Local-scale topoclimate effects on treeline elevations: a country-wide investigation of New Zealand’s southern beech treelines

Introduction

The tree limit, the uppermost elevation at which trees can survive, is a global bioclimatic phenomenon ultimately determined by growing season temperature (Körner & Paulsen, 2004). However, treelines can often deviate below this potential climatic treeline, due to the influence of factors that operate at multiple spatial scales (Holtmeier & Broll, 2005; Malanson et al., 2011; Case & Duncan, 2014). These factors include: differences in regional climate regime (heat and moisture) that affect tree growth and mediate finer-scale influences on treeline (Daniels & Veblen, 2003); disturbances, such as avalanches and landslides (Daniels & Veblen, 2003; Leonelli, Pelfini & Cella, 2009; Case & Hale, 2015); spatial variation in the distribution of moisture and nutrients related to geomorphology (Butler et al., 2007), and local-scale climatic variability related to topography (‘topoclimate’) (Holtmeier & Broll, 2005). Thus, there is a growing recognition that in order to understand how treelines may respond regionally to climatic change, datasets and methods will be required for characterising and modelling influences on treelines at a range of scales and across large areas (Holtmeier & Broll, 2007).

It is relatively easy to obtain GIS-ready datasets, such as gridded climatic and topographic data, for investigating influences on treelines at a regional scale (e.g., Case & Hale, 2015). However, spatially-explicit local scale data, particularly for climatic variables, are typically more challenging to obtain. One solution is to employ topographic indices such as slope, aspect, and terrain shape, derived in a GIS from digital elevation models (DEMs), that can act as proxies for the effects of local-scale variation in environmental conditions (Moore, Grayson & Ladson, 1991). A number of treeline studies have used DEM-derived indices in this way to highlight the important role that topography plays in influencing treeline variability (Brown, 1994; Allen & Walsh, 1996; Walsh et al., 2003; Dullinger, Dirnböck & Grabherr, 2004; Bader & Ruijten, 2008). For example, Brown (1994) used three DEM-derived topographic characteristics to explain the presence of four treeline transition vegetation types. Similarly, Bader & Ruijten (2008) found that a DEM-derived topographic index was a significant factor in explaining the presence and absence of forest within the treeline zone; the index described convex landscape zones where cold air drainage occurred and caused inverted treelines. Thus DEM-derived indices have proven useful for gaining important insights into treeline variation in cases where direct measures of local climate, disturbance and other variables have not been available.

However, there are limits to the extent to which local-scale topoclimatic effects, in particular, can be sufficiently represented by such DEM-derived indices. Daily variation in local wind speeds, for instance, are the result of a range of meteorological processes inducing effects such as valley and downslope winds, cold air ponding, and differential irradiation, which are highly variable in space and time (Daly, Conklin & Unsworth, 2010). Such topoclimatic phenomena are likely to have significant impacts on treelines because they can either ameliorate or exacerbate physiological functioning at the plant scale, which can have knock-on effects for recruitment above treeline (Rehm & Feeley, 2015). Therefore, new approaches that can produce reliable topoclimatic data for local-scale treeline studies are warranted.

One such approach is to use predictive, numerical climate models that are capable of generating accurate estimates of meteorological parameters in complex terrain and that can be applied to different sites without the need for local parameterisation. A number of readily-available mesoscale atmospheric models are suited to this task. For example, The Air Pollution Model (TAPM) produced by CSIRO Australia (Hurley, 2008a) is a mesoscale model that has been applied at sites worldwide (Hurley, Edwards & Luhar, 2008) and has been shown to be able to account for topographically-mediated meteorological processes such as cold air drainage and ponding in complex terrain (Hurley, Physick & Luhar, 2005; Mocioaca, Sivertsen & Cuculeanu, 2009; Case, Zawar-Reza & Tait, 2015). Case, Zawar-Reza & Tait (2015) used TAPM to generate spatially-explicit meteorological data for a range of sites across New Zealand and showed that TAPM could relatively accurately simulate temperature and wind speed at these sites and that prediction accuracies were relatively consistent among sites and years for the different variables examined.

