Tree-growth is more sensitive than species distributions to recent changes in climate and acidic deposition in the northeastern United States

Tree-growth responses to environmental change could provide early detection of shifts in forest composition and help facilitate ecosystem management and conservation.
We studied forest tree responses to recent trends in climate and acidic deposition using analyses of tree rings and long-term climate, deposition and forest plot data along an elevational climatic gradient in the northeastern United States. We analyzed how (a) individual growth of dominant species (Picea rubens, Abies balsamea), and (b) spatial distributions of all species, changed with elevation over time due to changing environment.
We observed a mean 220 m upslope shift of temperature envelopes since the 1960s, consistent with regional climate warming, but found no evidence of synchronous upslope shifts in species abundance. Species’ ranges were stable although some leaned upslope or downslope, suggesting species-specific migration lags or controls on species’ ranges.
Compared to species distributions, the growth of ...