limate-growth relations of congeneric tree species vary across a tropical vegetation gradient in Brazi

Autor(es)

Aragao, V, Jose Roberto ; Zuidema, Pieter A. ^[1] ; Groenendijk, Peter ^[2]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Wageningen Univ, Forest Ecol & Forest Management Grp, Wageningen - Netherlands

^[2] Aragao, Jose Roberto, V, Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Biol, Dept Plant Biol, UNICAMP, POB 6109, BR-13083970 Campinas, SP - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: DENDROCHRONOLOGIA; v. 71, FEB 2022.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Seasonally dry tropical forests are an important global climatic regulator, a main driver of the global carbon sink dynamics and are predicted to suffer future reductions in their productivity due to climate change. Yet, little is known about how interannual climate variability affects tree growth and how climate-growth responses vary across rainfall gradients in these forests. Here we evaluate changes in climate sensitivity of tree growth along an environmental gradient of seasonally dry tropical vegetation types (evergreen forest - savannah - dry forest) in Northeastern Brazil, using congeneric species of two common neotropical genera: Aspidosperma and Handroanthus. We built tree-ring width chronologies for each species x forest type combinations and explored how growth variability correlated with local (precipitation, temperature) and global (the El Nino Southern Oscillation-ENSO) climatic factors. We also assessed how growth sensitivity to climate and the presence of growth deviations varied along the gradient. Precipitation stimulates tree growth and was the main growth-influencing factor across vegetation types. Trees in the dry forest site showed highest growth sensitivity to interannual variation in precipitation. Temperature and ENSO phenomena correlated negatively with growth and sensitivity to both climatic factors were similar across sites. Negative growth deviations were present and found mostly in the dry-forest species. Our results reveal a dominant effect of precipitation on tree growth in seasonally dry tropical forests and suggest that along the gradient, dry forests are the most sensitivity to drought. These forests may therefore be the most vulnerable to the deleterious effects of future climatic changes. These results highlight the importance of understanding the climatic sensitivity of different tropical forests. This understanding is key to predict the carbon dynamics in tropical regions, and sensitivity differences should be considered when prioritizing conservation measures of seasonally dry topical forests. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 18/01847-0 - DendroGrad: aplicando anéis de crescimento, anatomia da madeira e atributos hidráulicos em um gradiente ambiental para avaliar as respostas de crescimento de três espécies tropicais à fertilização por CO2
• Beneficiário: Peter Stoltenborg Groenendyk
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Jovens Pesquisadores
• Processo FAPESP: 18/24514-7 - Avaliação do crescimento arbóreo em um gradiente Mata Atlântica - Cerrado - Caatinga e suas relações com as mudanças climáticas
• Beneficiário: José Roberto Vieira Aragão
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado