{"title":"Microbial life strategies-mediated differences in carbon metabolism explain the variation in SOC sequestration between Kandelia obovata and Sonneratia apetala","authors":"Fuyuan Duan , Fengxiao Tan , Xuming Zhao , Hui Feng , Jiakai Wang , Hao Peng , Nannan Zhang , Yelin Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100341","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100341","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays a crucial role in mangrove blue carbon formation, yet the differences in microbe-mediated underlying SOC sequestration between introduced and native mangroves remain unclear. Here, we compared the SOC pool, including recalcitrant organic carbon (ROC) and labile carbon pools, as well as three residual carbon sources (amino sugars, lignin phenols, and lipids) in sediments between mangroves of introduced <em>Sonneratia apetala</em> and native <em>Kandelia obovata</em>, and further connected them with microbial life strategies and C metabolism capability. The results showed that SOC accumulation in <em>S. apetala</em> (SA) sediment was about 30%–50% of that in <em>K. obovata</em> (KO) sediment. ROC was the dominant form of SOC in long-term sequestration (76%–83%), while lignin phenols, amino sugars, and lipids were important sources of ROC. In <em>S. apetala</em> sediments, the ROC content was positively correlated with amino sugars, resulting from the more <em>r</em>-strategist microbes that can rapidly convert plant-derived carbon into microbial biomass, which is subsequently transformed into microbial necromass. In contrast, in <em>K. obovata</em> sediments, ROC content showed a stronger positive correlation with the concentrations of lignin phenols and lipids. More <em>K</em>-strategist fungi in the topsoil of <em>K. obovata</em> increased enzyme activities, while more <em>K</em>-strategist bacteria in the subsoil enhanced carbon utilization capacity, thereby increasing lignin phenols and lipids from plant residues in both soil layers. Meanwhile, higher Ca<sup>2+</sup> concentrations in <em>K. obovata</em> sediments protected three residual carbons from further microbe decomposition. This study provides valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms of SOC sequestration mediated by microbial life strategies in mangrove ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100341"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143949059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Biotic and abiotic factors jointly drive the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration in forests worldwide","authors":"Zixuan Wang , Haihua Shen , Aijun Xing , Jingyun Fang","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100340","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100340","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The sensitivity of soil respiration (<em>R</em><sub>s</sub>) to temperature (<em>Q</em><sub>10</sub>) is a key parameter for benchmarking the carbon (C) cycle and climate feedbacks in the context of global warming. However, previous studies on the factors that drive forest soil <em>Q</em><sub>10</sub> have focused mostly on abiotic factors, such as climate and soil, while the role of biotic factors has been less examined. Here, we compiled a global dataset of 766 soil <em>Q</em><sub>10</sub> values and 17 matched biotic and abiotic factors to explore the factors that drive the variability of global forest soil <em>Q</em><sub>10</sub> using a random forest (RF) model. Our findings showed that soil <em>Q</em><sub>10</sub> increased with microbial biomass carbon (MBC), which was the most important predictor. Additionally, soil <em>Q</em><sub>10</sub> was positively correlated with leaf phosphorus content (LPC) but was negatively correlated with leaf N:P, indicating that plant ecological stoichiometry might be a factor that explained soil <em>Q</em><sub>10</sub> variability. All abiotic factors, including climate, soil properties, and elevation, had great predictive power and were significantly related to soil <em>Q</em><sub>10</sub>. By comparing the soil <em>Q</em><sub>10</sub> in multispecies forests and monocultures, we found that <em>Q</em><sub>10</sub> in the mixed needle-leaved and broad-leaved forests (NF & BF) was lower than in monocultures. Our study revealed that, in addition to abiotic factors, biotic factors were also strong predictors of forest soil <em>Q</em><sub>10</sub>, which can deepen our understanding of soil respiration in response to global warming and provide insights for improving carbon cycle models.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100340"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143942783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Forest EcosystemsPub Date : 2025-05-02DOI: 10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100339
Kexin Yang , Juan Wang , Huaijiang He , Chunyu Fan , Xiuhai Zhao , Chunyu Zhang
{"title":"Patterns and determinants of ecological integrity in a temperate forest region","authors":"Kexin Yang , Juan Wang , Huaijiang He , Chunyu Fan , Xiuhai Zhao , Chunyu Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100339","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100339","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As the impact of climate change and anthropogenic disturbance continues to intensify around the world, the ecological integrity (EI) of forest ecosystems is compromised in various ways. This study aims to quantify ecological integrity, explore its latitudinal patterns, and identify the potential determinants behind it. We selected 15 indicators of forest composition, structure, and function and used two approaches to quantify ecological integrity. The results show a significant negative correlation between forest ecological integrity and increasing latitude. Climate emerged as the main driver of the latitudinal pattern compared to anthropogenic and other influencing factors. Our study offers a new approach to quantifying ecological integrity based on a set of indicators that may help assess the contribution of forest ecosystems in conservation, restoration, and ecosystem services.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100339"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143942784","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Forest EcosystemsPub Date : 2025-04-29DOI: 10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100336
