Diversity of forest vegetation across a strong gradient of climatic continentality: Western Sayan Mountains, southern Siberia (original) (raw)
Related papers
Journal of Mountain Science
In mountain ecosystems, plants are sensitive to climate changes, and an entire range of species distribution can be observed in a small area. Therefore, mountains are of great interest for climate-growth relationship analysis. In this study, the Siberian spruce"s (Picea obovata Ledeb.) radial growth and its climatic response were investigated in the Western Sayan Mountains, near the Sayano-Shushenskoe Reservoir. Sampling was performed at three sites along an elevational gradient: at the lower border of the species range, in the middle, and at the treeline. Divergence of growth trends between individual trees was observed at each site, with microsite landscape-soil conditions as the most probable driver of this phenomenon. Cluster analysis of individual treering width series based on inter-serial correlation was carried out, resulting in two subset chronologies being developed for each site. These chronologies appear to have substantial differences in their climatic responses, mainly during the cold season. This response was not constant due to regional climatic change and the local influence of the nearby Sayano-Shushenskoe Reservoir. The main response of spruce to growing season conditions has a typical elevational pattern expected in mountains: impact of temperature shifts with elevation from positive to negative, and impact of precipitation shifts in the opposite direction. Chronologies of trees, growing under more severe micro-conditions, are very sensitive to temperature during September-April and to precipitation during October-December, and they record both inter-annual and long-term climatic variation. Consequently, it would be interesting to test if they indicate the Siberian High anticyclone, which is the main driver of these climatic factors.
Flora of the forests as the indicator of climate change of Baikal Region (South Siberia)
2010
The problem of global climate warming and its consequences for nature and civilization has been actively discussed in scientific and political publications during last 15 years. Although quantitative estimations of the rate of warming can be rather differ by results of different authors. A relevant component of such assessment is the prognosis of vegetation development under conditions of climate warming. Our study was carried out on the western macroslope of the Ikatskii Ridge in the northern Baikal region (South Siberia). This area is located on the territory where permafrost may have a continuous, discontinuous, or insular distribution. The plant cover of study area is characterized by dominance of larch (Larix gmelinii (Rupr.) Rupr.) and pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests that form a forest belt. In this belt, two parts can be distinguished: the lower, forest-steppe part (550-900 m a.s.l.), which is limited by steppe at the lower part and the upper, mountain-taiga part (800-1600 m a.s.l.) with mountain tundra on the top. Pine forests by Braun-Blanquet approach include to hemiboreal forests Rhytidio rugosi-Laricetea sibiricae K. Korotkov et Ermakov 1999. Larch forests presented by boreal forests Vaccinio-Piceetea Br.-Bl. in Br.-Bl., Siss. et Vlieger 1939. Floristic compositions of these classes were analyzed as cenofloras. Floristic complexes of cenofloras included the species of dark coniferous, light coniferous, preboreal, forest-steppe, mountain steppe, true steppe, montane, and meadow zonal groups. The cenoflora of class Rhytidio-Laricetea is presented by 222 species of vascular plants. This cenoflora mostly has the steppe and forest floristic complexes, respectively 54.4 and 35.5%. The cenoflora of class Vaccinio-Piceetea include 153 species and the light coniferous group of the forest floristic complex prevailed. The total share of forest species in the cenoflora reaches 70.6%. Other floristic complexes (meadow, steppe, and mountain) has the similar proportions 8.5, 10.4, and 7.8%, respectively. Relationships between the ranks of activity and species richness of zonal groups in the cenofloras were analyzed. In each cenoflora, parameters of activity (R) for constituent zonal groups were calculated. Zonal groups class intervals using the resultant R values and data on species richness were calculated too. In the cenoflora of class Rhytidio-Laricetea, these ranks coincided in the dark coniferous, preboreal, light coniferous, and forest-steppe groups, while in the mountain steppe and true steppe groups, the rank of species richness exceeded the rank of activity. We consider that certain conditions unfavorable for the last groups developed in the ecotopes of this cenoflora in the near past, and this was the result of decreasing the activity of mountain steppe and true steppe species in light coniferous forests. The observed tendencies of changes in the composition of cenofloras indicate that climate in the lower band of mountain slopes is becoming more humid, which may be explained by an increase in the amount of precipitation. In addition, moisture supply to habitats increases due to increasing degradation (thawing) of permafrost. In the cenoflora of class Vaccinio-Piceetea, the ranks of activity and species richness coincided in all zonal groups. This may be regarded as evidence that this cenoflora has existed for a long time under relatively stable climatic conditions. Such favorable conditions lead to absence of displacement of any species groups. Our study showed that current climate change has now the influence on the vegetation of lower parts of forest belt of South Siberia.
