topoclimate-driven linkage between forest phenology and tree growth in complex terrain is poorly understood, limiting our understanding of how ecosystems function as a whole. To characterize the influence of topoclimate on phenology and growth, we determined the start, end, and length of the growing season (GS _start , GS _end , and GSL, respectively) using the correlation between transpiration and evaporative demand, measured with sapflow. We then compared these metrics with stem relative basal area increment (relative BAI) at seven sites among elevation and aspects in a Colorado montane forest. As elevation increased, we found shorter GSL (−50 d km ^−1 ) due to later GS _start (40 d km ^−1 ) and earlier GS _end (−10 d km ^−1 ). North-facing sites had a 21 d shorter GSL than south-facing sites at similar elevations (i.e. equal to 200 m elevation difference on a given aspect). Growing season length was positively correlated with relative BAI, explaining 83% of the variance. This study shows that topography exerts strong environmental controls on GSL and thus forest growth. Given the climate-related dependencies of these controls, the results presented here have important implications for ecosystem responses to changes in climate and highlight the need for improved phenology representation in complex terrain.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa6da8forest growthsapflowmontane ecosystemcomplex terraingrowing season lengthtopoclimate |
| spellingShingle | D M Barnard H R Barnard N P Molotch Topoclimate effects on growing season length and montane conifer growth in complex terrain Environmental Research Letters forest growth sapflow montane ecosystem complex terrain growing season length topoclimate |
| title | Topoclimate effects on growing season length and montane conifer growth in complex terrain |
| title_full | Topoclimate effects on growing season length and montane conifer growth in complex terrain |
| title_fullStr | Topoclimate effects on growing season length and montane conifer growth in complex terrain |
| title_full_unstemmed | Topoclimate effects on growing season length and montane conifer growth in complex terrain |
| title_short | Topoclimate effects on growing season length and montane conifer growth in complex terrain |
| title_sort | topoclimate effects on growing season length and montane conifer growth in complex terrain |
| topic | forest growth sapflow montane ecosystem complex terrain growing season length topoclimate |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa6da8 |
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