Divergent climate-growth relationships of co-occurring pioneer species under contrasting stand histories in temperate secondary forests
4 affiliations
- 1CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Silviculture, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110016, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
- 2Academy of Forestry Sciences of Jilin City, 132021, China
- 3CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Silviculture, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110016, China; Corresponding authors at: CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Silviculture, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
- 4CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Silviculture, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110016, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China; Corresponding authors at: CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Silviculture, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
Abstract
Pioneer trees dominate early biomass accumulation and carbon sequestration in temperate secondary forests; however, how their climate–growth relationships vary across contrasting stand histories remains unclear. Here, we compared climate–growth relationships of Betula platyphylla (birch) and Populus davidiana (aspen) between unmanaged and historically managed temperate secondary forests in Northeast China using 818 increment cores. We developed species- and management-specific ring-width chronologies and integrated moving-window correlations, cross-validated random forest selection and partial dependence analysis to identify key climatic predictors and nonlinear growth responses. We found that the climatic associations on radial growth differed between species and management types. Birch growth was more strongly associated with temperature-related predictors, with unmanaged stands showing a negative growth response beyond an empirical growth-response boundary of approximately 10.5 °C in current June minimum temperature, while managed stands exhibited a shifted thermal response associated with previous November maximum temperature. In contrast, aspen growth was mainly related to precipitation, with leading precipitation-related predictors differing from current summer precipitation in unmanaged stands to previous winter precipitation in managed stands. Projected climate conditions resulted in more frequent and consistent exceedance of temperature-related empirical growth-response boundaries for birch than aspen, indicating greater warming sensitivity of birch growth. These findings indicate that the dominant climatic associations and seasonal response windows of pioneer-tree growth differ between contrasting stand histories, highlighting the importance of considering species-specific climatic responses and stand-history contexts in adaptive management of temperate secondary forests.
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BibTeX
@article{wu2026divergent,
title = {{Divergent climate-growth relationships of co-occurring pioneer species under contrasting stand histories in temperate secondary forests}},
author = {Zhichao Wu and Mian Xia and Yi Wang and Li Zhou and Chongyang Lv and Yansong Zhang and Dapao Yu},
journal = {Trees, Forests and People},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101530},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101530},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Divergent climate-growth relationships of co-occurring pioneer species under contrasting stand histories in temperate secondary forests
AU - Zhichao Wu
AU - Mian Xia
AU - Yi Wang
AU - Li Zhou
AU - Chongyang Lv
AU - Yansong Zhang
AU - Dapao Yu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - Trees, Forests and People
DO - 10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101530
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101530
AB - Pioneer trees dominate early biomass accumulation and carbon sequestration in temperate secondary forests; however, how their climate–growth relationships vary across contrasting stand histories remains unclear. Here, we compared climate–growth relationships of Betula platyphylla (birch) and Populus davidiana (aspen) between unmanaged and historically managed temperate secondary forests in Northeast China using 818 increment cores. We developed species- and management-specific ring-width chronologies and integrated moving-window correlations, cross-validated random forest selection and partial dependence analysis to identify key climatic predictors and nonlinear growth responses. We found that the climatic associations on radial growth differed between species and management types. Birch growth was more strongly associated with temperature-related predictors, with unmanaged stands showing a negative growth response beyond an empirical growth-response boundary of approximately 10.5 °C in current June minimum temperature, while managed stands exhibited a shifted thermal response associated with previous November maximum temperature. In contrast, aspen growth was mainly related to precipitation, with leading precipitation-related predictors differing from current summer precipitation in unmanaged stands to previous winter precipitation in managed stands. Projected climate conditions resulted in more frequent and consistent exceedance of temperature-related empirical growth-response boundaries for birch than aspen, indicating greater warming sensitivity of birch growth. These findings indicate that the dominant climatic associations and seasonal response windows of pioneer-tree growth differ between contrasting stand histories, highlighting the importance of considering species-specific climatic responses and stand-history contexts in adaptive management of temperate secondary forests.
SN - 2666-7193
ER -