Liangjun Zhu , Danyang Yuan , J. Julio Camarero , David J. Cooper , Mai-He Li , Shuguang Liu , Xiaochun Wang , Paolo Cherubini
{"title":"Rapid escalation and release of risks to forest ecosystems triggered by warming: Insights from tree growth synchrony in temperate forests","authors":"Liangjun Zhu , Danyang Yuan , J. Julio Camarero , David J. Cooper , Mai-He Li , Shuguang Liu , Xiaochun Wang , Paolo Cherubini","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100336","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100336","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tree growth synchrony serves as a valuable ecological indicator of forest resilience to climate stress and disturbances. However, our understanding of how increasing temperature affects tree growth synchrony during rapidly and slowly warming periods in ecosystems with varying climatic conditions remains limited. By using tree-ring data from temperate broadleaf (<em>Fraxinus mandshurica</em>, <em>Phellodendron amurense</em>, <em>Quercus mongolica</em>, and <em>Juglans mandshurica</em>) and Korean pine (<em>Pinus koraiensis</em>) mixed forests in northeast China, we investigated the effects of climate change, particularly warming, on the growth synchrony of five dominant temperate tree species across contrasting warm-dry and cool-wet climate conditions. Results show that temperature over water availability was the primary factor driving the growth and growth synchrony of the five species. Growth synchrony was significantly higher in warm-dry than in cool-wet areas, primarily due to more uniform climate conditions and higher climate sensitivity in the former. Rapid warming from the 1960s to the 1990s significantly enhanced tree growth synchrony in both areas, followed by a marked reversal as temperatures exceeded a certain threshold or warming slowed down, particularly in the warm-dry area. The growth synchrony variation patterns of the five species were highly consistent over time, although broadleaves exhibited higher synchrony than conifers, suggesting potential risks to forest resilience and stability under future climate change scenarios. Growing season temperatures and non-growing season temperatures and precipitation had a stronger positive effect on tree growth in the cool-wet area compared to the warm-dry area. High relative humidity hindered growth in the cool-wet area but enhanced it in the warm-dry area. Overall, our study highlights that the diversity and sensitivity of climate-growth relationships directly determine spatiotemporal growth synchrony. Temperature, along with water availability, shape long-term forest dynamics by affecting tree growth and synchrony. These results provide crucial insights for forest management practice to enhance structural diversity and resilience capacity against climate change-induced synchrony shifts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100336"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144068456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Forest EcosystemsPub Date : 2025-04-25DOI: 10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100337
Yarui Xu , Wenfei Liu , Qiang Li , Fubo Zhao , Yiping Hou , Peng Liu , Zhipeng Xu , Ya Sun , Huanying Fang , Xiangrong Xu
{"title":"Quantifying spatiotemporal inconsistencies in runoff responses to forest logging in a subtropical watershed, China","authors":"Yarui Xu , Wenfei Liu , Qiang Li , Fubo Zhao , Yiping Hou , Peng Liu , Zhipeng Xu , Ya Sun , Huanying Fang , Xiangrong Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100337","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100337","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Global forest cover is undergoing significant transformations due to anthropogenic activities and natural disturbances, profoundly impacting hydrological processes. However, the inherent spatial heterogeneity within watersheds leads to varied hydrological responses across spatiotemporal scales, challenging comprehensive assessment of logging impacts at the watershed scale. Here, we developed multiple forest logging scenarios using the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) model for the Le'an River watershed, a 5,837 km<sup>2</sup> subtropical watershed in China, to quantify the hydrological effects of forest logging across different spatiotemporal scales. Our results demonstrate that increasing forest logging ratios from 1.54% to 9.25% consistently enhanced ecohydrological sensitivity. However, sensitivity varied across spatiotemporal scales, with the rainy season (15.30%–15.81%) showing higher sensitivity than annual (11.56%–12.07%) and dry season (3.38%–5.57%) periods. Additionally, the ecohydrological sensitivity of logging varied significantly across the watershed, with midstream areas exhibiting the highest sensitivity (13.13%–13.25%), followed by downstream (11.87%–11.98%) and upstream regions (9.96%–10.05%). Furthermore, the whole watershed exhibited greater hydrological resilience to logging compared to upstream areas, with attenuated runoff changes due to scale effects. Scale effects were more pronounced during dry seasons ((−8.13 to −42.13) × 10<sup>4</sup> m<sup>3</sup>⋅month<sup>−1</sup>) than in the rainy season ((−11.11 to −26.65) × 10<sup>4</sup> m<sup>3</sup>⋅month<sup>−1</sup>). These findings advance understanding of logging impacts on hydrology across different spatiotemporal scales in subtropical regions, providing valuable insights for forest management under increasing anthropogenic activities and climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100337"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143898457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Forest EcosystemsPub Date : 2025-04-23DOI: 10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100335
