A prominent stepwise advance of the tree line in north-east Finland

Abstract

Summary The elevational limit of trees (henceforth, the ‘tree line’) is widely considered to be a sensitive indicator of environmental change. Here, we document the 20th century tree line advance and increase in the tree population at the tree line ecotone, along a Pinus sylvestris-dominated slope in north-eastern Finland, in conditions where growth and recruitment have generally been linked to temperature variation. Using tree recruitment ages (growth to 1.3 m height) along an elevational transect, we compared recruitment to variation in environmental conditions associated with tree line dynamics, seed and cone crops, and reindeer densities. We further investigated the relationships among temperature and tree-level growth variables. Results show the existence of a former tree line at approximately 400 m a.s.l. and an advance of trees that began in the 1920s and reached the top of the fell (at 470 m a.s.l.) in the 1980s. During this time, the population density of P. sylvestris increased from 4 to 468 trees within the 5.6 ha study plot. Needle and shoot lengths were positively related to air temperature but recruitment was not. Average rate of P. sylvestris advance over the 20th century was consistent with earlier studies, but the temporal patterns of both upslope advance and population density increase were unexpected: both were characterized by a strongly stepwise pattern, culminating in a rapid advance and density increase in the 1970–1980s, and returning to low levels in the 1990s. Despite a positive relationship between growth and temperature variables at the tree level, climatic variables, or seed and cone crops were inconsistent with recruitment patterns. For most part of the 20th century, the increase corresponded to the gradual atmospheric CO2 increase, but of the variables screened only the changes in reindeer densities coincided with the stepwise pattern. Synthesis. Our results confirmed the connection between tree-level processes and temperature variability as expected from earlier studies. However, recruitment was not correlated with any of the environmental variables. Our findings point towards complex tree line dynamics, in which biotic agents may play a major role in mediating tree line response to environmental change.