20.500.12556/DiRROS-22560 Age-dependent moisture response of conifers near their cold range limit Growth dynamics of cold subarctic and subalpine forests are primarily sensitive to temperature, but growth responses may vary across regions or shift over tree ontogeny. Systematic assessments of spatial, interspecific, and demographic variation in temperature and moisture limitation of tree growth at cold distribution margins are essential for enhancing our understanding of how these ecosystems will evolve under climate regimes. To address this gap, we built a network of 22 tree-ring width chronologies from cold forests covering two regions (Fennoscandia, European Alps), three species (Pinus sylvestris, Pinus cembra, Larix decidua), and two age cohorts (45–100 and >150 years). We combined daily climate-growth correlations with the process-based Vaganov-Shashkin growth model to identify differences in critical growth factors between species and age cohorts. In addition, we assessed the coincidence of unusually wide and narrow tree rings with years of specific climatic anomalies. Although growing season temperature was the dominant growth-limiting factor, seasonal effects of water balance on tree growth were considerably large and varied systematically between regions, species, and particularly age cohorts. The growth of young P. sylvestris in Fennoscandia responded negatively to water balance and narrow rings coincided with wet years. In contrast, the growth of young P. cembra in the Alps was drought-limited. Old trees of all species and both age cohorts of L. decidua in the Alps showed limited sensitivity to water balance. The patterns of climate-growth responses in cohort chronologies based on tree age at the year of coring were similar to ontogenetic shifts of climate-growth responses if chronologies were based on the cambial age of individual rings. Our results stress the need to account for interspecific and demographic differences in sensitivity to climate in large-scale studies of cold forest ecosystems. boreal forest Larix subalpine forest pinus tree ring Vaganov-Shashkin model borealni gozdovi macesen bor subalpski gozdovi Vaganov-Šaškinov model rastni obroč true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Znanstveno delo 2025-06-04 12:02:11 2025-06-04 12:02:12 2025-10-24 03:51:38 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Opis vira z dne 4. 6. 2025; str. 1-13 article no. ǂ110634 Vol. 371 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 2025-01-01 630*5 1873-2240 10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110634 238278659 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168192325002540?via%3Dihub 1 fd58a391-412a-11f0-963a-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=32620 1-s2.0-S0168192325002540-main.pdf 1-s2.0-S0168192325002540-main.pdf 1 1709F8AB3DF761519449D7041E017C0E f509e3b8780f57489f8a2cf37df1f77f897672256f9a53eaf0423ad8cd38100d 2b3f06f3-412b-11f0-963a-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=32621 Gozdarski inštitut Slovenije 0 0 0