Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Inner Alpine conifer response to 20th century drought swings

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
European Journal of Forest Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Tree rings from the Alpine area have been widely used to reconstruct variations in summer temperature. In contrast, estimates of changes in the hydrological cycle are rather scarce. In order to detect altitudinal and species-specific patterns of growth responses to anomalous dry and wet conditions, a large network of 53 tree-ring width site chronologies along the Rhone valley (Valais, Switzerland) covering the 1751–2005 period was compiled and analyzed. A total of 1,605 measurement series from four conifer species—pine, larch, spruce, fir—were detrended to allow inter-annual to multi-decadal scale variability to be preserved. Site chronologies were combined to four altitudinal (colline: <800 m asl, sub-montane: 800–1,000 m asl, montane: 1,000–1,450 m asl, sub-alpine: >1,450 m asl) and species-specific mean time-series. These records were compared with temperature, precipitation, and drought (scPDSI) data. Among the altitudinal records, the colline chronologies showed highest correlation with June precipitation and scPDSI (0.5 and 0.7). Altitudinal effects, via control on climatic conditions, were superimposed upon species-specific characteristics in affecting tree growth and response to moisture variations. In particular, species-specific differences affected the significance level of drought response, with decreasing drought sensitivity towards higher elevations. Growth conditions were found to be optimal at ~1,300 m asl, with precipitation/drought limiting tree growth below and temperature above. Common years of extreme drought and low growth for the colline sites occurred in 1921, 1944, 1976, 1992, and 1998. Our results demonstrate the potential of lower elevation conifers for reconstructing long-term changes in Alpine hydro-climate.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Auer I, 31 Co-authors (2007) HISTALP–historical instrumental climatological surface time series of the Greater Alpine Region. Int J Climatol 23:1–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Bigler C, Bräker OU, Bugmann H, Dobbertin M, Rigling A (2006) Drought as an inciting mortality factor in Scots Pine stands of the Valais, Switzerland. Ecosystems 9:330–343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brázdil R, Stepankova P, Kyncl T, Kyncl J (2002) Fir treering reconstruction of March–July precipitation in southern Moravia (Czech Republic), 1376–1996. Climate Res 20:223–239

    Google Scholar 

  • Brázdil R, Pfister C, Wanner H, von Storch H, Luterbacher J (2005) Historical climatology in Europe–the state of the art. Climatic Change 70:363–430

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büntgen U, Esper J, Frank DC, Nicolussi K, Schmidhalter M (2005) A 1052-year tree-ring proxy for Alpine summer temperatures. Clim Dyn 25:141–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büntgen U, Frank DC, Nievergelt D, Esper J (2006) Summer temperature variations in the European Alps, A.D. 755–2004. J Clim 19:5606–5623

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büntgen U, Frank DC, Kaczka RJ, Verstege A, Zwijacz-Kozica T, Esper J (2007) Growth responses to climate in a multi-species tree-ring network in the Western Carpathian Tatra Mountains, Poland and Slovakia. Tree Physiol 27:689–702

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Büntgen U, Frank DC, Wilson R, Carrer M, Urbinati C, Esper J (2008) Testing for tree-ring divergence in the European Alps. Global Change Biol 14:2443–2453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büntgen U, Brázdil R, Frank DC, Esper J (2009a) Three centuries of Slovakian drought dynamics. Clim Dyn. doi:10.1007/s00382-009-0563-2

  • Büntgen U, Frank D, Carrer M, Urbinati C, Esper J (2009b) Improving Alpine summer temperature reconstructions by increasing sample size. TRACE 7:36–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Büntgen U, Frank D, Franke J, Wilson R, Gonzalez-Rouco F, Esper J (2009c) Proxy number and location to reconstruct European climate variability. Clim Res (in review)

  • Cook ER, Peters K (1981) The smoothing spline: a new approach to standardizing forest interior tree-ring width series for dendroclimatic studies. Tree-Ring Bull 41:45–53

    Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook ER, Esper J, D’Arrigo R (2004) Extra-tropical northern hemisphere temperature variability over the past 1000 years. Quat Sci Rev 23:2063–2074

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dobbertin M, Rigling A (2006) Mistletoe (Viscum album ssp. austriacum) contributes to the Pinus sylvestris L. decline in the Rhone Valley of Switzerland. Forest Pathol 36:309–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dobbertin M, Mayer P, Wohlgemuth T, Feldmeyer-Christe E, Graf U, Zimmermann N, Rigling A (2005) The decline of Pinus sylvestris L. forests in the Swiss Rhone valley—a result of drought stress? Phyton 45:153–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Efthymiadis D, Jones PD, Briffa KR, Böhm R, Maugeri M (2007) Influence of large-scale atmospheric circulation on climate variability in the Greater Alpine Region of Europe. J Geophys Res 112:D12104. doi:10.1029/2006JD008021

