Sabina Przewalskii Kom Research Articles

Tree ring-based annual streamflow reconstruction for the Heihe River in arid northwestern China from ad 575 and its implications for water resource management

We developed two tree ring-width chronologies (Qilian juniper, Sabina przewalskii Kom.) for the inland Heihe River Basin in arid northwest China using a large number of tree-ring samples (217 samples/92 trees) with accurate information about pith offsets based on Regional Curve Standardization (RCS) and standard dendrochronological (STD) methodologies. Two 1422-year reconstructions of annual (August–July) streamflow for the upstream region of the Heihe River are presented. The STD and RCS reconstructions account for 53.4% and 57.2% of the actual streamflow variance during the period 1958–2006, respectively. Both reconstructions display considerable low frequency (multidecadal to multicentury) fluctuations, although the RCS based reconstruction is superior to the STD based reconstruction for retention of low-frequency trends. Low-flow years in ad 818–852, 1112–1196, 1453–1495 and 1680–1710, and high-flow periods in ad 868–1000, 1056–1094, 1228–1271, 1327–1440, 1510–1583 and 1877–2006 are detected in both reconstructions. Both the STD and the RCS reconstructions testify to the fact that the 20th century witnessed intensified pluvial conditions in the upstream region of the Heihe River in the context of the last 1500 years. The streamflow reconstructions are anticipated to be useful to water resource planning and management for the Heihe River Basin in arid northwestern China.

A 200 year temperature record from tree ringδ13C at the Qaidam Basin of the Tibetan Plateau after identifying the optimum method to correct for changing atmospheric CO2andδ13C

[1] Improved understanding of climate influences on tree ring stable carbon isotope (δ13C) ratios for Qilian juniper (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) will improve prospects for long climate reconstructions in northwestern China's Qaidam Basin, where weather stations are widely scattered with relatively short records. Here, we developed an annual-resolution δ13C series from 1800 to 2005 for trees in this extremely arid, high-elevation area. As expected, a significant decline in δ13C (of about 3.5‰) occurred from 1850 to 2005 in response to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations and decreasing atmospheric δ13C. High-frequency correlation analysis based on comparison of the tree ring δ13C chronology with recorded weather parameters revealed that mean temperature during the current growing season (April–August) most strongly influenced tree ring δ13C discrimination from 1956 to 2005. To clarify the climatic implications of the long-term trend, we systematically compared four previously published approaches to remove the effects of decreasing atmospheric δ13C from the climate signals. The optimal correction, which accounted for the decline in atmospheric δ13C (δ13Ccor) and for a discrimination rate of about 0.016‰ ppmv−1 for the CO2 partial pressure, captured the strongest temperature signal (r = 0.75, P < 0.001). The historical mean April–August temperatures inferred from the correlations of tree ring δ13C with climate data revealed a persistent warming trend during the past two centuries, especially since the 1980s. Our results therefore reveal a high potential for reconstruction of growing season temperatures on a millennial scale in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau.

Eigen analysis of tree-ring records: part 3, taking heteroscedasticity and sampling effects into consideration

This paper reports on the further development of a new technique for standardization of tree-ring records called the eigen analysis of tree-ring records. The data are from the same sample set of 56 long-lived Qilian junipers (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) from the Dulan region in western China as was used in our previous paper (Yang et al. 2011b). To assess the heteroscedasticity of individual record deviations from the sample set regional curve (RC), we tested five different definitions of those deviations. Direct computations of eigenvectors of all relevant intrarecord covariation matrices turned out to be greatly affected by observational and computational noise; an analytic approximation of these vectors was therefore desirable. The Bessel function of the first kind and the zero order proved suitable for such an approximation, especially because the deviations were defined via subtraction of the RC from raw ring width records. Exclusion of the contributions of the first segment of the Bessel approximation, corresponding to the extremely large first eigenvalue, rendered individual record deviations from RC homoscedastic. Therefore, the routine Fourier basis became applicable to extract climate-dependent components of the residual deviations. A Fourier expansion of the Dulan chronology revealed the quasi-200-year-long solar activity cycle to be the main factor affecting Dulan tree growth.

