Changing climate response in near-treeline bristlecone pine with elevation and aspect
Open accessAbstract
In the White Mountains of California, eight bristlecone pine ( Pinus longaeva ) tree-ring width chronologies were developed from trees at upper treeline and just below upper treeline along North- and South-facing elevational transects from treeline to ~90 m below. There is evidence for a climate-response threshold between approximately 60–80 vertical m below treeline, above which trees have shown a positive growth-response to temperature and below which they do not. Chronologies from 80 m or more below treeline show a change in climate response and do not correlate strongly with temperature-sensitive chronologies developed from trees growing at upper treeline. Rather, they more closely resemble lower elevation precipitation-sensitive chronologies. At the highest sites, trees on South-facing slopes grow faster than trees on North-facing slopes. High growth rates in the treeline South-facing trees have declined since the mid-1990s. This suggests the possibility that the climate-response of the highest South-facing trees may have changed and that temperature may no longer be the main limiting factor for growth on the South aspect. These results indicate that increasing warmth may lead to a divergence between tree growth and temperature at previously temperature-limited sites.
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It has not yet been possible to assess whether another ice core sulfate exists around c.1524 BCE, when a severe climatic response observed in tree-rings has been suggested as a potential candidate date for Thera.
“The brittle ice has also meant that it has not yet been possible to asses whether another ice core sulfate exists around c.1524 BCE, when a severe climatic response observed in tree-rings43 has been suggested as a potential candidate date for Thera7,15.”
From Olive shrub buried on Therasia supports a mid-16th century BCE date for the Thera eruption (2023) · cites this paper as [43]
Citation 43 is attached to the claimed severe tree-ring climatic response around 1524 BCE, not to the ice-core sulfate or proposed Thera date. The Introduction describes bristlecone pine tree rings as climate proxies, but our copy does not report an event around 1524 BCE (searched for 1524, 1525, and a severe tree-ring response). (LLM, conf=0.75)
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References 30 · Cited by 93
Research works printed but not linked: 8
- Bale R J, Robertson I, Leavitt S W, Loader N J, Harlan T P, Gagen M, Young G H F, Csank A Z, Froyd C A and McCarroll D 2010 Temporal stability in bristlecone pine tree- ring stable oxygen isotope chronologies over the last two centuries Holocene 20 3-6 · DOI
- Bale R J, Robertson I, Salzer M W, Loader N J, Leavitt S W, Gagen M, Harlan T P and McCarroll D 2011 An annually resolved bristlecone pine carbon isotope chronology for the last millennium Quat. Res. 76 22-9 · DOI
- Berkelhammer M and Stott L D 2008 Recent and dramatic changes in Pacific storm trajectories recorded in δ18O from bristlecone pine tree ring cellulose Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 9 Q04008 Berkelhammer M and Stott L D 2009 Modeled and observed intra- ring δ18O cycles within late Holocene bristlecone pine tree samples Chem. Geo. 264 13-23 · DOI
- Buckley B M, Cook E R, Peterson M J and Barbetti M 1997 A changing temperature response with elevation for Lagarostrobos franklinii in Tasmania, Australia Clim. Change 36 477-98 · DOI
- Bunn A G 2010 Statistical and visual crossdating in R using the dplR library Dendrochronologia 28 251-8 · DOI
- Bunn A G, Hughes M K and Salzer M W 2011 Topographically modified tree-ring chronologies as a potential means to improve paleoclimate inference Clim. Change 105 627-34 · DOI
- Cook E R and Kairiukstis L 1990 Methods of Dendrochronology: Applications in the Environmental Sciences ed E R Cook and L Kairiukstis (Berlin: Springer)
- Harris I, Jones P D, Osborn T J and Lister D H 2014 Updated high- resolution grids of monthly climatic observations-the CRU TS3.10 dataset Int. J. Climatol. 34 623-42 · DOI
- Authors
- Salzer, M. W., Larson, E. R., Bunn, A. G., & Hughes, M. K.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Platteville (US)
- Western Washington University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Salzer, Matthew W
- Venue
- Environmental Research Letters
- Publisher
- IOP Publishing
- Published
- 2014-11-01
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 114007
- ISSN
- 1748-9326 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2142257884
- Cited by
- 93
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 4.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Environmental Research Letters (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Western CEDAR (Western Washington University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (1203749)
- U.S. Forest Service
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Tree-ring climate responses
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Forest ecology and management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
- Keywords
- bristlecone pine, Pinus longaeva, treeline, tree-ring width, climate response, altitude, aspect, temperature sensitivity, precipitation sensitivity, growth response, White Mountains, global warming
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