Contrasting climate- and land-use-driven tree encroachment patterns of subarctic tundra in northern Norway and the Kola PeninsulaThis article is a contribution to the series Tree recruitment, growth, and distribution at the circumpolar forest–tundra transition.

Abstract

High-latitude regions are experiencing substantial climate change, and the forest–tundra transition is assumed to sensitively track these changes through advancing treeline and increased tundra encroachment. However, herbivores may influence these responses. The present study addresses, through analyses of age structures, growth characteristics, and climate correspondence, how mountain birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh. ssp. czerepanovii (Orlova) Hämet-Ahti) treelines and sapling cohorts beyond the treeline have responded to the last decade’s warming in six North European subarctic areas with different climate and grazing characters. The results show different response patterns among areas representing advancing, stationary, and possibly retreating treelines. Recruitment was abundant over the last decades in all areas except one, with predominantly arctic conditions, where both tree and sapling cohorts were old. Areas with high annual precipitation show advancing birch populations characterized by young individuals and partly overlapping tree and sapling age distributions. Areas in reindeer herding districts show stationary or retreating birch populations characterized by nonoverlapping age distributions and low sapling survival. Recruitment patterns beyond the treeline generally corresponded with non-growing-season climate variables, mainly precipitation, indicating the importance of a protecting snow cover. The results highlight the important interplay between abiotic and biotic control over tundra encroachment and treeline dynamics and the importance of multisite studies when addressing responses to warming.