Eigen analysis of tree-ring records: part 2, posing the eigen problem

The technique of expanding meteorological fields on eigenvectors of the field covariation matrix is popular. In this paper, we propose for the first time to use a mathematically similar technique to solve the main problem of dendrochronology: classifying variations in tree-ring records as either age- and microenvironment-dependent or climate-induced. Applying this technique to a sample of very long-lived Qilian junipers (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) from the Dulan region in western China, we demonstrate that the ring-width variations projected on the first eigenvector are age-dependent, but those projected on several of the first subsequent vectors are mainly climate-induced. In particular, the second and third projections capture multi-centennial climatic variations, and the variations projected on the fourth through seventh eigenvectors show periodic variations that are probably induced by the 178-year solar cycle. The projections on the smallest eigenvectors seem to be negligible.

Potential linkages between the moisture variability in the northeastern Qaidam Basin, China, since 1800 and the East Asian summer monsoon as reflected by tree ringδ18O

[1] We established the first annual resolution tree ring δ18O chronology of Qilian juniper (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) for the eastern margin of the Qaidam Basin, northwestern China. The mean tree ring cellulose δ18O in the study region (33.46‰ ± 0.99‰) was higher than that in the Qilian (28.7‰) and Helan Mountains (27.66‰), northwest China, and higher than the values in other published research (15.0‰ to 33.0‰), possibly as a result of the heavier δ18O in precipitation and the lower relative humidity (43%) during the growing season. The results of our simple correlation, bootstrap correlation, and response analyses showed that the cellulose δ18O was negatively and significantly correlated with relative humidity in July and August and that this correlation explained about 31.4% of the total variance in the moisture variability from 1954 to 2006. We also detected significant correlations among the Palmer drought severity index, the standard precipitation index, and the tree ring δ18O series. These analyses revealed that the summer relative humidity was the main limiting factor that affected δ18O values in the tree ring cellulose. Previous research indicates that the direct influence of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) reaches as far west as 100°E in China. However, our study revealed that the tree ring δ18O series was significantly correlated with the EASM index from 1873 to 1975, which means that the EASM influences moisture variability in the Qaidam Basin (farther west than 100°E) and that the tree ring δ18O chronology we obtained can be used as a proxy to study historical variability in the EASM.

Eigen analysis of tree-ring records: Part 1, a limited representativeness of regional curve

Based on a set of very long-living (2,000 years) Qilian junipers (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) from the north-eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau (the region of Dulan), we carefully consider the regional curve standardization (RCS) technique. For this goal, we correlate deviations of individual tree-ring width records from their regional mean age-dependent curve (RC). It turns out that these correlations keep their positivity for almost all shifts between ages compared (up to 500 years and even more) evidencing each Dulan juniper to be a unique “thermometer”. Just the unification of these “thermometers” in the form RC creates a spurious positive trend in the Dulan chronology. We modify the RCS technique to closer attach RC to these “thermometers” in order to construct a new chronology in which the trend is absent.

Climatic implications of a 3585-year tree-ring width chronology from the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

In this study we develop a tree-ring width chronology of Qilian juniper ( Sabina przewalskii Kom.) in the northeastern Qaidam Basin (northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau), China, which extends from 1580 BC to AD 2005 lasting 3585 years. This is by far the longest ring-width chronology in China. It is composed of archaeological wood samples from 13 sites, samples of living trees growing at a site with relatively good moisture condition and other long living trees from multiple sites approximately 100 m below the local upper treeline. Our results suggest that the archaeological wood and long living tree-ring width series belong to the same statistical population, which allows the construction of a single, regional composite chronology. We find that ring-width variations of the archaeological wood have statistical characteristics that are more similar to those trees from the lower part of the forest belt, where the moisture regime during the months at the onset of the growing season is the primary control on tree growth. Only after these analyses it becomes certain that the ring-width variations of the archaeological wood represent the variation of moisture conditions in the past. Therefore, the entire composite chronology is moisture-sensitive and suitable for reconstruction of the drought history and the related climate forcing over the past three millennia in the study region. The composite chronology shows considerable variations at inter-decadal to centennial timescales, with ten major multi-decadal low-growth periods corresponding to severe drought events in the past 2850 years, especially for two prominent events centered on AD 1480s and AD 1710s. On the other hand, significant high-growth periods were found centered on AD 590s and AD 1570s, and also in the past 30 years.