Xibin Sun , Zhenchuan Wang , Chengjin Chu , Yingming Zhang , Hao Chen
{"title":"Contrasting controls on symbiotic and asymbiotic nitrogen fixation rates along altitudinal gradients in subtropical forests","authors":"Xibin Sun , Zhenchuan Wang , Chengjin Chu , Yingming Zhang , Hao Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100335","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100335","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Symbiotic and asymbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF and ANF), two forms of biological nitrogen (N) fixation, are the main pathways for external N inputs into natural terrestrial ecosystems. However, the regulatory mechanisms of SNF and ANF, particularly in response to changing environmental conditions, remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated changes in SNF and ANF rates along two altitudinal gradients in two subtropical forests on soils with granite and slate parent materials. Our results revealed distinct patterns for SNF and ANF rates. SNF rates consistently declined with increasing altitude, whereas ANF rates initially increased at lower altitudes but declined at higher altitudes. These contrasting trends were attributed to divergent regulatory mechanisms of SNF and ANF rates. Specifically, the decrease in SNF rates was primarily driven by increased soil N availability and decreased air temperature. However, the drivers of ANF rates shifted from soil properties (e.g., phosphorus, iron, and moisture) at lower altitudes to climatic factors (e.g., air temperature) at higher altitudes. We also observed opposite trends of SNF and ANF between forests on granite and slate, demonstrating that lithology is an important driver of both SNF and ANF. Collectively, our findings highlight the divergent mechanisms regulating SNF and ANF in subtropical forests, which contribute to improving the mechanistic representation of biological N fixation in Earth system models.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100335"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143886672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Forest EcosystemsPub Date : 2025-04-16DOI: 10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100334
Vilde L. Haukenes , Johan Asplund , Line Nybakken , Jørund Rolstad , Ken Olaf Storaunet , Mikael Ohlson
{"title":"Disentangling drivers of organic layer and charcoal carbon stocks in boreal pine and spruce forests with different fire histories","authors":"Vilde L. Haukenes , Johan Asplund , Line Nybakken , Jørund Rolstad , Ken Olaf Storaunet , Mikael Ohlson","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100334","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100334","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A key property of the boreal forest is that it stores huge amounts of carbon (C), especially belowground in the soil. Amounts of C stored in the uppermost organic layer of boreal forest soils vary greatly in space due to an interplay between several variables facilitating or preventing C accumulation. In this study, we split C stocks into the organic layer and charcoal C due to their difference in origin, stability, and ecological properties. We compared organic layer C and charcoal C stocks in two regions of south-central Norway (Trillemarka and Varaldskogen), characterized by Scots pine and Norway spruce forests with varying fire histories. We used structural equation modeling to investigate how vegetation composition, hydrotopography, and soil properties interplay to shape organic layer C and charcoal C stocks. Pine forests consistently contained larger organic layer C stocks than spruce forests. Charcoal stocks, in contrast, were less consistent across both forest types and study regions as pine forests had higher charcoal C stocks than spruce forests in Trillemarka, while the two forest types contained equal charcoal C stocks in Varaldskogen. Charcoal and soil organic layer C stocks increased with higher fire frequencies (number of fire events over the last 600 years), but not with a shorter time since last fire (TSF). Additionally, vegetation composition, terrain slope, and soil moisture were the most important drivers of the organic layer C stocks, while charcoal C stocks were mainly controlled by the depth of the organic layer. Also, microtopography was of importance for organic layer C and charcoal C, since depressions in the forest floor had more charcoal C than well-drained minor hills.