The reporter learned from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on February 21 that the research team of the institute has shown that the long-term growth trend of trees can be affected by changing the surface structure of the precipitation redistribution process. The results have been published in the international academic journal Nature Earth Sciences.
Schematic diagram of soil fissures in drier areas** promoting precipitation infiltration and thus increasing tree growth resilience. (Photo courtesy of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences) "Most of the world's mountain forests are located in the ** zone, which is often disturbed by geological activities such as **. **In addition to directly causing physical damage to trees, it can also indirectly affect tree growth by changing soil structure, hydrological conditions, etc. Liang Eryuan, the corresponding author and a researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that in different regions of the world, there are significant differences in the impact of ** on the growth of mountain forests, and revealing the mechanism behind it is an important part of scientific research.
*According to Gao Shan, the first author and associate researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, tree rings have the characteristics of wide spatial distribution, high temporal resolution and strong continuity, which can record long-term environmental change information and are natural carriers for studying the impact of tree rings on ecosystems.
In this study, the research team established a spatiotemporal connection between the global tree-ring chronology and events since 1900.
The results showed that in the relatively dry areas of the mid-latitude zone, the growth of trees increased significantly in the last 10 years, and the sensitivity to precipitation during the growing season was enhanced, which may be due to the fact that the surface fissures generated by ** promoted the infiltration of precipitation into the deep soil, which increased the available water and nutrients of trees. In areas with relatively high annual precipitation, tree growth decreased significantly after the earthquake, possibly due to increased soil erosion and nutrient loss due to more infiltration. (Reporter Zhang Quan).