Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Documenting the effects of recent climate change at treeline in the canadian rockies

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Impacts of Climate Variability on Forests

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences ((LNEARTH,volume 74))

Abstract

Dendrochronology and tree-ring densitometry are used to reconstruct summer temperatures and treeline dynamics in the Columbia Icefield area from 1600 AD to the present. Detailed studies at three sites, less than 10 km. apart, show different responses to regional climate over this interval. At a north-facing site, Abies lasiocarpa have maintained a population by vegetative regeneration with little change in the treeline ecotone over the last 400 years. In contrast, at a warmer, south-facing site, the Picea engelmannii dominated treeline shows catastrophic dieback during the late 1600s. Extensive upslope migration of treeline by seedling establishment occurred during the 20th Century. At an adjacent valley-floor site, tree clumps established during the 18th–19th centuries but exhibit no subsequent population expansion beyond their borders. These results suggest that the response of treeline ecotones to climate change varies with both local site conditions and the response of individual species. These data can provide important inputs to simulation models and to resource managers who wish to understand the effect of climate change on ecosystem dynamics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

8. References

  • Arsenault D, Payette S (1992) A postfire shift from lichen-spruce to lichen-tundra vegetation at treeline. Ecology 73:1067–1081

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaudoin AB (1986) Using Picea/Pinus Ratios from the Wilcox Pass Core, Jasper National Park, Alberta, to Investigate Holocene Timberline Fluctuations. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 40:145–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaudoin AB, King RH (1990) Late Quaternary Vegetation History of Wilcox Pass, Jasper National Park, Alberta. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 80:129–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Billings WD (1969) Vegetational pattern near alpine timberline as affected by fir-snowdrift interactions. Vegetatio 19:192–207

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley RS, Jones PD (1993) "Little Ice Age" summer temperature variations: their nature and relevance to recent global warming trends. The Holocene 3:367–376

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley RS, Jones PD (eds) (1995) Climate since A.D. 1500. (2nd Edition) Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Brink VC (1959) A directional change in the subalpine forest-heath ecotone in Garibaldi Park, British Columbia. Ecology 40:10–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Briffa KR, Bartholin TS, Eckstein D, Jones PD, Karlén W, Schweingruber FH, Zetterberg P (1990) A 1,400-year tree-ring record of summer temperatures in Fennoscandia. Nature (London) 346:434–439

    Google Scholar 

  • Briffa KR, Jones D, Bartholin TS, Eckstein D, Schweingruber FH, Karlén W, Zetterberg P, Eronen M (1992) Fennoscandian summers from A.D. 500: temperature changes on short and long timescales. Climate Dynamics 7:111–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Brubaker LB (1986) Responses of tree populations to climatic change. Vegetatio 67:119–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Brubaker LB (1988) Vegetation history and anticipating future vegetation change. In: Agee JK, Johnson DR (eds) Ecosystem Management for Parks and Wilderness. University of Washington Press, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. pp 41–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis MB (1986) Climatic instability, time lags, and community disequilibrium. In: Diamond J, Case T (eds) Community Ecology. Harper and Row, New York, U.S.A. pp 269–284

    Google Scholar 

  • Earle CJ (1993) Forest dynamics in a forest-tundra ecotone, Medicine Bow Mountains, Wyoming. PhD dissertation, University of Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Ettl GJ, Peterson DL (1995a) Growth response of subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) to climate in the Olympic Mountains, Washington, USA. Global Change Biology 1:213–230

    Google Scholar 

  • Ettl GJ, Peterson DL (1995b) Extreme climate and variation in tree growth; individualistic response in subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa). Global Change Biology 1:231–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Franklin JF, Moir WH, Douglas GW, Wibery C (1971) Invasions of subalpine meadows by trees in the Cascade Range, Washington and Oregon. Arct Alp Res 3:215–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritts HC (1976) Tree Rings and Climate. Academic Press, London and New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton JP (1987) Densitometric tree-ring investigations at the Columbia Icefield, Jasper National Park. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada

    Google Scholar 

  • Hessl AE, Baker WL (1997) Spruce and fir regeneration and climate in the forest-tundra ecotone of Rocky Mountain National Park, Coloroda, USA. Arct Alp Res 29:173–183

    Google Scholar 

  • Heusser CJ (1956) Postglacial environments in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Ecological Monographs 26:253–302

    Google Scholar 

  • Janz B, Storr D (1977) The Climate of the Contiguous National Parks: Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, Yoho. Project Report No. 20, Applications and Consultation Division, Meteorological Applications Branch, Environment Canada, Toronto, Canada

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson EA (1987) The relative importance of snow avalanche disturbance and thinning on canopy plant populations. Ecology 68:45–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Kavanagh TA, Luckman BH (1995) The clump development near the Interpretive Centre, Columbia Icefield, Jasper National Park, Alberta. Contract Report to Parsk Canada, Jasper