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"14 ","pages":"Article 100334"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143923395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Enhancing stem volume estimation for savanna species using variable-exponent taper equation and close-range photogrammetry","authors":"Finagnon Gabin Laly, Gilbert Atindogbe, Gbèdonou Michée Amos Sohou, Hospice Afouda Akpo, Noël Houédougbé Fonton","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100331","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100331","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Stem volume estimation is crucial in forest ecology and management, particularly for timber harvesting strategies and carbon stock assessments. This study aimed to develop a variable-exponent taper equation specifically tailored to savanna tree species using close-range photogrammetry (CRP) data and to evaluate its performance against conventional volume equations for stem volume estimation. A dataset of 30 trees across five dominant savanna species was used to fit the taper model, which was validated using a separate dataset of 322 trees from 14 species. The results demonstrated significant improvements in volume estimation accuracy when using the taper equation. At the tree level, the root mean square error (RMSE) decreased by 47%, from 598 to 319 dm<sup>3</sup>, and the mean absolute bias (MAB) by 48%, from 328 to 172 dm<sup>3</sup>, compared to volume equations. Similarly, at the plot level, RMSE was reduced by 42% and MAB by 40%. The model performed well for species with regular forms. However, species with irregular tapers exhibited higher errors, reflecting the challenges of modeling stem forms of mixed species. The use of CRP proved valuable, providing high-resolution diameter measurements that improved model parameterization. This study underscores the importance of advanced data collection methods for enhancing taper model accuracy and suggests that further species-specific adjustments are needed to improve performance for species with irregular forms. The findings support the broader application of taper equations for improving stem volume estimates in savanna ecosystems, contributing to better forest management and resource monitoring practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100331"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143848198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Forest EcosystemsPub Date : 2025-04-11DOI: 10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100332
Muhammed Sinan, Hubert Hasenauer
{"title":"How to determine the leaf area index (LAI) of forests: A comparison of forest inventory versus satellite-driven estimates","authors":"Muhammed Sinan, Hubert Hasenauer","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100332","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100332","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Leaf area index (LAI) is a key measure of forest stand physiology and biomass production, and is essential within ecosystem modeling. There are two common approaches to obtaining LAI: (i) terrestrial forest inventory-based “bottom–up”, and (ii) satellite-based “top–down” techniques. The purpose of this study is to compare terrestrial LAI from allometric functions applied to more than 30,000 trees of the Austrian National Forest Inventory (NFI) vs. satellite-based LAI estimates obtained from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Sentinel (Sentinel-3 TOC reflectance and PROBA-V) data across Austrian forests. We analyzed a satellite pixel-to-plot aggregation and obtained the full inventory data set for the LAI comparison. The results suggest that terrestrial vs. satellite (MODIS and Sentinel) driven LAI estimates are consistent, but (i) the variation of the terrestrial forest inventory LAI is larger vs. the pixel average LAI from satellite data, and (ii) any satellite LAI estimation needs a forest stand density correction if the crown competition factor (CCF), a measure for stand density, is < 250 to avoid an overestimation in LAI.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100332"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143869648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Forest EcosystemsPub Date : 2025-04-11DOI: 10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100330
Shijie Wang , Feng Chen , Youping Chen , Max C.A. Torbenson , Jan Esper , Xiaoen Zhao , Mao Hu , Heli Zhang , Weipeng Yue , Honghua Cao
{"title":"Greening of Eurasia's center driven by low-latitude climate warming","authors":"Shijie Wang , Feng Chen , Youping Chen , Max C.A. Torbenson , Jan Esper , Xiaoen Zhao , Mao Hu , Heli Zhang , Weipeng Yue , Honghua Cao","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100330","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2025.100330","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Central Asia, located in the innermost part of the Eurasian continent, has experienced “warming and humidification” in recent decades, with potentially important implications for tree growth in alpine forests, which are critical for regional water reserves. We use nested principal component analysis to assess tree radial growth patterns and reveal significant positive trends since the 20th century across Central Asian alpine forests (0.076 per decade during 1900–2021, <em>p</em> = 0.003). Regional hydroclimatic variations affect the greening of these alpine forests, especially with extreme droughts being the most damaging. Growth acceleration is driven by low-latitude warming, which enhances regional temperatures and precipitation. The warming ocean centers alter atmospheric circulation patterns, leading to more moisture being transported to the Central Asian alpine forests, thereby increasing regional precipitation and promoting tree growth. Our model projections indicate that growth rates will continue to rise in the future. However, unprecedented warming may eventually lead to growth deterioration if negative effects, such as insufficient precipitation, occur due to breakdown signs of positive feedback mechanisms, such as moisture transport driven by low-latitude warming. Our study highlights the beneficial, but not unlimited, influences of climate warming on tree growth in Central Asian alpine forests, with implications for the sustainability of water resources. However, as urban and agricultural demands escalate, a holistic, long-term perspective is recommended to mitigate the adverse effects of temperature increases.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100330"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143854682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}