一项研究提出，气候变化可能与地球的某些大片地区的同步的树生长模式有关联，高温和密集的气候极端事件如今施加的影响与当地生态系统的因素施加的影响相同。尽管森林在地球的碳循环中起到了一个关键的作用，科研人员尚未确定气候变暖究竟将会支持更长、更健壮的生长季节还是让干旱恶化并减少森林的初级生产力。为了更好地理解全球气候变化如何影响广泛空间尺度上的树的生长，Jordi Voltas及其同事研究了两个完全不同的环境下的6个针叶树物种的120年的树轮年代学。这些从寒冷的西伯利亚中部和西班牙的一个地中海气候的森林获得的样本揭示出了年度生长模式的同步性在这些显著不同的生态群系在21世纪达到峰值。此外，在这些地区对气候变化的响应看上去把相隔数百英里的树丛的生长同步增加到了类似于同一个树丛内的程度。这组作者指出，区域差异在根本上支配着气候变化影响的本质，他们提出，这种朝着大尺度同步的趋势可能预示着压倒了树生长的局部驱动因素的未来森林总体生产力的衰退。（来源：生物360）

Forests synchronize their growth in contrasting Eurasian regions in response to climate warming

Abstract  Forests play a key role in the carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems. One of the main uncertainties in global change predictions lies in how the spatiotemporal dynamics of forest productivity will be affected by climate warming. Here we show an increasing influence of climate on the spatial variability of tree growth during the last 120 y, ultimately leading to unprecedented temporal coherence in ring-width records over wide geographical scales (spatial synchrony). Synchrony in growth patterns across cold-constrained (central Siberia) and drought-constrained (Spain) Eurasian conifer forests have peaked in the early 21st century at subcontinental scales (∼1,000 km). Such enhanced synchrony is similar to that observed in trees co-occurring within a stand. In boreal forests, the combined effects of recent warming and increasing intensity of climate extremes are enhancing synchrony through an earlier start of wood formation and a stronger impact of year-to-year fluctuations of growing-season temperatures on growth. In Mediterranean forests, the impact of warming on synchrony is related mainly to an advanced onset of growth and the strengthening of drought-induced growth limitations. Spatial patterns of enhanced synchrony represent early warning signals of climate change impacts on forest ecosystems at subcontinental scales.

原文链接：http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/01/02/1514717113.full.pdf?with-ds=yes