The effect of provenance of historical timber on tree-ring based temperature reconstructions in the Western Central Alps

doi:10.3832/ifor3412-013

The effect of provenance of historical timber on tree-ring based temperature reconstructions in the Western Central Alps

Dana FC Riechelmann^(1-2) , Claudia Hartl⁽²⁾, Jan Esper⁽²⁾

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 13, Issue 5, Pages 351-359 (2020)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor3412-013
Published: Aug 25, 2020 - Copyright © 2020 SISEF

Research Articles

PDF Version

Full Text

Citation

Geo-mapping

Millennial-length tree-ring width chronologies are used to reconstruct temperature and place recent warming into historical context. The Simplon valley in the Western Central Alps is an ideal region for such a study as it provides historical timber back to medieval times which can be combined with temperature sensitive living larch trees. However, the exact provenance of the historical timber is unknown, but might origin from different elevations which potentially biases derived temperature reconstructions. To study the effect of elevation on tree growth and climate sensitivity, approximately 250 trees at three elevational levels (1500, 1700, and 2000 m a.s.l.) were sampled. Results indicate that the overall growth rate decreases with increasing elevation. Significant correlations between tree-ring width and summer temperature are recorded at tree sites ≥ 1700 m a.s.l. The comparison of the growth patterns between living trees and historical timber from Simplon Village (1476 m a.s.l.) reveals a most likely origin of the historical samples between 1700 and 2000 m a.s.l. When combining the data from the living trees at the different elevational levels with the historical timber, to produce three separate chronologies spanning the past 1200 years, substantial low frequency differences are recorded after RCS detrending the data. This finding demonstrates that the origin of samples in combined (living + historical) chronologies has a strong influence on long-term summer temperature reconstructions. It is thus important to analyse the growth characteristics of historical timber, and estimate their provenance in comparison to living trees, when producing millennial length chronologies.

Keywords

Elevational Transect, European Larch, Climate Response, Summer Temperature, Dendrochronology

Authors’ address

(1)

0000-0002-3863-8216
Institute for Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Johann-Joachim-Becher-Weg 21, D-55128 Mainz (Germany)

(2)

0000-0002-3863-8216
0000-0001-9492-4674
0000-0003-3919-014X
Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Johann-Joachim-Becher-Weg 21, D-55128 Mainz (Germany)

Corresponding author

Dana FC Riechelmann
riechelm@uni-mainz.de

Citation

Riechelmann DFC, Hartl C, Esper J (2020). The effect of provenance of historical timber on tree-ring based temperature reconstructions in the Western Central Alps. iForest 13: 351-359. - doi: 10.3832/ifor3412-013

Academic Editor

Giorgio Alberti

Paper history

Received: Mar 24, 2020
Accepted: Jun 29, 2020

First online: Aug 25, 2020
Publication Date: Oct 31, 2020
Publication Time: 1.90 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Breakdown by View Type

(Waiting for server response...)

Article Usage

Total Article Views: 33391
(from publication date up to now)

Breakdown by View Type
HTML Page Views: 29674
Abstract Page Views: 1684
PDF Downloads: 1566
Citation/Reference Downloads: 0
XML Downloads: 467

Web Metrics
Days since publication: 1549
Overall contacts: 33391
Avg. contacts per week: 150.90

Article Citations

Article citations are based on data periodically collected from the Clarivate Web of Science web site
(last update: Feb 2023)

Total number of cites (since 2020): 1
Average cites per year: 0.25

(no Plumx Metrics available for this paper)

Publication Metrics

by Dimensions ^©

Articles citing this article

List of the papers citing this article based on CrossRef Cited-by.

