PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Xiaoxia Li
AU  - Eryuan Liang
AU  - Jozica Gricar
AU  - Sergio Rossi
AU  - Katarina Cufar
AU  - Aaron M. Ellison
TI  - Critical minimum temperature limits xylogenesis and maintains treelines on the Tibetan Plateau
AID  - 10.1101/093781
DP  - 2016 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 093781
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/12/13/093781.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/12/13/093781.full
AB  - Physiological and ecological mechanisms that define treelines are still debated. It is suggested that the absence of trees above the treeline is caused by the low temperature that limits growth. Thus, we raise the hypothesis that there is a critical minimum temperature (CTmin) preventing xylogenesis at treeline. We tested this hypothesis by examining weekly xylogenesis across three and four growing seasons in two natural Smith fir (Abies georgei var. smithii) treeline sites on the south-eastern Tibetan Plateau. Despite differences in the timing of cell differentiation among years, minimum air temperature was the dominant climatic variable associated with xylem growth; the critical minimum temperature (CTmin) for the onset and end of xylogenesis occurred at 0.7±0.4 °C. A process-based-modeled chronology of tree-ring formation using this CTmin was consistent with actual tree-ring data. This extremely low CTmin permits Smith fir growing at treeline to complete annual xylem production and maturation and provides both support and a mechanism for treeline formation.