Daily and monthly variation in wind speed, temperature extremes, solar radiation, and relative humidity, and interactions among these variables, together define possible topoclimatic conditions at the local treeline. These meteorological variables rarely affect treelines in isolation, but rather work synergistically to produce conditions that affect trees’ physiological performance. For instance, although high winds can potentially cause direct physical damage to trees at high altitudes, this type of damage alone is typically not a critical factor in explaining treeline formation (Körner, 1998). More damaging, however, is when the action of wind combines with other topoclimatic variables to produce cumulative stressful conditions for trees over time. Such an example might be when high winds, together with high temperatures and low relative humidity during hot summer months, produce conditions where desiccation stress is more likely to occur (Köhler, Gieger & Leuschner, 2006; Moyes et al., 2013). Similarly, while low night time temperatures on their own will likely have little impact on seedlings at treeline, when combined with low windspeeds and high amounts of outgoing radiation, frosts can occur that can affect leaves and buds, especially early in the growing season (Jordan & Smith, 1994). There are also potential positive effects: for example, locations that generally have higher warmth and higher inputs of sunlight, in the absence of other stressors, might be expected to have conditions more suitable for tree establishment and growth (Cairns & Malanson, 1998). Hence, research that is able to explore the relevance of these combined effects across different locations will be able to provide new insights into the importance of topoclimate in determining local treeline variability, relative to other local and regional influences.

In this study we provide an assessment of the importance of topoclimatic factors, relative to landform and regional environmental factors, in determining local-scale variations in treeline position for c. 2,100 treeline locations at 28 study areas across New Zealand. We focus here on southern beech (Nothofagaceae) treelines, which comprise the majority of New Zealand’s treeline zones. These treelines are highly-abrupt and have had minimal above-treeline recruitment of new stems over the past 20 or more years (Harsch et al., 2012). Thus, while we acknowledge that demographic processes ultimately drive treeline formation at a given site, this study focusses specifically on among-site spatial variation in treeline elevation and the relative roles of topoclimate versus other factors in describing such variation at this spatial scale. Previous studies have highlighted the considerable variability observed in the elevation of New Zealand’s southern beech (Nothofagaceae) treelines both locally and regionally, and the possible explanations for this variability (Wardle, 2008; Case & Duncan, 2014; Case & Hale, 2015). For example, an analysis by Case & Duncan (2014) indicated that the position of treeline varied mainly due to solar radiation and mountain mass effects at a range of scales across the country, although the coarseness of the explanatory data limited the degree to which local-scale effects could be reliably assessed. Based on field observations, Wardle (1985a), Wardle (1985b), Wardle (1985c) and Wardle (2008) posited that local-scale variations in beech treeline elevation are related to differences in landform at treeline, with treelines reaching higher elevations on steep slopes and convex curvatures than on gentler concave forms, although the pervasiveness of this pattern across the country has not yet been empirically evaluated. We compile an explanatory dataset comprising regional-scale climate, disturbance, and landscape variability factors, local-scale DEM-derived landform factors, and a set of novel topoclimatic indices derived from meteorological data generated using the TAPM meso-scale atmospheric model (Case, Zawar-Reza & Tait, 2015). With these data we address two main questions: (1) Are treelines at different locations across New Zealand characterised by distinctive topoclimatic conditions?; and (2) What is the nature and extent of the effect of topoclimatic stress on the variability in treeline elevation among sample points, relative to landform and regional drivers?

