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Geographic range predicts photosynthetic and growth response to warming in co-occurring tree species

Nature Climate Change volume 5, pages 148–152 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Populations near the warm edge of species ranges may be particularly sensitive to climate change1,2,3,4, but lack of empirical data on responses to warming represents a key gap in understanding future range dynamics. Herein we document the impacts of experimental warming on the performance of 11 boreal and temperate forest species that co-occur at the ecotone between these biomes in North America5. We measured in situ net photosynthetic carbon gain and growth of >4,100 juvenile trees from local seed sources exposed to a chamberless warming experiment that used infrared heat lamps and soil heating cables to elevate temperatures by +3.4 °C above- and belowground6 for three growing seasons across 48 plots at two sites. In these ecologically realistic field settings, species growing nearest their warm range limit exhibited reductions in net photosynthesis and growth, whereas species near their cold range limit responded positively to warming. Differences among species in their three-year growth responses to warming parallel their photosynthetic responses to warming, suggesting that leaf-level responses may scale to whole-plant performance. These responses are consistent with the hypothesis, from observational data and models4,7,8,9,10, that warming will reduce the competitive ability of currently dominant southern boreal species compared with locally rarer co-occurring species that dominate warmer neighbouring regions.

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Figure 1: Effect of warming on in situ net photosynthesis in relation to metrics of species geographic distribution.
Figure 2: Effect of warming on stem biomass growth in relation to metrics of species geographic distribution.
Figure 3: Growth response to warming in relation to net photosynthetic response to warming.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Office of Science (BER), US Department of Energy, 385 Grant No. DE-FG02-07ER64456, by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and by the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resources Sciences and Wilderness Research Foundation, University of Minnesota. Assistance with experimental operation and data collection was provided by C. Buschena, C. Zhao, K. Gill, H. Jihua, X. Wei and numerous summer interns. We also thank N. Danz, J. Almendinger and K. Zhu for assistance in identifying the range limits and local ecotonal distributions of species, and A. Pierce for operational support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA

    Peter B. Reich, Kerrie M. Sendall, Karen Rice, Roy L. Rich, Artur Stefanski & Rebecca A. Montgomery

  2. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, New South Wales 2753, Australia

    Peter B. Reich

  3. Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA

    Sarah E. Hobbie

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  1. Peter B. Reich
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Contributions

P.B.R., R.A.M., S.E.H. and R.L.R. designed the study. R.L.R. designed the warming system. K.M.S., K.R. and A.S. implemented the warming system and/or day-to-day field measurements. P.B.R. analysed the data. P.B.R. and the other co-authors jointly wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Peter B. Reich.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Reich, P., Sendall, K., Rice, K. et al. Geographic range predicts photosynthetic and growth response to warming in co-occurring tree species. Nature Clim Change 5, 148–152 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2497

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