Intensified pluvial conditions during the twentieth century in the inland Heihe River Basin in arid northwestern China over the past millennium

Past streamflow variability is of special significance in the inland river basin, i.e., the Heihe River Basin in arid northwestern China, where water shortage is a serious environmental and social problem. However, the current knowledge of issues related to regional water resources management and long-term planning and management is limited by the lack of long-term hydro-meteorological records. Here we present a 1009-year annual streamflow (August–July) reconstruction for the upstream of the Heihe River in the arid northwestern China based on a well-replicated Qilian juniper ( Sabina przewalskii Kom.) ring-width chronology. This reconstruction accounts for 46.9% of the observed instrumental streamflow variance during the period 1958–2006. Considerable multidecadal to centennial flow variations below and above the long-term average are displayed in the millennium streamflow reconstruction. These periods 1012–1053, 1104–1212, 1259–1352, 1442–1499, 1593–1739 and 1789–1884 are noteworthy for the persistence of low-level river flow, and for the fact that these low streamflow events are not found in the observed instrumental hydrological record during the recent 50 years. The 20th century witnessed intensified pluvial conditions in the upstream of the Heihe River in the arid northwestern China in the context of the last millennium. Comparison with other long-term hydrological reconstructions indicates that the intensification of the hydrological cycle in the twentieth century from different regions could be attributable to regional to large-scale temperature increase during this time. Furthermore, from a practical perspective, the streamflow reconstruction can serve as a robust database for the government to work out more scientific and more reasonable water allocation alternatives for the Heihe River Basin in arid northwestern China.

Seasonal changes in anthocyanin contents and in activities of xanthophyll and ascorbate–glutathione cycles in Sabina species derived from different environments

Qilian Juniper (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) and Chinese juniper [Sabina chinensis (Lin.) Ant.] are overwintering plants. S. przewalskii, a protected species in China, is distributed in subalpine and alpine area on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. S. chinensis is distributed in plain area. We investigated seasonal changes in photoprotective stress compounds such as anthocyanins, activities of three enzymes of ascorbate–glutathione pathway, as well as xanthophyll size and conversion in these species. Ascorbate peroxidase (APX), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR) levels were higher in the low-temperature months, which was associated with changes in anthocyanins and in de-epoxidation index [(A + Z)/(V + A + Z)]. Photochemical efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm) was lower (<0.70) during winter and late autumn in both species. During the low-temperature months, S. przewalskii had higher levels of photoprotective stress compounds than S. chinensis. The results suggested that these two species possess cold-induced photoinhibition functions and show the inherent, season-dependent differences in the amounts of the stress-related compounds.

Difference in Tree Growth Responses to Climate at the Upper Treeline: Qilian Juniper in the Anyemaqen Mountains

Three ring-width chronologies were developed from Qilian Juniper (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) at the upper treeline along a west-east gradient in the Anyemaqen Mountains. Most chronological statistics, except for mean sensitivity (MS), decreased from west to east. The first principal component (PC1) loadings indicated that stands in a similar climate condition were most important to the variability of radial growth. PC2 loadings decreased from west to east, suggesting the difference of tree-growth between eastern and western Anyemaqen Mountains. Correlations between standard chronologies and climatic factors revealed different climatic influences on radial growth along a west-east gradient in the study area. Temperature of warm season (July-August) was important to the radial growth at the upper treeline in the whole study area. Precipitation of current May was an important limiting factor of tree growth only in the western (drier) upper treeline, whereas precipitation of current September limited tree growth in the eastern (wetter) upper treeline. Response function analysis results showed that there were regional differences between tree growth and climatic factors in various sampling sites of the whole study area. Temperature and precipitation were the important factors influencing tree growth in western (drier) upper treeline. However, tree growth was greatly limited by temperature at the upper treeline in the middle area, and was more limited by precipitation than temperature in the eastern (wetter) upper treeline.

Dating of tombs in Delingha, Qinghai Province, China, on the basis of a 2332-year tree-ring juniper chronology ( Sabina przewalskii Kom) (1575 BC–756 AD)

Long tree-ring chronologies provide a unique calendar record that is of value for archaeological dating. This paper reports the results of the dendrochronological study of Przewalsk juniper ( Sabina przewalskii Kom) excavated from Xiatatu tombs of the Tubo Kingdom in Guolimu County, Delingha City, Qinghai Province, China. A 2332-year tree-ring chronology was constructed from archaeological wood, and calendar years were assigned to date the tombs. For two of the tombs, the dating results are in accordance with the presumed dates as resulting from the tomb shapes and the excavated objects, especially the coffin panel paintings and historical documents. The date of the Tubo tombs provides a calendar scale for studying the cultural history of the Tuyuhun during the Sui dynasty and the southern and northern dynasties, and the cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries based on the pictures.

Age-dependent tree-ring growth responses to climate in Qilian juniper (Sabina przewalskii Kom.)

Qilian juniper (Sabina przewalskii kom.) is one of the dominant tree species on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and has been used in dendroclimatological studies. Here we designed a test to examine whether or not the climate–growth responses in tree rings of Qilian Juniper vary with the change in tree's age. A total number of 135 increment cores were sampled from Qilian Juniper trees at five sites, in which 112 cores were selected and grouped into five 100-year age classes for analysis of age-dependent climate–growth relationships. Chronology statistics, response functions and ANOVA F-test were used to test the consistency of five age-class mean chronologies (AGCs). The results showed that mean sensitivity (MS) and standard deviation (SD) did not change significantly with age. Response function analysis indicated that (a) climate accounts for a high amount of variance in tree-ring widths; (b) tree-ring growth has significant positive correlation with mean monthly air temperature of previous October and November, and with total monthly precipitation of current January and June, while has significant negative correlation with mean monthly air temperature of current May; and (c) AGC-2, AGC-3 and AGC-4 have stronger response to climate change than AGC-1 and AGC-5. The ANOVA F-test showed that generally there are significant differences between the first age class and other four age classes, but among the four classes in which trees are older than 200 years, the differences are usually insignificant. Overall the long-lived Qilian Juniper is still an ideal tree species for dendroclimatic reconstruction.

Dendroclimatic Temperature Record Derived from Tree-Ring Width and Stable Carbon Isotope Chronologies in the Middle Qilian Mountains, China

ABSTRACT Using long-lived Qilian juniper (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) in the middle Qilian Mountains, the temperature variations in the last 1000 yr were reconstructed. We find that the annual growth ring width and δ13C series mainly reflect variations in regional temperature. Except in May, warmer temperatures indicate greater growth over the period from December to April, and δ13C values in tree-rings are higher for years with higher temperature. The notable features in the temperature reconstruction are the occurrence of the Little Ice Age from A.D. 1600 to 1880 and the abrupt warming over the end of past millennia. The comparison of our chronology to a Northern Hemispheric temperature proxy shows that our tree-ring data will facilitate intercontinental differentiation of large-scale synoptic climate variability.

Reconstruction of a 1436‐year soil moisture and vegetation water use history based on tree‐ring widths from Qilian junipers in northeastern Qaidam Basin, northwestern China

