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Intensity and timing of warming and drought differentially affect growth patterns of co-occurring Mediterranean tree species

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Abstract

Climate change involves warmer temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, increased climatic variability and, in Mediterranean regions, increased frequency and severity of droughts. Tree species may show different growth responses to these components of climatic change, which may trigger changes in forest composition and dominance. We assessed the influence of recent climatic changes on secondary growth of mature trees from four species co-occurring in a Mediterranean continental forest: Quercus ilex, Quercus faginea, Pinus nigra and Juniperus thurifera. We used dendrochronology to relate radial-growth variables [earlywood and latewood widths, basal area increment (BAI)] to annual and seasonal climatic variables for the period 1977–2007. Our results showed that Q. faginea BAI has declined, whereas J. thurifera BAI has increased over time while Q. ilex and P. nigra have maintained their growth rates. Growth was mainly favored by higher precipitations and tree size for all species. Reduced growth during extremely dry years was observed for all study species, but all of them except Q. faginea recovered their growth levels 2 years after drought. Our findings illustrate how the effects of climatic changes on growth should include analyses of seasonal climatic trends and extreme events such as severe droughts. We conclude that the seasonal timing of warming and precipitation alterations leading to drought events caused contrasting effects on growth of co-occurring Mediterranean tree species, compromising their future coexistence.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha, Director and Park rangers of the Alto Tajo Natural Park for the permission to carry out the study in the Park and for the information and facilities provided. Meteorological data for the reference station of Molina de Aragón were provided by the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Meteorología and local data were obtained from the DCAIP. We are very grateful to David L. Quiroga and Arben Q. Alla for their valuable support in the field. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry for Innovation and Science with the grants: FPI (CGL2007-66066-C04-02 to E.G.), Consolider Montes (CSD2008 00040), VULGLO (CGL2010 22180 C03 03) and by the Community of Madrid grant REMEDINAL 2 (CM S2009 AMB 1783). J. J. Camarero thanks the support of ARAID. This study was conceived and performed within the Globimed network.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio Internacional de Cambio Global (LINC-Global), Departamento de Biogeografía y Cambio Global, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, MNCN, CSIC, Serrano 115, dpdo, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    Elena Granda, Teresa E. Gimeno & Fernando Valladares

  2. ARAID, Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, IPE, CSIC, Av. Montañana 1005, 50192, Zaragoza, Spain

    J. Julio Camarero

  3. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, Sydney, NSW, 2751, Australia

    Teresa E. Gimeno

  4. Centro de Investigación Forestal, INIA, Carretera de la Coruña km 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Jesús Martínez-Fernández

  5. Departamento de Biología y Geología, ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Tulipán s/n, 28933, Móstoles, Spain

    Fernando Valladares

  6. Departament d’Ecologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda. Diagonal 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    J. Julio Camarero

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  1. Elena Granda
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  2. J. Julio Camarero
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  3. Teresa E. Gimeno
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  4. Jesús Martínez-Fernández
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  5. Fernando Valladares
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Correspondence to Elena Granda.

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Communicated by G. Kaendler.

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Granda, E., Camarero, J.J., Gimeno, T.E. et al. Intensity and timing of warming and drought differentially affect growth patterns of co-occurring Mediterranean tree species. Eur J Forest Res 132, 469–480 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-013-0687-0

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