    Google Scholar 

  • Kearney MS (1982) Recent seedling establishment at timberline in Jasper National Park. Can J Bot 60:2283–2287

    Google Scholar 

  • Kienast F, Schweingruber FH, Bräker OU, Schär E (1987) Tree-ring studies on conifers along ecological gradients and the potential of single-year analyses. Can J For Res 17:683–696

    Google Scholar 

  • Kullman L (1987) Long-term dynamics of high-altitude populations of Pinus sylvestris in the Swedish Scandes. J Biogeogr 14:1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Kullman L (1997) Tree-limit stress and disturbance. A 25-year survey of geoecological change in the Scandes Mountains of Sweden. Geografiska Annaler 79A:139–165

    Google Scholar 

  • Kullman L, Engelmark O (1991) Historical biogeography of Picea abies (L.) Karst. at its subarctic limit in northern Sweden. J Biogeogr 18:62–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Lavoie C, Payette S (1992) Black spruce growth forms as a record of a changing winter environment at treeline, Quebec, Canada. Arct Alp Res 24:40–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd AH, Graumlich L (1997) Holocene dynamics of treeline forests in the Sierra Nevada. Ecology 78:1199–1210

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman BH (1986) Reconstruction of Little Ice Age events in the Canadian Rockies. Géographie physique et Quaternaire XL:17–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman BH (1988) Dating the moraines and recession of Athabasca and Dome Glaciers, Alberta, Canada. Arct Alp Res 20:40–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman BH (1990) Mountain areas and global change — a view from the Canadian Rockies. Mountain Res Developm 10:183–195

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman BH (1993) Glacier fluctuations and tree-ring records for the last millennium in the Canadian Rockies. Quaternary Science Rev 16:441–450

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman BH (1994) Climate conditions between ca. 900—1300 A.D. in the southern Canadian Rockies. Climatic Change 26:171–182

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman BH (1996) Reconciling the glacial and dendrochronological records of the last millennium in the Canadian Rockies. In: Jones PD, Bradley RS, Jouzel J (eds) Climatic Variations and Forcing Mechanisms of the Last 2000 years. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 85–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman BH (1997) Developing a proxy climate record for the last 300 years in the Canadian Rockies — some problems and opportunities. Climatic Change 36:455–476

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman BH, Briffa KR, Jones PD, Schweingruber FH (1997) Tree-ring based reconstruction of summer temperatures at the Columbia Icefield, Alberta, Canada, A.D. 1073–1983. The Holocene 7:375–389

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman BH, Jozsa LA, Murphy PJ (1984) Living seven-hundred-year-old Picea engelmannii and Pinus albicaulis in the Canadian Rockies. Arct Alp Res 16:419–422

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman BH, Kearney MS (1986) Reconstruction of Holocene Changes in Alpine Vegetation and Climate in the Maligne Range, Jasper National Park, Alberta. Quatern Res 26:244–261

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman BH, Seed ED (1995) Fire-Climate Relationships and Trends in the Mountain National Parks. Final Report: Contract C2242-4-2185, Parks Canada, Ottawa

    Google Scholar 

  • Magee TK, Antos JA (1992) Tree invasion into a mountain-top meadow in the Oregon Coast Range, USA. J Veg Sci 3:485–494

    Google Scholar 

  • Payette S, Filion L (1985) White Spruce expansion at the tree line and recent climatic change. Can J For Res 15:241–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Rochefort RM, Little RL, Woodward A, Peterson DL (1994) Changes in sub-alpine tree distribution in western North America: a review of climatic and other causal factors. The Holocene 4: 89–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Schäffer MTS (1911) Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York; republished in Hart EJ (ed) (1980) “A Hunter of Peace”, Whyte Foundation, Banff, Alberta

    Google Scholar 

  • Schweingruber FH (1988) A new dendroclimatic network for western North America. Dendrochronologia 6:171–180

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens GC, Fox JF (1991) The causes of treeline. Ann Rev Ecol System 22:177–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Vance RE, Beaudoin AB, Luckman BH (1995) The paleoecological record of 6ka BP climate in the Canadian Prairie Provinces. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 4:81–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Veblen TT, Hadley KS, Reid MS, Rebertus AJ (1989) Blowdown and stand development in a Colorado subalpine forest. Can J For Res 10:1218–1225

    Google Scholar 

  • Veblen TT, Hadley KS, Reid MS, Rebertus AJ (1991) Methods of detecting past spruce beetle outbreaks in Rocky Mountain subalpine forests. Can J For Res 21:242–254

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Brian H. Luckman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Trudy A. Kavanagh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Martin Beniston John L. Innes

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1998 Springer-Verlag

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Luckman, B.H., Kavanagh, T.A. (1998). Documenting the effects of recent climate change at treeline in the canadian rockies. In: Beniston, M., Innes, J.L. (eds) The Impacts of Climate Variability on Forests. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, vol 74. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0009770

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0009770

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-64681-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69107-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation