Articles | Volume 23, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-4641-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-4641-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
07 Jul 2026
Research article |
| 07 Jul 2026
| 07 Jul 2026
Radial growth decline in a tropical Andean treeline in Bolivia
Rose Oelkers
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA
Department of Earth Science and Environmental Change, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Laia Andreu-Hayles
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA
Ecological and Forestry Applications Research Center (CREAF), Bellaterra, Spain
Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
Rosanne D'Arrigo
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA
Hung T. T. Nguyen
Department of Earth Science and Environmental Change, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Arturo Pacheco Solana
Department of Earth Science and Environmental Change, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry (TeSAF), University of Padua, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
Milagros Rodriguez-Caton
Department of Earth Science and Environmental Change, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Cs. Ambientales (IANIGLA), CONICET Mendoza, Argentina
M. Eugenia Ferrero
Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Cs. Ambientales (IANIGLA), CONICET Mendoza, Argentina
Laboratorio de Dendrocronología, Universidad Continental, Huancayo, Peru
Ernesto Tejedor
Department of Geology, National Museum of Natural Sciences-Spanish National Research Council (MNCN-CSIC), Madrid, Spain
Alfredo F. Fuentes
Herbario Nacional de Bolivia, Instituto de Ecología, Carrera de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Puras y Naturales, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia
Ecological and Conservation Synthesis Department, Conservation and Restoration Division, Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
Carla Maldonado
Herbario Nacional de Bolivia, Instituto de Ecología, Carrera de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Puras y Naturales, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia
Ecological and Conservation Synthesis Department, Conservation and Restoration Division, Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
Daniel Ruiz-Carrascal
Innovation and Technological Development Directorate, Universidad EAFIT, Medellin, Colombia
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Marcos Marín-Martín, Ernesto Tejedor, Gerardo Benito, Miguel A. Saz, Mariano Barriendos, Edurne Martínez del Castillo, Jan Esper, and Martín de Luis
Clim. Past, 21, 2205–2223, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-2205-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-2205-2025, 2025
Short summary
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The Mediterranean faces more extreme weather. To understand these changes beyond short modern records, we studied Spanish pine tree rings, reconstructing over 500 years of rainfall. Our findings show that while past centuries had wet and dry periods, recent decades have experienced an unprecedented surge in both severe droughts and extreme wet events. This long-term view helps assess current climate shifts and their impact on ecosystems and water resources, highlighting the need for adaptation.
Mariano S. Morales, Doris B. Crispín-DelaCruz, Claudio Álvarez, Duncan A. Christie, M. Eugenia Ferrero, Laia Andreu-Hayles, Ricardo Villalba, Anthony Guerra, Ginette Ticse-Otarola, Ernesto C. Rodríguez-Ramírez, Rosmery LLocclla-Martínez, Joali Sanchez-Ferrer, and Edilson J. Requena-Rojas
Clim. Past, 19, 457–476, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-457-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-457-2023, 2023
Short summary
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In this study, we develop the first tree-ring-based precipitation reconstruction for the northern South American Altiplano back to 1625 CE. We established that the occurrence rate of extreme dry events together with a shift in mean dry conditions for the late 20th–beginning of the 21st century is unprecedented in the past 389 years, consistent with other paleoclimatic records. Our reconstruction provides valuable information about El Niño–Southern Oscillation influences on local precipitation.
Ignacio Hermoso de Mendoza, Etienne Boucher, Fabio Gennaretti, Aliénor Lavergne, Robert Field, and Laia Andreu-Hayles
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 1931–1952, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1931-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1931-2022, 2022
Short summary
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We modify the numerical model of forest growth MAIDENiso by explicitly simulating snow. This allows us to use the model in boreal environments, where snow is dominant. We tested the performance of the model before and after adding snow, using it at two Canadian sites to simulate tree-ring isotopes and comparing with local observations. We found that modelling snow improves significantly the simulation of the hydrological cycle, the plausibility of the model and the simulated isotopes.
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Short summary
We analyzed the tree rings in several Polylepis pepei from a tropical treeline in South America and found that the annual growth rate steadily decreased between 1960 and 2015. Our results suggest that the trees formed smaller rings in response to the significant increase of hot and dry conditions observed at the site. These results provide the first long-term record of forest age, growth history, and climate dynamics in an understudied biodiversity hotspot in Andes-Amazon region.
We analyzed the tree rings in several Polylepis pepei from a tropical treeline in South America...
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