N. Vygodskaya et al., LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF CLIMATE ON PICEA-ABIES COMMUNITIES IN THE SOUTH EUROPEAN TAIGA, Journal of biogeography, 22(2-3), 1995, pp. 433-443
The effects of climate change on the Picea abies communities of the So
uth European taiga have been analysed at three different scales: (i) t
he scale of long-term fluctuations in climatic patterns over thousands
of years; (ii) the scale of climate variability over 100 years; and (
iii) the scale of ecophysiological processes over a single growing sea
son. On the basis of pollen-spore analysis, the role of Picea abies as
a dominant species in the forests of the South European taiga region
(Tver region, Russia) has been shown for the past 17,000 years. In the
Holocene, the temperature of the region changed with 1000-1200 and 30
00 year periods on the background of a nonstationary trend with a 14,0
00-year period; wetter periods occurred with 1000, 1500-1600 and 3000-
year periods; and the vegetation itself changed with 1000-1100, 1500,
2500 and 14,000-year periods. The warmest period was observed 6000 yea
rs ago, but 1500 years later the temperature had decreased to the mode
m level. Climate warming results usually in intensive and deep reorgan
ization of vegetation (successional replacement). The most intensive r
eorganizations occur about 500 years after the beginning of simultaneo
us and opposite oscillations in temperature (warming) and moisture (dr
ying). The low stability of spruce forests to warming and drying can a
lso result in 'catastrophic' reorganization of communities. On the bas
is of instrumental records over the past 100 years, a slight warming f
rom the end of the 19th century and a slight cooling after the 1940s a
s well as a general increase in precipitation has been found for this
region. In comparison with the beginning of the 20th century and the 1
940s, the current climate tends to be less continental. The relative s
tability of the climate over this 100-year period contrasts with the r
elative instability of the vegetation communities. Fluctuations of rad
ial increment and observations of stand destruction are consistent wit
h water stress as the major factor. Intensive measurements of photosyn
thesis and evapotranspiration during individual seasons indicate that
aggregate CO2 assimilation is reduced by 15-25% during dry periods.