Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of Tree-Ring Growth in Cold Climates

AbstractThe medium- and long-term projections of global climate models show the effects of global warming will be most pronounced in cold climate areas, especially in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The consequences could involve a higher probability of global natural disasters and a higher uncertainty as to plant response to climate risk. In this chapter, we describe life under a cold climate, particularly in relation to forest ecosystems, species distribution, and local conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. We analyze recent climate trends and how the ongoing and future climate changes can affect the sensitivity of conifer species, the most common tree form in the boreal regions. We combine experimental data and theoretical process-based simulations involving tree-ring width, tree-ring density, and wood anatomy. This combined approach permits assessing a longer tree-ring record that overlaps with direct instrumental climate observations. The latter are currently experiencing the divergence problem in which tree-ring growth has diverged from the trends of the main climatic drivers. Given that most process-based models are multidimensional, the parameterization described in this chapter is key for obtaining reliable tree growth simulations connected with a site-specific climate, tree species, and the individual trajectory of tree development. Our approach combining experimental and theoretical approaches in xylogenesis is of interest to forest ecologists, physiologists, and wood anatomists.