The role of elevation, tree height, and crown position on the carbon balance of trees at the southern Andes treeline

Clicks: 1
ID: 317907
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal

Ranked #164 of 193 articles by views in Annals of botany

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 193 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Elevational treelines worldwide are thought to be temperature-driven. The most accepted hypothesis explaining the formation of treelines is that low temperature affects growth more than photosynthesis, rendering a surplus of carbon reserves in perennial tissues. This is the growth limitation hypothesis (GLH). However, support for this hypothesis is mostly biased toward evergreen conifers of the Northern Hemisphere. In this study, we tested the GLH in Nothofagus pumilio (Nothofagaceae) in Patagonia, Chile, across three different temperature gradients. METHODS: In two treeline sites, we measured non-structural carbohydrate concentrations (NSCs = starch + soluble sugars) in leaves, twig sapwood, and stem sapwood across 1) elevation, 2) conspecifics of individual trees of different tree heights at each elevation, and 3) intra-individual twigs at contrasting canopy heights. The expectation for the GLH to be true is that the colder the environment (i.e., the higher the elevation, the taller the tree, or the higher the twig position in the tree), the higher the tissue NSC concentrations. We also measured shoot elongation and basal area increment of the most recent 10 years (BAI10). KEY RESULTS: BAI10, not shoot length, decreased with elevation and increased with relative tree height in both sites. NSC varied sometimes significantly with elevation and tree height but not with crown position. Stem's NSC (and starch) concentrations decreased significantly with elevation in one site and increased in the other. NSC, starch, and soluble sugar concentrations decreased significantly in stem sapwood with relative tree height in both sites. CONCLUSIONS: Our study gives mixed support to the GLH. First, variation in NSC with elevation was site-specific. Second, across all elevations, stem sapwood NSC decreased and BAI10 increased with tree height. One explanation for these ambiguous results is that carbon sinks, other than growth, blur the trend expected from the GLH in this deciduous treeline species.
Reference Key
openalex_W7165161945 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Alex Fajardo, Günter Hoch, Frida I. Piper
Journal Annals of botany
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/aob/mcag173
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcag173
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.