Response of Four Tree Species to Changing Climate in a Moisture-Limited Area of South Siberia
Forests
The response of vegetation to climate change is of special interest in regions where rapid warming is coupled with moisture deficit. This raises the question of the limits in plants’ acclimation ability and the consequent shifts of the vegetation cover. Radial growth dynamics and climatic response were studied in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.), and silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.) in the forest-steppe, and for Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila L.) in the steppe of South Siberia, as indicators of vegetation state and dynamics. Climate–growth relationships were analyzed by the following two approaches: (1) correlations between tree-ring width chronologies and short-term moving climatic series, and (2) optimization of the parameters of the Vaganov–Shashkin tree growth simulation model to assess the ecophysiological characteristics of species. Regional warming was accompanied by a slower increase of the average moisture deficit, but not in the sever...
A phytogeographic analysis of birch woodlands in the southern part of West Siberia
Vegetatio, 1994
A minimum variance cluster analysis of 87 species of vascular plants occurring in south Siberian birch woodlands, based on their total distribution ranges, grouped them into 9 phytogeographic elements. The main distribution patterns of each element are illustrated by means of maps obtained by automatic mapping programs, showing the joint occurrence of the species of each element on a world scale. The results indicate a predominance of Eurasiatic-temperate taxa. The south Siberian birch woodlands can be considered as the easternmost extensions of the European deciduous forest belt, which in Siberia is compressed between the taiga biome in the north and the steppe biome in the south. The marginal position of Siberian Betula stands is reflected by the persistence of plants which are 'ecologically marginal' with respect to true forest vegetation; most of the Eurasiatic species are typical, in Europe, of forest-meadows and forest-margins.
What are the main climate drivers for shrub growth in Northeastern Siberian tundra?
Biogeosciences, 2011
Deciduous shrubs are expected to rapidly expand in the Arctic during the coming decades due to climate warming. A transition towards more shrub-dominated tundra may have large implications for the regional surface energy balance, permafrost stability and carbon storage capacity, with consequences for the global climate system. However, little information is available on the natural long-term shrub growth response to climatic variability. Our aim was to determine the climate factor and time period that are most important to annual shrub growth in our research site in NE-Siberia. Therefore, we determined annual radial growth rates in Salix pulchra and Betula nana shrubs by measuring ring widths. We constructed shrub ring width chronologies and compared growth rates to regional climate and remotely sensed greenness data. Early summer temperature was the most important factor influencing ring width of S. pulchra (Pearson's r = 0.73, p < 0.001) and B. nana (Pearson's r = 0.46, p < 0.001). No effect of winter precipitation on shrub growth was observed. In contrast, summer precipitation of the previous year correlated positively with B. nana ring width (Pearson's r = 0.42, p < 0.01), suggesting that wet summers facilitate shrub growth in the following growing season. S. pulchra ring width correlated positively with peak summer NDVI, despite the small coverage of S. pulchra shrubs (<5 % surface cover) in our research area. We provide the first climate-growth study on shrubs for Northeast Siberia, the largest tundra region in the world. We show that Correspondence to: D. Blok (daan.blok@wur.nl) two deciduous shrub species with markedly different growth forms have a similar growth response to changes in climate. The obtained shrub growth response to climate variability in the past increases our understanding of the mechanisms underlying current shrub expansion, which is required to predict future climate-driven tundra vegetation shifts.
2019
The spatio-temporal distribution of forests is related to climate. Pinus sibirica is a native species in areas subject to continental temperate cold climate that favors its growth. This study was carried out with the aim of evaluating the climatic suitability of northeast and northwest China for the introduction of Pinus sibirica. For this purpose, climate of the northeast and northwest China was compared with the climate of Western Siberia (Russia). The Climatic data was obtained from NMKI Climate explorer and China meteorological administration. The Tukey Pairwise Comparison test found that Mohe weather station in northeast China shows (-4.7 °C, -3.26 °C, -5.31 °C and -3.9 °C) resemblance in temperature with three of western Siberian stations where Pinus sibirica is distributed in association with Larix sibirica and Picea obovata. The annual mean precipitation for all the weather stations including Mohe and Huma, China was more than 420 – 609 mm. This specie is also found to grow ...