Methods

Study areas and treeline delineation

We used a GIS-based dataset delineating southern beech treelines in New Zealand (Case & Duncan, 2014). Given the abruptness of these treelines, we used available landcover data to easily delineate treeline boundaries as the polygon boundaries between the “Indigenous Forest” landcover class and four adjacent subalpine landcover classes (see Case & Duncan, 2014 for details). Once identified, these treeline boundaries were extracted as line features in the GIS and points were generated along these treelines at an average spacing of approximately 1 km in order to capture local scale variability. These points formed the basic unit for extracting the elevation, meteorological and landform data at treeline that were used for subsequent analyses. Next, we chose 28 treeline study areas across the country as a basis for atmospheric modelling with the TAPM model (Fig. 1). Study areas were 7 × 7-km (49-km²) in size and were randomly located across southern beech treeline zones from approximately 46°S latitude in the south of the country to 39°S latitude in the north. Study area dimensions were determined by the requirements of the TAPM model and its application for our research aims (see below). The mean distance from each site location to the next closest site was 32.4-km. To verify that all treeline point locations within these study areas were actually located at treeline, we visually assessed sample points against georeferenced, 15-m resolution, SPOT 5 satellite imagery (Fig. 1, inset). Points that were not within 50-m of the treeline seen on the imagery were manually re-positioned to the nearest treeline edge; those that could not be verified as being at treeline due to the presence of shadow or cloud in the imagery, were removed from the dataset. This process resulted in a total of 2,189 points located at treeline across the 28 study areas.

Results

Treeline elevation across the 28 study areas ranged from 763 to 1,486-m (mean elevation = 1,112.8-m, standard deviation = 195.5-m). There was a large amount of variation within and among study areas in the deviation of treeline elevations from their potential study area maxima (Fig. 2). Across study areas, treeline elevations deviated from near the study area maximum (i.e., 0-m elevation deviation) to 500 m lower in elevation at some locations. For the majority of treeline locations, elevations were predominately in the range of 100–250 m lower than the maximum potential treeline.

Approximately 80% of variation in the meteorological data generated by TAPM across the treeline locations was explained by the first three principal component axes. The first principal component axis was most strongly characterised by negative loadings for January and July minimum and maximum relative humidity, rain days, and night time longwave radiation, and positive loadings for January and July solar radiation (Table 1). The second principal component axis was associated with relatively high positive loadings for January and July maximum and minimum temperatures and negative loadings for January frost hours. The third principal component axis was most strongly characterised by positive loadings for January and July minimum and maximum wind speeds and negative loadings for July frost hours. Study areas were well-separated along these gradients and there were geographic patterns in the positioning of study areas in multivariate space, although these patterns were not obviously latitudinally-driven (Fig. 3). Rather, sites were clearly separated based on dominant regional differences in mountain climates in terms of warmth, moisture, windiness, solar radiation, and frostiness.

The random forest analysis explained approximately 50% of variation in treeline elevation deviation based on the 17 explanatory factors (see Supplemental Information 1 for summary statistics). Variable importance rankings indicated that the landform variable “curvature” had the largest impact in explaining variation in treeline elevation deviation across all of the regression trees built by the random forest analysis (Fig. 4). Next, and essentially equivalent in importance, were a group of eleven variables including slope, precipitation, growing season temperature, and all of the topoclimatic indices. The remaining five regional variables—mountain mass index, erosion index, earthquake intensity, and winter temperatures—were clearly ranked lower in importance by the random forest algorithm; further analyses were therefore focussed on the 12 top-ranked variables. Partial dependence plots suggested that relationships between treeline elevation deviation and the top 12 variables were frequently non-linear (Fig. 5). Deviations of treelines from their potential site-level maxima were negatively associated with slope curvature, with treeline elevations deviating most greatly on increasingly concave slopes. Greater deviations in treeline elevation were associated with lower, gentle slope gradients, as well as with steep slopes, with the lowest deviations occurring on slopes of intermediate steepness of about 50–100%. Treelines tended to deviate more from their potential maxima with increasing January and July desiccation index values. Five topoclimatic indices (January and July photoinhibition and frost indices and July insolation) showed a more u-shaped relationship with treeline elevation deviation, with relatively high deviations occurring for both very low index values and higher index values and the lowest deviations at intermediate index values. January insolation showed a negative linear association with treeline elevation deviation. Annual precipitation was generally positively related to treeline deviation, with the highest deviations associated with the most regionally-wet regions. Growing season temperature showed a negative sigmoidal relationship with treeline deviation, with a sharp decrease from high to low treeline elevation deviation occurring at intermediate growing season temperatures of about 11.5–12.5 °C.