  • Eilmann B, Weber P, Rigling A, Eckstein D (2006) The influence of drought on the wood structure of Pinus sylvestris L. and Quercus pubescens Willd. in Valais, Switzerland. Dendrochronologia 23:121–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esper J, Cook ER, Schweingruber FH (2002) Low-frequency signals in long tree-ring chronologies and the reconstruction of past temperature variability. Science 295:2250–2253

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Esper J, Frank DC, Büntgen U, Verstege A, Luterbacher J, Xoplaki E (2007) Long-term drought severity variations in Morocco. Geophys Res Lett 34:L17702. doi:10.1029/2007GL030844

  • Esper J, Niederer R, Bebi P, Frank DC (2008) Climate signal age effects—evidence from young and old trees in the Swiss Engadin. For Ecol Manag 255:3783–3789

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frank D, Esper J (2005a) Characterization and climate response patterns of a high-elevation, multi-species tree-ring network in the European Alps. Dendrochronologia 22:107–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frank D, Esper J (2005b) Temperature reconstructions and comparisons with instrumental data from a tree-ring network for the European Alps. Int J Climatol 25:1437–1454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frank D, Esper J, Cook ER (2007a) Adjustment for proxy number and coherence in a large-scale temperature reconstruction. Geophys Res Lett 34:L16709. doi:10.1029/2007GL030571

  • Frank D, Büntgen U, Böhm R, Maugeri M, Esper J (2007b) Warmer early instrumental measurements versus colder reconstructed temperatures: shooting at a moving target. Quat Sci Rev 26:3298–3310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedrichs D, Büntgen U, Esper J, Frank D, Neuwirth B, Löffler J (2009) Complex climate controls on 20th century oak growth in Central-West Germany. Tree Physiol 29:39–51

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fritts HC (1976) Tree rings and climate. Academic Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Gärtner H, Esper J, Rigling A, Treydte K, Cherubini P (2004) Geomorphologie und Jahrringe–Feldmethoden in der Dendrogeomorphologie. Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Forstwesen 155:198–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gimmi U, Luterbacher J, Pfister C, Wanner H (2007) A method to reconstruct long precipitation series using systematic descriptive observations in weather diaries: the example of the precipitation series for Bern, Switzerland (1760–2003). Theor Appl Climatol 87:185–197

    Google Scholar 

  • Gimmi U, Burgi M, Stuber M (2008) Reconstructing anthropogenic disturbance regimes in forest ecosystems: a case study from the Swiss Rhone Valley. Ecosystems 11:113–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huntington GT (2005) Evidence for intensification of the global water cycle: review and synthesis. J Hydrol 319:83–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2007) Climate Change 2007: the physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the IPCC. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York

  • Kienast F, Schweingruber FH, Braeker OU, Schaer E (1987) Tree-ring studies on conifers along ecological gradients and the potential of single-year analyses. Can J Forest Res 17:683–696

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leal S, Eamus D, Grabner M, Wimmer R, Cherubini P (2008) Tree rings of Pinus nigra from the Vienna basin region (Austria) show evidence of change in climatic sensitivity in the late 20th century. Can J Forest Res 38:744–759

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matti C, Pauling A, Küttel M, Wanner H (2009) Winter precipitation trends for two selected European regions over the last 500 years and their possible dynamical background. Theor Appl Climatol 95:9–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell TD, Jones PD (2005) An improved method of constructing a database of monthly climate observations and associated high-resolution grids. Int J Climatol 25:693–712

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nemani RR, Keeling CD, Hashimoto H, Jolly WM, Piper SC, Tucker CJ, Myneni RB, Running SW (2003) Climate-driven increases in global terrestrial net primary production from 1982 to 1999. Science 300:1560–1563

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neuwirth B, Esper J, Schweingruber FH, Winiger M (2004) Site ecological differences to the climatic forcing of spruce pointer years from the Lötschental, Switzerland. Dendrochronologia 21:69–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oberhuber W, Kofler W (2002) Dendroclimatological spring rainfall reconstruction for an inner Alpine dry valley. Theor Appl Climatol 71:97–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oberhuber W, Stumböck M, Kofler W (1998) Climate-tree-growth relationships of Scots pine stands (Pinus sylvestris L.) exposed to soil dryness. Trees 13:19–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Pauling A, Luterbacher J, Casty C, Wanner H (2006) Five hundred years of gridded high-resolution precipitation reconstructions over Europe and the connection to large-scale circulation. Clim Dyn 26:387–405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rigling A, Waldner P, Forster T, Bräker OU, Pouttu A (2001) Ecological interpretation of tree ring width and intra-annual density fluctuations of Pinus sylvestris L. from dry sites of the central Alps and Siberia. Can J For Res 31:18–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rigling A, Bräker OU, Schneiter G, Schweingruber FH (2002) Intra-annual tree-ring parameters indicating differences in drought stress of Scots pine forests within the Erico-Pinion in the Valais, Switzerland. Plant Ecol 163:105–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rigling A, Brühlhart H, Bräker OU, Forster T, Schweingruber FH (2003) Irrigation effect on tree growth and vertical resin duct production of Pinus sylvestris L. on dry sites in the Central Alps, Switzerland. For Ecol Manag 163:105–121

