Premium
RESPONSE OF LODGEPOLE PINE GROWTH TO CO 2 DEGASSING AT MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN, CALIFORNIA
Author(s) -
Biondi Franco,
Fessenden Julianna E.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.1890/0012-9658(1999)080[2420:rolpgt]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - pinus contorta , dendrochronology , national park , mammoth , δ13c , isotopes of carbon , ecology , environmental science , physical geography , isotopic signature , pinus <genus> , stable isotope ratio , geology , forestry , geography , biology , paleontology , total organic carbon , botany , physics , quantum mechanics
We conducted dendroclimatic and stable isotope analyses of lodgepole pines ( Pinus contorta ) located in high‐mortality sites at Mammoth Mountain (California, USA) to test for tree responses to magmatic degassing. Existing climatic and tree‐ring data from nearby Yellowstone National Park were used for comparison. Sampled trees were scarcely sensitive to climate, and their growth showed an overall decline during the 20th century. Past growth rates of currently dead and stressed pines plummeted after 1990, when degassing of magmatic CO 2 was first reported in the area. No consistent or strong correlation was found with monthly and seasonal climatic parameters. Stable carbon isotopes were measured on holocellulose extracted from annual rings of a dead pine, a stressed pine, and a live pine. The δ 13 C signature of the dead and stressed pines showed enrichment in heavy carbon beginning in 1990, which could be related to stomatal closure following impairment of root systems by high levels of magmatic CO 2 in the soil.