Long-term trends in European tree growth over the past 1000 years - an interspecies comparison
Physical Geography
Final Report Abstract
Any study that places climate change and its consequences on the environment and society in a long-term perspective relies on absolutely dated terrestrial climate proxies. The data pool, complied for this project, is based on tree-ring data that was generated over many decades by different dendroarchaeological laboratories in Central Europe. It includes ca. 54.000 tree-ring series from living trees and historical buildings from five, for forestry, environment and society most important tree species, namely oak, beech, pine, spruce and fir. Additionally, one treering chronology for elm was provided. This unique data was partially subjected to comprehensive dendroclimatological studies and the investigation of causes of long-term trends in tree growth. It was found that especially in the high-frequency domain, e.g. on a yearto-year basis, drought conditions are a dominant climatic driver whereas at low frequencies either groundwater availability or drought conditions accumulated over more than 12 months play a crucial role in long-term tree growth. It was shown that in the long term, water available from the soils (i.e. soil moisture) play a significant role for tree growth. Phases of sufficient water availability (i.e. high groundwater levels or pluvials) was shown to coincide with warmer climates, and most interestingly with a higher frequency of extreme events, in western to central Europe. Results of the reconstructions were discussed in the light of other proxies (i.e. speleothems) or documentary evidence and related to atmospheric circulation dynamics.
Publications
- Evaluation of tree growth relevant atmospheric circulation patterns for geopotential height field reconstructions for Asia. Journal of Climate 31(11): 4391–4401
Seim A, Schultz JA, Beck C, Bräuning A, Krusic P, Leland C, Byambasuren O, Liang E, Wang X, Jeong J-H, Linderholm HW
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-17-0164.1) - Linking European building activity with plague history. Journal of Archaeological Science 98: 81–92
Ljungqvist FC, Tegel W, Krusic PJ, Seim A, Gschwind FM, Haneca K, Herzig F, Heussner K- U, Hofmann J, Houbrechts D, Kontic R, Kyncl T, Leuschner HH, Nicolussi K, Perrault C, Pfeifer K, Schmidhalter M, Seifert M, Walder F, Westphal T, Büntgen U
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.08.006) - Tree rings reveal globally coherent signature of cosmogenic radiocarbon events in 774 and 993 CE. Nature Communications 9(1): 3605
Büntgen U, ..., Young G
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06036-0) - Centennial-scale temperature change in last millennium simulations and proxy-based reconstructions. Journal of Climate 32: 2441–2482
Ljungqvist FC, Zhang Q, Brattström G, Krusic PJ, Seim A, Li Q, Zhang Q, Moberg A
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-18-0525.1) - European warmseason temperature and hydroclimate since 850 CE. Environmental Research Letters 14, 084015
Ljungqvist FC, Seim A, Krusic PJ, Gonzalez-Rouco JF, Werner JP, Cook ER, Zorita E, Luterbacher J, Xoplaki E, Destouni G, Garcia-Bustamante E, Melo Aguilar CA, Seftigen K, Wang J, Gagen MH, Esper J, Solomina O, Fleitmann D, Büntgen U
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab2c7e) - Higher groundwater levels in western Europe characterize warm periods in the Common Era. Scientific Reports, Vol. 10. 2020, Article number: 16284.
Tegel W., Seim A., Skiadaresis G., Ljungqvist F.C., Kahle H.-P., Land A., Muigg B., Nicolussi K., Büntgen U.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73383-8) - Ranking of tree-ring based hydroclimate reconstructions of the past millennium. Quaternary Science Reviews 230: 106074
Ljungqvist FC, Piermattei A, Seim A, Krusic PJ, Büntgen U, He M, Kirdyanov AV, Luterbacher J, Schneider L, Seftigen K, Stahle DW, Villalba R, Yang B, Esper J
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106074) - The European Russia Drought Atlas. Climate Dynamics, 1-19
Cook ER, Solomina O, Matskovsky V, Cook BI, Agafonov L, Berdnikova A, Dolgova E, Karpukhin A, Knysh N, Kulakova M, Kuznetsova V, Kyncl T, Kyncl J, Maximova O, Panyushkina I, Seim A, Tishin D, Ważny T, Yermokhin M
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-019-05115-2) - Tree rings reveal dry conditions during Charlemagne’s Fossa Carolina construction in 793 CE. Quaternary Science Reviews 227, 106040
Muigg B, Seim A, Tegel W, Werther L, Herzig F, Schmidt J, Zielhofer C, Land A, Büntgen U
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106040) - Tree mortality of European beech and Norway spruce induced by 2018-2019 hot droughts in central Germany. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 307. 2021, 108482.
Obladen N., Dechering P., Skiadaresis G., Tegel W., Keßler J., Höllerl S., Kaps S., Hertel M., Dulamsuren C., Seifert T., Hirsch M., Seim A.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108482) - Historical spruce abundance in Central Europe: a combined dendrochronological and palynological approach. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution,
Sec. Paleoecology, Vol. 10. 2022, 909453.
Seim A., Marquer L., Bisson U., Hofmann J., Herzig F., Kontic R., Lechterbeck J., Muigg B., Neyses-Eiden M., Rzepecki A., Rösch M., Walder F., Weidemüller J., Tegel W.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.909453)