(1)

Affolter P, Büntgen U, Esper J, Rigling A, Weber P, Luterbacher J, Frank D (2010)
Inner Alpine conifer response to 20th century drought swings. European Journal of Forest Research 129: 289-298.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(2)

Babst F, Poulter B, Trouet V, Tan K, Neuwirth B, Wilson R, Carrer M, Grabner M, Tegel W, Levanic T, Panayotov M, Urbinati C, Bouriaud O, Ciais P, Frank D (2012)
Site- and species-specific responses of forest growth to climate across the European continent. Global Ecology and Biogeography 22: 706-717.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(3)

Baltensweiler W, Weber UM, Cherubini P (2008)
Tracing the influence of larch-bud-moth insect outbreaks and weather conditions on larch tree-ring growth in Engadine (Switzerland). Oikos 117: 161-172.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(4)

Böhm R, Auer I, Brunetti M, Maugeri M, Nanni T, Schöner W (2001)
Regional temperature variability in the European Alps: 1760-1998 from homogenized instrumental time series. International Journal of Climatology 21: 1779-1801.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(5)

Bunn AG, Korpela M, Biondi F, Campelo F, Mérian P, Qeadan F, Zang C (2020)
dplR: dendrochronology program library in R. R package version 1.7.1.
Online | Gscholar

(6)

Büntgen U, Esper J, Frank DC, Nicolussi K, Schmidhalter M (2005)
A 1052-year tree-ring proxy for Alpine summer temperatures. Climate Dynamics 25: 141-153.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(7)

Büntgen U, Frank DC, Nievergelt D, Esper J (2006)
Summer temperature variations in the European Alps, A.D. 755-2004. Journal of Climate 19: 5606-5623.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(8)

Büntgen U, Frank D, Liebhold A, Johnson D, Carrer M, Urbinati C, Grabner M, Nicolussi K, Levanic T, Esper J (2009)
Three centuries of insect outbreaks across the European Alps. New Phytologist 182: 929-941.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(9)

Büntgen U, Raible CC, Frank D, Helama S, Cunningham L, Hofer D, Nievergelt D, Verstege A, Timonen M, Stenseth NC, Esper J (2011a)
Causes and consequences of past and projected Scandinavian summer temperatures, 500-2100 AD. PLoS One 6: e25133.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(10)

Büntgen U, Tegel W, Nicolussi K, McCormick M, Frank D, Trouet V, Kaplan JO, Herzig F, Heussner K-U, Wanner H, Luterbacher J, Esper J (2011b)
2500 years of European climate variability and human susceptibility. Science 331: 578-582.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(11)

Carrer M, Urbinati C (2006)
Long-term change in the sensitivity of tree-ring growth to climate forcing in Larix decidua. New Phytologist 170: 861-872.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(12)

Cerrato R, Cherubini P, Buntgen U, Coppola A, Salvatore M, Baroni C (2019)
Tree-ring-based reconstruction of larch budmoth outbreaks in the Central Italian Alps since 1774 CE. iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry 12: 289-296.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(13)

Cook ER (1985)
A time series analysis approach to tree ring standardization (dendrochronology, forestry, dendroclimatology, autoregressive process). PhD thesis, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA, pp. 171.
Online | Gscholar

(14)

Cook ER, Briffa KR, Meko DM, Graybill DA, Funkhouser G (1995)
The “segment length curse” in long tree-ring chronology development for palaeoclimatic studies. The Holocene 5: 229-237.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(15)

Cook ER, Peters K (1997)
Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic and environmental change. The Holocene 7: 361-370.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(16)

Corona C, Guiot J, Edouard JL, Chalié F, Büntgen U, Nola P, Urbinati C (2010)
Millennium-long summer temperature variations in the European Alps as reconstructed from tree rings. Climate of the Past 6: 379-400.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(17)

Düthorn E, Holzkämper S, Timonen M, Esper J (2013)
Influence of micro-site conditions on tree-ring climate signals and trends in central and northern Sweden. Trees 27: 1395-1404.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(18)

Düthorn E, Schneider L, Günther B, Gläser S, Esper J (2016)
Ecological and climatological signals in tree-ring width and density chronologies along a latitudinal boreal transect. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 31: 750-757.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(19)

Esper J, Cook ER, Krusic PJ, Peters K (2003)
Tests of the RCS method for preserving low-frequency variability in long tree-ring chronologies. Tree-Ring Research 59: 81-98.
Online | Gscholar

(20)

Esper J, Büntgen U, Frank DC, Nievergelt D, Liebhold A (2007)
1200 years of regular outbreaks in alpine insects. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 274: 671-679.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(21)

Esper J, Niederer R, Bebi P, Frank D (2008)
Climate signal age effects - Evidence from young and old trees in the Swiss Engadin. Forest Ecology and Management 255: 3783-3789.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(22)

Esper J, Krusic PJ, Peters K, Frank D (2009)
Exploration of long-term growth changes using tree-ring detrending programm “Spotty”. Dendrochronologia 27: 75-82.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(23)

Esper J, Frank DC, Timonen M, Zorita E, Wilson RJS, Luterbacher J, Holzkamper S, Fischer N, Wagner S, Nievergelt D, Verstege A, Büntgen U (2012)
Orbital forcing of tree-ring data. Nature Climate Change 2: 862-866.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(24)

Esper J, Düthorn E, Krusic PJ, Timonen M, Büntgen U (2014)
Northern European summer temperature variations over the Common Era from integrated tree-ring density records. Journal of Quaternary Science 29: 487-494.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(25)

Esper J, Klippel L, Krusic PJ, Konter O, Raible CC, Xoplaki E, Luterbacher J, Büntgen U (2020a)
Eastern Mediterranean summer temperatures since 730 CE from Mt. Smolikas tree-ring densities. Climate Dynamics 54: 1367-1382.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(26)

Esper J, Riechelmann DFC, Holzkämper S (2020b)
Circumferential and longitudinal δ¹³C variability in a Larix decidua trunk from the Swiss Alps. Forests 11: 117.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(27)

Frank D, Esper J (2005)
Temperature reconstructions and comparisons with instrumental data from a tree-ring network for the European Alps. International Journal of Climatology 25: 1437-1454.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(28)

Frank D, Esper J, Cook ER (2007)
Adjustment for proxy number and coherence in a large-scale temperature reconstruction. Geophysical Research Letters 34 (16): 87.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(29)

Gärtner H, Nievergelt D (2010)
The core-microtome: a new tool for surface preparation on cores and time series analysis of varying cell parameters. Dendrochronologia 28: 85-92.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(30)

Hartl-Meier C, Dittmar C, Zang C, Rothe A (2014a)
Mountain forest growth response to climate change in the Northern Limestone Alps. Trees 28: 819-829.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(31)

Hartl-Meier C, Zang C, Dittmar C, Esper J, Göttlein A, Rothe A (2014b)
Vulnerability of Norway spruce to climate change in mountain forests of the European Alps. Climate Research 60: 119-132.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(32)

Hartl-Meier C, Zang C, Büntgen U, Esper J, Rothe A, Göttlein A, Dirnböck T, Treydte K (2015)
Uniform climate sensitivity in tree-ring stable isotopes across species and sites in a mid-latitude temperate forest. Tree Physiology 35: 4-15.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(33)

Hartl-Meier C, Büntgen U, Esper J (2016)
On the occurence of cyclic larch budmoth outbreaks beyond its geographic hotspots. In: Proceedings of the 14th TRACE conference “Tree Rings in Archaeology, Climatology and Ecology” (Hevia A, Sánchez-Salguero R, Linares JC, Olano JM, Camarero JJ, Gutiérrez E, Helle G, Gärtner H eds). Sevilla (Spain) 20-23 May 2015. Scientific Technical Report STR 16/04, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Postdam, Germany, pp. 86-92.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(34)

Hartl-Meier C, Esper J, Liebhold A, Konter O, Rothe A, Büntgen U (2017)
Effects of host abundance on larch budmoth outbreaks in the European Alps. Agricultural and Forest Entomology 19 (4): 376-387.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(35)

Holmes RL (1983)
Computer-assisted quality control in tree-ring dating and measurment. Tree-Ring Bulletin 43: 69-78.
Online | Gscholar

(36)

Konter O, Büntgen U, Carrer M, Timonen M, Esper J (2016)
Climate signal age effects in boreal tree-rings: lessons to be learned for paleoclimatic reconstructions. Quaternary Science Reviews 142: 164-172.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(37)