The conditional inference tree analysis produced twelve terminal nodes using six of the 12 explanatory variables entered into the analysis: precipitation, curvature, slope gradient, growing season temperature, July frost index, and July desiccation index (Fig. 6). The first partition of the response dataset was based on a regional annual precipitation threshold. In general, treeline locations with greater than 5,664 mm per year of precipitation showed on average higher deviations from their site-level maxima than locations with precipitation values lower than this threshold. Both the highest and lowest treeline elevation deviation locations were explained by data partitions involving interactions among precipitation, growing season temperature, curvature and July frost index (Fig. 6). While there was some within-site variability in the terminal nodes associated with each study area, there were also clear among-study area regional patterns in the location of terminal nodes (Fig. 7), similar to what emerged from the principal components analysis. For instance, nodes 19–23, representing locations with the highest average treeline deviations, were mainly associated with study areas 6, 8, 9, 12, and 13 which are situated along the wetter, western side of the main divide in the South Island of New Zealand (see Fig. 1). Conversely, treeline locations closest to their potential maxima (node 13) were primarily associated with study areas in the North Island (25–28) and the very top of the South Island (22 and 24).

Discussion

Although a range of previous treeline studies have used combinations of topography-based metrics and/or interpolated climatic datasets for treeline modelling (e.g., Brown, 1994; Walsh et al., 2003; Bader & Ruijten, 2008; Case & Duncan, 2014), the present study is the first to use model-generated meteorological data, and derived topoclimatic indices, to explain treeline variation. Hourly meteorological data generated by the TAPM model enabled the investigation of variability in a number of factors influencing treelines that are notoriously hard to quantify, particularly at local spatial scales in mountain environments. Spatially-explicit data for variables such as minimum or maximum daily temperatures, long-wave radiation, and relative humidity are key variables relevant to characterising physiological stress at treeline but, in previous studies, have been typically limited to collection by on-site data loggers. Thus, our study has demonstrated potential for the application of such methods to ecological research in mountainous areas. Modelling results indicate that half of the variation in treeline elevation deviations can be explained by a mixture of local landform and topoclimatic factors and mean regional effects of precipitation and growing season temperature. This result corroborates the idea that treeline position is driven by effects that occur at multiple spatial scales, where regional-scale climates can act to modulate or constrain local scale processes and their effects on treelines (Daniels & Veblen, 2003; Elliott & Kipfmueller, 2011; Case & Duncan, 2014). Further, the ways in which the explanatory variables predict treeline elevation deviations across our study areas appear to be geographically-structured, reinforcing the idea that distinct treeline drivers are associated with particular mountain regions (Case & Hale, 2015).

Clear topoclimatic gradients were identified using TAPM-generated meteorological data, suggesting that there is a characteristic set of topographically-mediated processes acting across these treelines in New Zealand. Further, different treeline study areas were grouped by distinct topoclimatic conditions as represented by these gradients, likely reflecting the way in which geographic differences in mountain characteristics and regional climates drive these patterns. It is well recognised that the size of mountain ranges and their orientation relative to prevailing winds, valley widths and slope angles all affect valley-scale thermodynamic processes that regulate wind speeds, temperature extremes, and atmospheric moisture levels at different locations (Sturman & Tapper, 2006). From a treeline research perspective, the ability to reliably identify and classify treeline study sites at more local scales in terms of their topoclimatic characteristics represents an ongoing gap in treeline research (Malanson et al., 2011), and our approach therefore shows promise in this regard. Further verification, using both field work and modelling, of the types of topoclimatic scenarios illuminated in this study would shed further light on particular aspects of topoclimatic effects at treelines.

Most of the treeline locations investigated in this study were positioned between 100 and 300 m below the potential study area maxima, suggesting that southern beech treelines at many locations across New Zealand are likely occurring well below their temperature-based limit. A recent GIS-based analysis of New Zealand beech treeline elevations (Case & Duncan, 2014) showed that there was considerable country-wide variation in beech treeline position across the country. At a more local scale, Wardle’s (1985a; 1985b; 1985c) observations of beech treelines in the South Island’s Craigieburn Range suggested that treelines in this region are locally-depressed in valley heads and gullies and in other situations where fire had cause past removal of forest. However, his estimates placed these treelines 100 m lower, at most, than what he considered to be climatic treeline. Clearly, based on results from the present study, beech treeline positions in New Zealand are more locally-variable than previously described. Certain areas of the country in particular, such as along the spine of the lower Southern Alps, display highly depressed treeline locations. On the whole, these results highlight the benefits of carrying out analyses of treeline features over large spatial extents in order to provide an accurate characterisation of treeline variability.

Treelines at sites located away from the wettest areas of New Zealand with relatively high mean growing season temperatures (>11.5-°C) were more likely to be situated closer to their maximum potential elevation. Variation in these factors essentially describes differences in regional thermal regimes across the 28 study areas; the effect of thermal regime on treeline position in this study is consistent with previous research that has shown that warmer, drier regions have higher treelines (Case & Duncan, 2014). At more local scales, results also indicate that New Zealand’s beech treelines are, indeed, higher and closer to their potential maximum growth limits on relatively steep, convex landform positions, consistent with Wardle’s (1985c) observations. This effect is contrary, however, to what is observed at many northern-hemisphere treelines, where more exposed convex sites have been shown to be typically unfavourable for tree establishment (Holtmeier, 2009). In the complex topography of New Zealand’s mountains, ridge-to-valley gully features occur regularly along valley sides and may act to channel slope-scale air movement (Sturman & Tapper, 2006), thus enhancing the detrimental effects mentioned above. Concave landform situations may also be indicative of where recurring avalanche and landslide disturbances occur. Thus, it is possible that southern beech species are able to reach higher elevations on convex, steeper slopes due to the more stable atmospheric and geomorphic conditions in these locations. Nonetheless, our results also indicate that extremely steep slope gradients (>100%) are associated with depressed treelines, likely a reflection of the physical constraints on tree establishment at such locations (Macias-Fauria & Johnson, 2013).

All topoclimatic stressors and ameliorators, as defined by our topoclimatic indices, were relatively highly important in explaining treeline deviations. In general, treelines deviated increasingly further downhill from their potential maximum elevations with increasing topoclimatic stress (i.e., desiccation, photoinhibition, and frost) but were closer to their maxima at locations with higher solar radiation input. The night-time movement of cold air from upper to lower elevations will increase the potential for frost and early morning photoinhibition, while strong daytime upslope wind movement will likely enhance desiccation conditions in both summer and winter. There will therefore likely be a combined effect of these stressors in certain locations at elevations lower than the maximum potential treeline. Cumulative effects can act across seasons; for instance, early summer frosts may disrupt the de-hardening of leaf tissues thereby exacerbating desiccation damage during the following winter (Cochrane & Slatyer, 1988). These types of stresses will act to maintain treelines locally at lower elevations, limiting their advance, despite possible warmer mean temperatures relative to higher elevations. Our results are also in line with field-based evidence of the detrimental effects of photoinhibition, desiccation, and frost on southern beech seedlings (Sakai & Wardle, 1973; Wardle, 1985a; Wardle, 1985b; Greer, Wardle & Buxton, 1989; Ball, Hodges & Laughlin, 1991; Harsch, 2010), and lend support to the general hypothesis that abrupt treeline boundaries form at elevations where strong effects of physiological stressors on seedling establishment override the more gradual effect of decreasing temperature with increasing elevation (Harsch & Bader, 2011). Further, the positive effect of solar radiation illustrated in our results has been also noted by a number of studies (Danby & Hik, 2007a; Danby & Hik, 2007b; Elliott & Kipfmueller, 2010; Case & Duncan, 2014), although this was not the case in others (Körner & Paulsen, 2004; Treml & Banaš, 2008). Higher summer insolation will generally lead to more favourable growing conditions and, thus, produce treelines that are closer to their climatically-driven maximum elevation.