AbstractTree‐ring widths have been used widely in studies of environmental changes and reconstructions of past climate. Eleven tree‐ring chronologies of approximately 800–1500 years long were developed from Qilian junipers (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) for northeastern Qaidam Basin, along the margin of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Previous studies have revealed that water usage stress is the most limiting factor for tree growth in the study region. To evaluate the impact of the combined effects of temperature and precipitation changes over time, we performed water balance modelling using 1955–2002 meteorological data. We found that the tree‐ring widths were strongly correlated with variables representing soil moisture conditions obtained from the water balance model. Specifically we considered actual evapotranspiration (AE) to represent the combined effect of water use demand and moisture availability, deficit as the difference between potential evapotranspiration (PE) and AE to represent the severity of water use stress, and relative soil moisture as the measure of moisture availability. For certain individual monthly and seasonal combinations, the tree‐ring chronologies explained up to 80% of the variation in the soil moisture variables in regression analysis, indicating very good potential for reconstruction of regional soil moisture conditions in the past. These soil moisture variables outperformed precipitation and Palmer's drought severity index in most cases. We reconstructed the soil moisture conditions from 566 AD to 2001, which revealed major dry and wet periods and a general trend toward a wetter condition during the most recent 300 years. By comparing with other proxies in the region, we concluded that the moisture conditions reconstructed from tree‐ring widths very well reflected the climate variability at the interannual and interdecadal scales. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society

Standardization of Qilian Juniper ring-width series in the eastern margin of the Qaidam Basin

Standardization is one of the important procedures in dendroclimatology. We used abundant Qilian juniper (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) tree-ring samples from the eastern margin of the Qaidam Basin to develop a new standardization method, i.e. total growth curve (TGC). The samples that contained the complete pith and reached to the growing culmination around the 40th–60th year were used to fit TGC, and the generalized negative exponential function was used to fit the curve. Usually, most cores cannot reach the arboreal pith for some reasons and it is difficult to determine the arboreal cambial age. The empirical model of initial radial growth (IRG) was employed to estimate the number of rings missing from the pith by the same data and IRG model explained 90.9% of the variance. When developing the chronology, the cambial ages of cores that contained the complete pith were regarded as beginning from the first year and others were determined by the numbers of missing and included rings in the core. Standardization was accomplished by dividing each tree-ring series by corresponding TGC. The chronologies developed by TGC can retain more low-frequency variational information and TGC helps to develop more reliable tree-ring width chronology.

Species-dependent responses of juniper and spruce to increasing CO2 concentration and to climate in semi-arid and arid areas of northwestern China

Qilian juniper (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) and Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia Kom.) represent different tree functional types, which can be found extensively in northwestern China. The former is drought-tolerant, whereas the latter is hygrophilous and shade-tolerant. We compared their intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE, inferred from carbon isotopic discrimination, δ13C, in their wood) as a function of atmospheric CO2 concentration, [CO2], and climate. δ13C of spruce was consistently about \({1.23\permille}\) higher than that of juniper in semi-arid areas but was lower in arid areas. This difference was stable over time and demonstrated strong cross-correlations between species, although some subtle high-frequency (2 or 3 years) variations existed in both species, suggesting that regional climate may control carbon isotope discrimination. The \({{C_{\rm i}/C_{\rm a}}}\) ratio (the [CO2] values in leaf intercellular and the atmosphere, respectively) of the juniper increased steadily over time, whereas that of the spruce showed a long-term downward trend. IWUE increased at all sites over the 150-year study period, mainly caused by increasing [CO2]. The relationship between iWUE and [CO2] reveals that the spruce was more sensitive than the juniper to increasing [CO2], suggesting a species-specific adaptation to long-term environmental changes. Correlations between the high-frequency variations in stable carbon discrimination (Δ) and climate indicate similar intra-site responses to climate in both species, but different response strengths. Overall, complex interactions of temperature and moisture on stable carbon discrimination during current growth seasons of both species were environmental-determined. Regulation of gas exchange and reduced transpiration may influence water and energy budgets directly; therefore species-dependent responses of trees to elevated CO2 should be considered in future research on global plant physiological ecology.

