Impacts of Climate Change on Forest Growth in Saline-alkali Land of Yellow River Delta, North China

Rongjia Wang^a,1,Jianfeng Zhang^a,*, DeshunZhang^b, Linshui Dong^c, Guanghua Qin^d, ShufengWang^a,1

^a Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Hangzhou311400, China

^b College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai 20092,China

^c Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment Science for the Yellow River Delta, Binzhou University, Binzhou 256603, China

^d Shandong Academy of Forestry, Ji’nan 250014, China

Abstract: Climate change is an important factor affecting forest growth. Therefore, approaching the impacts of climate change on forest growth is of great significance to ameliorate this degraded land and push up forestry development. This paper initially probes the impacts of climate change on tree growth in Yellow River Delta region and responds of different tree species on the change. In this study, five species of 22-year-old trees were selected, and the tree biomass was measured by standard site methods and tree ring sampling to pursue the impacts of climate change on forest growth. Besides, growth models of the different tree species were established and verified using Robinia pseudoacacia as an example. The results showed: (1) In the Yellow River Delta, the most adapted tree species areFraxinus chinensis and R. pseudoacacia. (2) Precipitation is the main meteorological factor affecting tree growth, while temperature and air pressure are also significantly correlated with tree growth. (3) Linear and power function models can simulate tree growth well. From the verification results, the modified R. pseudoacacia biomass is 294.54 t/ha, and the simulated biomass of the linear function model is close to the value. It is expected that theresearch not only provides a theoretical basis for forestry development insaline lands, but also helps to rehabilitate saline-alkali lands and cope with climate change.

1 Introduction

2 Materials and Methods

   2.1 Description of Site

   2.2 Description of test plot and period climate

   2.3 Research methods

3 Results 

   3.1 Tree growth in the Yelloew River Delta

   3.2 Meteorological factors affecting tree growth

   3.3. Growth models of the different tree species

   3.4. Response of different tree species to meteorological factors

4. Discussion

   4.1. Adaptability of tree species in Yellow River Delta

   4.2. Effects of different meteorological factors on tree growth

   4.3. Tree growth model 

5. Conclusions

Fig. 1. Geographical location of the test area.

Table 1 Basic features of the tested forests.

Table 2  Meteorological data from 1984 to 2005 in the region.

Fig. 2. The growth of different tree species in the Yellow River Delta region.

Fig. 3. Correlation coefficients between tree growth and meteorological factors.

Table 3 Correlation coefficients between tree growth and meteorological factors.

Table 4  Growth models of the five tree species.

Fig. 4. Simulated growth trends of study species using different growth models: (a)Robinia pseudoacacia, (b) Fraxinus chinensis, (c) Ulmus pumila, (d) Ailanthus altissimus, and (e) Sophora japonica.

Hence it expected that this study not only help push up forestry development in the region, but also shed light on the response of forests to climate change, which is of great significance for coping with global change and promoting vegetation restoration in degraded lands.

This research is supported by the Key R&D Program of Zhejiang Province (2021C02038) and the Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (31770747). We appropriate all the helps by persons from local village.