A dual stable isotope approach unravels common climate signals and species-specific responses to environmental change stored in multi-century tree-ring series from the Tibetan plateau

Grießinger J, Bräuning A, Helle G, Schleser GH, Hochreuther P, Meier W, Zhu H (2019)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2019

Journal

Book Volume: 9

Article Number: 151

Journal Issue: 4

DOI: 10.3390/geosciences9040151

Abstract

Tree-rings are recorders of environmental signals and are therefore often used to reconstruct past environmental conditions. In this paper, we present four annually resolved, multi-centennial tree-ring isotope series from the southeastern Tibetan plateau. The investigation site, where juniper and spruce trees jointly occur, is one of the highest known tree-stands in the world. Tree ring cellulose oxygen (δ ¹⁸ O) and carbon (δ ¹³ C) isotopes were analyzed for a common period of 1685–2007 AD to investigate climate–isotope relationships. Therefore, various climate parameters from a local meteorological station and from the CRU 4.02 dataset were used. Tree-ring δ ¹⁸ O of both species revealed highly significant sensitivities with a high degree of coherence to hydroclimate variables during the growing season. The obtained δ ¹⁸ O–climate relationships can even be retained using a species mean. In contrast, the individual δ13C series indicated a weaker and non-uniform response to the tested variables. Underlying species-specific responses and adaptations to the long-term trend in atmospheric CO 2 bias even after a trend correction identified dominant environmental factors triggering the tree-ring δ ¹³ C at our site. However, analysis of individual intrinsic water-use efficiency in juniper and spruce trees indicated a species-specific adaptation strategy to climate change.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China (CN) Forschungszentrum Jülich / Research Centre Jülich (FZJ) Germany (DE) Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum - GFZ Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Grießinger, J., Bräuning, A., Helle, G., Schleser, G.H., Hochreuther, P., Meier, W., & Zhu, H. (2019). A dual stable isotope approach unravels common climate signals and species-specific responses to environmental change stored in multi-century tree-ring series from the Tibetan plateau. Geosciences, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9040151

MLA:

Grießinger, Jussi, et al. "A dual stable isotope approach unravels common climate signals and species-specific responses to environmental change stored in multi-century tree-ring series from the Tibetan plateau." Geosciences 9.4 (2019).

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