Topography- and species-dependent growth responses of Sabina przewalskii and Picea crassifolia to climate on the northeast Tibetan Plateau

Dendroecological techniques were used to examine the relationships between topographic aspects, climatic variation and radial growth of Qilian juniper ( Sabina przewalskii Kom.) and Qinghai spruce ( Picea crassifolia Kom.) on the northeast Tibetan Plateau. Both tree species exhibit a lower growth rate, a larger interannual growth variability and a higher percentage of missing rings on the west- than east-facing slopes. The two tree-ring chronologies of the west-facing slope are positively correlated with monthly precipitation and relative air humidity, but negatively correlated with monthly maximum temperature in prior July–September and current May–June, suggesting a severe limitation of moisture availability on tree growth. On both topographic aspects, the two tree species show a significant and positive correlation with winter temperature. In comparison, the two tree-ring chronologies of the east-facing slope are positively related to July temperature. Interspecific differences in climatic responses can only be seen by a different strength of the climatic signal. Overall, the biophysical setting is critical in determining the nature of growth responses to climate. This study might provide useful information for looking forward in ecological forecasting of where and how possible future climate change will affect subalpine forests on the northeast Tibetan Plateau.

The variations of stable-carbon isotope ratios in Qilian juniper in northwestern China

This is the first study of δ13C values that considers elevational influences of the Qilian mountains of China. The δ13C values of different parts of the Qilian juniper (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) at different elevations of the Qilian mountains, China, were measured. Relatively constant differences in δ13C values existed between the tree leaves and the trunk wood. No strong dependency of δ13C values on elevation was found. The temporal changes of wood δ13C values with directions, elevations and height in the tree showed general similarity. These results suggest that the isotopic effects of environmental factors expressed initially at the site of photosynthesis, i.e., the leaves could be contained in the trunks of a tree. Regardless of elevation, direction or height in the tree, wood δ13C values have been decreasing during the past 60 years. A composite 600-year δ13C chronology developed from four trees showed that δ13C values remain relatively constant before 1800. After 1800 AD, however, δ13C values became significantly more negative. The trend in wood δ13C values was consistent with that obtained for δ13C values in atmospheric CO2. The results showed that for Qilian juniper, tree-ring δ13C chronology could be established to ascertain fluctuations of the atmospheric δ13C.

Relationships between tree-ring width index and NDVI of grassland in Delingha

Using five well-replicated Qilian juniper (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) tree-ring width index series, monthly normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of grassland, and climatic data from 1982 to 2001, the relationships between tree-ring width index, NDVI of grassland, and climatic data were analyzed firstly. Then, the relationship between tree-ring width index and NDVI of grassland was explored. The results showed that: (1) Temperature and precipitation in June influenced tree-ring width index and NDVI of grassland deeply in Delingha. (2) There were significant relationships between five tree-ring width index series (DLH1-DLH5) and monthly NDVI of grassland from June to September, with the most significant relationship being between tree-ring width index series and NDVI of grassland in August. (3) The PC1 (the first principal component derived from DLH1-DLH5 series) exhibited good agreement with monthly NDVI of grassland in the grass growth season (from June to September) and the averaged NDVI in the growth season, which was attributed to their common responses to water-supply limit in Delingha. This study may allow an increase in studying the past dynamics of grassland in Delingha in that the variation of grassland NDVI during the last millennium has been reconstructed from PC1.

Reconstruction of precipitation variation from tree rings in recent 1000 years in Delingha, Qinghai

Using seven well-replicated Qilian juniper (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) ring-width chronologies developed at Zongwulong and Shalike Mts. in the northeastern part of the Qaidam Basin annual precipitation from previous July to current June in the recent 1000 years was re- constructed for Delingha. The reconstruction can capture 63.1% of precipitation variance and the equation was stable over time. For the reconstructed precipitation, wet periods occurred in AD1520—1633 and 1933—2001, whereas dry intervals in 1429—1519 and 1634—1741. In ad- dition, the magnitude in precipitation variation was lower before 1430 with about 15 mm, but it increased to 30 mm during the period of 1430 to 1850. After 1850, the precipitation variance de- creased again. In contrast to the increase in temperature, a decrease in annual precipitation was evident since the 1990s. The agreement in low-frequency variation between the reconstruction and the glacier accumulation and particulate content in Dunde ice cores during the recent several hundred years suggested that the precipitation reconstructed in this study was rather reliable, and represented a regional signal. This 1000-year reconstruction could benefit our understanding of climatic variation in decadal to century-scale in this region, and provide basic data to climate models and to prediction of future climate in the 21st century.