It is well-recognised that treeline patterns are driven, in certain contexts, by non-linear, threshold-like responses to underlying environmental factors (Malanson, 2001; Danby & Hik, 2007b; Harsch & Bader, 2011). In this study there were clear threshold-type responses in the way treeline elevations deviated from their maxima in relation to many of the explanatory variables. For instance, treelines generally deviated further from their potential maximum elevations below a growing season temperature of about 11.5 °C, consistent with findings of Cieraad & McGlone (2014). Similarly, there was a clear and relatively abrupt shift of treelines toward higher elevations as terrain shape switched in form from concave to flat and then to convex. Further, threshold-like responses of treelines to several of the topoclimatic indices, including January and July photoinhibition and frost indices and July insolation, were also evident. On the whole, our results provide further evidence that specific levels of a factor, or sets of factors, can invoke abrupt responses in the physiological (e.g., carbon allocation), demographic (e.g., recruitment) and/or ecological (e.g., competition) mechanisms that underpin treeline formation.

Fifty percent of the variation in treeline elevation deviation could not be explained by our models; explanatory factors appeared to be most useful in predicting deviations of 300-m or less. It is highly likely that treeline elevation deviations of more than 300-m were driven by local disturbances that were not well-represented by our explanatory factors. The effects of disturbances, including those from fire (Ledgard & Davis, 2004), heavy winds (Martin & Ogden, 2006) and snowfalls (Wardle & Allen, 1984), and tectonic activity (Allen, Bellingham & Wiser, 1999; Haase, 1999; Vittoz, Steward & Duncan, 2001) are widespread and significant throughout southern beech forests and are apparent throughout many treeline zones (Wardle, 2008; Case & Hale, 2015). Further, southern beech species in New Zealand are generally slow to recolonise areas after removal, even in lower-elevation forests, due to strong competition with other species (Wiser, Allen & Platt, 1997). Thus, disturbance may be a confounding factor at many treeline sites in New Zealand and, without better datasets characterising the spatial distribution of local-scale disturbances across the country, it may be difficult to disentangle their effects from those due to climate. Further, finer scale microhabitat and microclimate effects on ecological interactions are likely also very important in allowing beech seedlings to establish above current positions (Harsch et al., 2012). In the case of abrupt treelines, positive feedback processes, where established trees facilitate the recruitment of nearby seedlings through environmental modification, are critical in enabling these treelines to advance (Wiegand et al., 2006).

Conclusions

This study has demonstrated that models such as TAPM have potential for enabling local-scale investigations of topoclimatic effects at treeline. Clearly, two of the biggest advantages are the generation of spatially-explicit data useful for characterising stress-related effects and the ability to produce these data at any location. However, it is important to recognise that meteorological data for one year may not be representative of typical topoclimatic conditions occurring at a given location, and it would therefore be useful to average model data over longer periods and for other critical parts of the year such as late spring and early autumn. Overall, we show that landform, topoclimatic, and regional factors together can explain half the variation in local treeline elevation variation and that their influences are geographically-structured and typically non-linear in nature. Ultimately, results from this study could be used to characterise sites with different topoclimatic situations where investigations of local scale microclimate and biotic interactions could be investigated.

Supplemental Information