Warmer Winter Ground Temperatures Trigger RapidGrowth of Dahurian Larch in the PermafrostForests of Northeast ChinaXianliang Zhang1,2, Xueping Bai1, Meiting Hou3, Zhenju Chen1,and Rubén D. Manzanedo4,51College of Forestry, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China,2College of Forestry, Hebei AgriculturalUniversity, Baoding, China,3China Meteorological Administration Training Centre, China MeteorologicalAdministration, Beijing, China,4Harvard Forest, Harvard University, Petersham, MA, USA,5Biology Department,University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USAAbstractPermafrost degradation due to rapid increase in ground surface temperature (GST) in recentyears may strongly affect boreal forest ecosystems. However, comparatively few studies have exploredhow changes in permafrost affect tree growth dynamics in boreal forest. Here, we used a tree ring network of12 Dahurian larch (Larix gmelinii) sites across permafrost regions in northeast China. We observed anincrease inL. gmeliniigrowth over the past decade, seemingly linked to a shift in their climatic limitations,where winter GST has become the most strongly limiting factor forL. gmeliniigrowth. The recent increase ingrowth was particularly strong in older trees (>300 years), which could be related to older trees having amore developed root system. GST was the
http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2018JG004882