Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1017/eds.2022.8
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Predicting spatiotemporal variability in radial tree growth at the continental scale with machine learning
Author Bodesheim, P.; Babst, F.; Frank, D.C.; Hartl, C.; Zang, C.S.; Jung, M.; Reichstein, M.; Mahecha, M.D.
Source Titel Environmental Data Science
Year 2022
Department iDiv; RS
Volume 1
Page From e9
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Data and Software links https://www.doi.org/10.17871/BACI.248
Keywords Gaussian process; random decision forest; tree growth variability; tree-rings; upscaling
Abstract Tree-ring chronologies encode interannual variability in forest growth rates over long time periods from decades to centuries or even millennia. However, each chronology is a highly localized measurement describing conditions at specific sites where wood samples have been collected. The question whether these local growth variabilites are representative for large geographical regions remains an open issue. To overcome the limitations of interpreting a sparse network of sites, we propose an upscaling approach for annual tree-ring indices that approximate forest growth variability and compute gridded data products that generalize the available information for multiple tree genera. Using regression approaches from machine learning, we predict tree-ring indices in space and time based on climate variables, but considering also species range maps as constraints for the upscaling. We compare various prediction strategies in cross-validation experiments to identify the best performing setup. Our estimated maps of tree-ring indices are the first data products that provide a dense view on forest growth variability at the continental level with 0.5° and 0.0083° spatial resolution covering the years 1902–2013. Furthermore, we find that different genera show very variable spatial patterns of anomalies. We have selected Europe as study region and focused on the six most prominent tree genera, but our approach is very generic and can easily be applied elsewhere. Overall, the study shows perspectives but also limitations for reconstructing spatiotemporal dynamics of complex biological processes. The data products are available at https://www.doi.org/10.17871/BACI.248.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=26383
Bodesheim, P., Babst, F., Frank, D.C., Hartl, C., Zang, C.S., Jung, M., Reichstein, M., Mahecha, M.D. (2022):
Predicting spatiotemporal variability in radial tree growth at the continental scale with machine learning
Environ. Data Sci. 1 , e9 10.1017/eds.2022.8