Konter O, Büntgen U, Carrer M, Esper J (2017)
Testing for climate signal age effects at two treeline sites in the European Alps and Tatra Mountains. Tree rings in archeology, climatology and ecology. In: Proceedings of the DENDROSYMPOSIUM 2016. Bialowieza (Poland) 11-15 May 2016. STR 17/01, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Postdam, Germany, pp. 59-65.
Online | Gscholar

(38)

Ljungqvist FC (2010)
A new reconstruction of temperature variability in the extra-tropical northern hemiasphere during the last two millenia. Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography 92 (3): 339-351.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(39)

Moser L, Fonti P, Büntgen U, Esper J, Luterbacher J, Franzen J, Frank D (2009)
Timing and duration of European larch growing season along altitudinal gradients in the Swiss Alps. Tree Physiology 30 (2): 225-233.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(40)

Nehrbass-Ahles C, Babst F, Klesse S, Nötzli M, Bouriaud O, Neukom R, Dobbertin M, Frank D (2014)
The influence of sampling design on tree-ring-based quantification of forest growth. Global Change Biology 20 (9): 2867-2885.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(41)

Nicolussi K, Kaufmann M, Melvin TM, Van Der Plicht J, Schieling P, Thurner A (2009)
A 9111 year long conifer tree-ring chronology for the European Alps: a base for environmental and climatic investigations. The Holocene 19 (6): 909-920.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(42)

R Core Team (2018)
R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.
Online | Gscholar

(43)

Riechelmann DFC, Schmidhalter M, Büntgen U, Esper J (2013)
Extending a high-elevation larch ring width chronology from the Simplon region in the Swiss Alps over the past millennium. Tree rings in archeology, climatology and ecology. TRACE 11: 103-107.
Online | Gscholar

(44)

Riechelmann DFC, Greule M, Treydte K, Esper J, Keppler F (2016)
Climate signals in δ¹³C of wood lignin methoxyl groups from high-elevation larch trees. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 445: 60-71.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(45)

Rolland C, Baltensweiler W, Petitcolas V (2001)
The potential for using Larix decidua ring widths in reconstructions of larch budmoth (Zeiraphera diniana) outbreak history: dendrochronological estimates compared with insect surveys. Trees - Structure and Function 15: 414-424.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(46)

Savva Y, Oleksyn J, Reich PB, Tjoelker MG, Vaganov EA, Modrzynski J (2006)
Interannual growth response of Norway spruce to climate along an altitudinal gradient in the Tatra Mountains, Poland. Trees 20 (6): 735-746.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(47)

Sidor CG, Popa I, Vlad R, Cherubini P (2015)
Different tree-ring responses of Norway spruce to air temperature across an altitudinal gradient in the Eastern Carpathians (Romania). Trees 29: 985-997.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(48)

Speer JH (2010)
Fundamentals of tree-ring research. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ, USA, pp. 333.
Online | Gscholar

(49)

Tegel W, Vanmoerkerke J, Büntgen U (2010)
Updating historical tree-ring records for climate reconstruction. Quaternary Science Reviews 29: 1957-1959.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(50)

Treydte K, Schleser GH, Schweingruber FH, Winiger M (2001)
The climatic significance of δ¹³C in subalpine spruces (Lötschental, Swiss Alps). Tellus B 53: 593-611.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(51)

Weber UM (1997)
Dendroecological reconstruction and interpretation of larch budmoth (Zeiraphera diniana) outbreaks in two central alpine valleys of Switzerland from 1470-1990. Trees - Structure and Function 11: 277-290.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(52)

Wigley TML, Briffa KR, Jones PD (1984)
On the average value of correlated time series, with applications in dendroclimatology and hydrometeorology. Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology 23: 201-213.
CrossRef | Gscholar

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry

Contents

Search

Journal Info

Journal Subjects and Fields

For Authors

For Reviewers

For Readers

SISEF Publishing

Search iForest Contents