Yumei Jiang , Krešimir Begović , Martin Lexa , Juliana Nogueira , Georg von Arx , Jan Tumajer , Ryszard Kaczka , Filip Oulehle , Nataliya Korolyova , Jesper Björklund , Kristina Seftigen , Vaclav Treml , Rob Wilson , Miloš Rydval
{"title":"Impact of pollution on the temperature sensitivity of multiple Norway spruce tree-ring parameters in Central Europe","authors":"Yumei Jiang , Krešimir Begović , Martin Lexa , Juliana Nogueira , Georg von Arx , Jan Tumajer , Ryszard Kaczka , Filip Oulehle , Nataliya Korolyova , Jesper Björklund , Kristina Seftigen , Vaclav Treml , Rob Wilson , Miloš Rydval","doi":"10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110725","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Central European forests experienced high rates of air pollution in the second half of the 20th century, especially along the borders of Czechia, Germany and Poland. Consequently, tree-growth declines were detected in heavily polluted forests. However, information about how pollution has influenced growth-climate responses beyond tree-ring width (RW) in pollution-affected forests remains sparse. In this study, we investigated the impact of high-level pollution during 1960s-1980s in Central Europe on the climatic signals of various tree-ring parameters of Norway spruce, including RW, latewood Blue Intensity (LWBI), and maximum cell wall thickness (CWT), to understand how tree growth and climatic sensitivity were affected. Tree-ring cores were collected from six temperature-limited high-elevation sites within four pollution-affected regions in Czechia and northern Slovakia. RW and LWBI were measured for all samples and CWT was produced from two sites with contrasting pollution impacts. Distinct pollution-related RW growth suppression was detected in 1970s to 1980s at several sites. LWBI and CWT chronologies were highly correlated (r <sub>LWBI</sub> = 0.52–0.75; r <sub>CWT</sub> = 0.63–0.68) with growing season (April-September) temperature and did not exhibit clear signs of distortion by pollution compared to RW (r <sub>RW</sub> = 0.28–0.58). Pollution stress seemed to reduce tree growth by decreasing cell numbers and made RW less sensitive to climate. This study reveals that impacts of pollution on different tree-ring parameters varied which can further influence their climatic sensitivities. It provides valuable insight in improving the utility of pollution-affected tree-ring chronologies by choosing appropriate parameters, which can ultimately contribute to substantially improving the calibration of climate reconstructions from heavily polluted regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50839,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural and Forest Meteorology","volume":"372 ","pages":"Article 110725"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Agricultural and Forest Meteorology","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168192325003442","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AGRONOMY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Central European forests experienced high rates of air pollution in the second half of the 20th century, especially along the borders of Czechia, Germany and Poland. Consequently, tree-growth declines were detected in heavily polluted forests. However, information about how pollution has influenced growth-climate responses beyond tree-ring width (RW) in pollution-affected forests remains sparse. In this study, we investigated the impact of high-level pollution during 1960s-1980s in Central Europe on the climatic signals of various tree-ring parameters of Norway spruce, including RW, latewood Blue Intensity (LWBI), and maximum cell wall thickness (CWT), to understand how tree growth and climatic sensitivity were affected. Tree-ring cores were collected from six temperature-limited high-elevation sites within four pollution-affected regions in Czechia and northern Slovakia. RW and LWBI were measured for all samples and CWT was produced from two sites with contrasting pollution impacts. Distinct pollution-related RW growth suppression was detected in 1970s to 1980s at several sites. LWBI and CWT chronologies were highly correlated (r LWBI = 0.52–0.75; r CWT = 0.63–0.68) with growing season (April-September) temperature and did not exhibit clear signs of distortion by pollution compared to RW (r RW = 0.28–0.58). Pollution stress seemed to reduce tree growth by decreasing cell numbers and made RW less sensitive to climate. This study reveals that impacts of pollution on different tree-ring parameters varied which can further influence their climatic sensitivities. It provides valuable insight in improving the utility of pollution-affected tree-ring chronologies by choosing appropriate parameters, which can ultimately contribute to substantially improving the calibration of climate reconstructions from heavily polluted regions.
期刊介绍:
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology is an international journal for the publication of original articles and reviews on the inter-relationship between meteorology, agriculture, forestry, and natural ecosystems. Emphasis is on basic and applied scientific research relevant to practical problems in the field of plant and soil sciences, ecology and biogeochemistry as affected by weather as well as climate variability and change. Theoretical models should be tested against experimental data. Articles must appeal to an international audience. Special issues devoted to single topics are also published.
Typical topics include canopy micrometeorology (e.g. canopy radiation transfer, turbulence near the ground, evapotranspiration, energy balance, fluxes of trace gases), micrometeorological instrumentation (e.g., sensors for trace gases, flux measurement instruments, radiation measurement techniques), aerobiology (e.g. the dispersion of pollen, spores, insects and pesticides), biometeorology (e.g. the effect of weather and climate on plant distribution, crop yield, water-use efficiency, and plant phenology), forest-fire/weather interactions, and feedbacks from vegetation to weather and the climate system.