    Google Scholar 

  • Schweingruber FH, Nogler P (2003) Synopsis and climatological interpretation of Central European tree-ring sequences. Botan Helv 113:125–143

    Google Scholar 

  • Stott P, Mitchell JFB, Allen MR, Delworth TL, Gregory JM, Meehl GA, Santer BD (2006) Observational constraints on past attributable warming and predictions of future global warming. J Clim 19:3055–3069

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Straile D, Stenseth NC (2007) The North Atlantic oscillation and ecology: links between historical time-series, and lessons regarding future climate warming. Clim Res 34:259–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strumia G, Wimmer R, Grabner M (1997) Dendroclimatic sensitivity of Pinus Nigra Arnold in Austria. Dendrochronologia 15:129–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Trenberth KE (1984) Some effects of finite sample size and persistence on meteorological statistics. Part I: Autocorrelations. Mon Weather Rev 112:2359–2368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treydte KS, Schleser GH, Helle G, Frank DC, Winiger M, Haug GH, Esper J (2006) The 20th century was the wettest period in northern Pakistan over the past millennium. Nature 440:1179–1182

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van der Schrier G, Briffa KR, Jones PD, Osborn TJ (2006) Summer moisture variability across Europe. J Clim 19:2828–2834

    Google Scholar 

  • van der Schrier G, Efthymiadis D, Briffa KR, Jones PD (2007) European Alpine moisture variability for 1800–2003. Int J Climatol 27:415–427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wanner H, Gyalistras D, Luterbacher J, Rickli R, Salvisberg E, Schmutz CH (2000) Klimawandel im Schweizer Alpenraum. Vdf Hochschulverlag AG, ETH, Zürich

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber P, Bugmann H, Rigling A (2007) Radial growth responses to drought of Pinus sylvestris and Quercus pubescens in an inner Alpine dry valley. J Veg Sci 18:777–792

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber P, Bugmann H, Fonti P, Rigling A (2008) Using a retrospective dynamic competition index to reconstruct forest succession. For Ecol Manag 254:96–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wigley TML, Briffa KR, Jones PD (1984) On the average of value of correlated time series, with applications in dendroclimatology and hydrometeorology. J Climatol Appl Meteorol 23:201–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson RJ, Luckman BH, Esper J (2005) A 500-year dendroclimatic reconstruction of spring-summer precipitation from the lower Bavarian forest region, Germany. In J Climatol 25:611–630

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X, Zwiers FW, Hegerl GC, Lambert FH, Gillett NP, Solomon S, Stott PA, Nozawa T (2007) Detection of human influence on twentieth-century precipitation trends. Nature 448:461–465

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank F. Schweingruber, F. Kienast, B. Eilmann, and P. Cherubini for providing tree-ring data. A. Verstege, D. Nievergelt, and M. Schmidhalter joint fieldwork. U. B. and D. F. were supported by the EC project Millennium (#017008) and the Swiss SNF project NCCR Climate. P. W. was supported by the Velux foundation. J. L. acknowledges support from the 7th EU Framework program ACQWA (Assessing Climate Impacts on the Quantity and Quality of Water, http://www.acqwa.ch/, # 212250).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography, University of Berne, Hallerstrasse 12, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Pascale Affolter

  2. Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Ulf Büntgen, Andreas Rigling, Pascale Weber & David Frank

  3. Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, Erlachstrasse 9a, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Ulf Büntgen & David Frank

  4. Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Becherweg 21, 55099, Mainz, Germany

    Jan Esper

  5. Department of Geography, Justus-Liebig-University, Senckenbergstrasse 1, 35390, Giessen, Germany

    Jürg Luterbacher

Authors
  1. Pascale Affolter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ulf Büntgen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jan Esper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Andreas Rigling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Pascale Weber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jürg Luterbacher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. David Frank
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ulf Büntgen.

Additional information

Communicated by C. Ammer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Affolter, P., Büntgen, U., Esper, J. et al. Inner Alpine conifer response to 20th century drought swings. Eur J Forest Res 129, 289–298 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-009-0327-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-009-0327-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation