Below-ground biotic interactions moderated the postglacial range dynamics of trees

TY - JOUR

T1 - Below-ground biotic interactions moderated the postglacial range dynamics of trees

AU - Pither, Jason

AU - Pickles, Brian J

AU - Simard, Suzanne W

AU - Ordonez, Alejandro

AU - Williams, John W

N1 - © 2018 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2018 New Phytologist Trust.

PY - 2018/12

Y1 - 2018/12

N2 - Tree range shifts during geohistorical global change events provide a useful real-world model for how future changes in forest biomes may proceed. In North America, during the last deglaciation, the distributions of tree taxa varied significantly as regards the rate and direction of their responses for reasons that remain unclear. Local-scale processes such as establishment, growth, and resilience to environmental stress ultimately influence range dynamics. Despite the fact that interactions between trees and soil biota are known to influence local-scale processes profoundly, evidence linking below-ground interactions to distribution dynamics remains scarce. We evaluated climate velocity and plant traits related to dispersal, environmental tolerance and below-ground symbioses, as potential predictors of the geohistorical rates of expansion and contraction of the core distributions of tree genera between 16 and 7 ka bp. The receptivity of host genera towards ectomycorrhizal fungi was strongly supported as a positive predictor of poleward rates of distribution expansion, and seed mass was supported as a negative predictor. Climate velocity gained support as a positive predictor of rates of distribution contraction, but not expansion. Our findings indicate that understanding how tree distributions, and thus forest ecosystems, respond to climate change requires the simultaneous consideration of traits, biotic interactions and abiotic forcing.

AB - Tree range shifts during geohistorical global change events provide a useful real-world model for how future changes in forest biomes may proceed. In North America, during the last deglaciation, the distributions of tree taxa varied significantly as regards the rate and direction of their responses for reasons that remain unclear. Local-scale processes such as establishment, growth, and resilience to environmental stress ultimately influence range dynamics. Despite the fact that interactions between trees and soil biota are known to influence local-scale processes profoundly, evidence linking below-ground interactions to distribution dynamics remains scarce. We evaluated climate velocity and plant traits related to dispersal, environmental tolerance and below-ground symbioses, as potential predictors of the geohistorical rates of expansion and contraction of the core distributions of tree genera between 16 and 7 ka bp. The receptivity of host genera towards ectomycorrhizal fungi was strongly supported as a positive predictor of poleward rates of distribution expansion, and seed mass was supported as a negative predictor. Climate velocity gained support as a positive predictor of rates of distribution contraction, but not expansion. Our findings indicate that understanding how tree distributions, and thus forest ecosystems, respond to climate change requires the simultaneous consideration of traits, biotic interactions and abiotic forcing.

KW - climate velocity

KW - facilitation

KW - mycorrhizal fungi

KW - plant migration

KW - range expansion

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85047491710&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/nph.15203

DO - 10.1111/nph.15203

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 29770964

SN - 0028-646X

VL - 220

SP - 1148

EP - 1160

JO - New Phytologist

JF - New Phytologist

IS - 4

ER -