Stable isotopes of tree rings reveal seasonal-to-decadal patterns during the emergence of a megadrought in the Southwestern US

Recent evidence has revealed the emergence of a megadrought in southwestern North America since 2000. Megadroughts extend for at least 2 decades, making it challenging to identify such events until they are well established. Here, we examined tree-ring growth and stable isotope ratios in Pinus ponderosa at its driest niche edge to investigate whether trees growing near their aridity limit were sensitive to the megadrought climatic pre-conditions, and were capable of informing predictive efforts. During the decade before the megadrought, trees in four populations revealed increases in the cellulose delta C-13 content of earlywood, latewood, and false latewood, which, based on past studies are correlated with increased intrinsic water-use efficiency. However, radial growth and cellulose delta O-18 were not sensitive to pre-megadrought conditions. During the 2 decades preceding the megadrought, at all four sites, the changes in delta C-13 were caused by the high sensitivity of needle carbon and water exchange to drought trends in key winter months, and for three of the four sites during crucial summer months. Such pre-megadrought physiological sensitivity appears to be unique for trees near their arid range limit, as similar patterns were not observed in trees in ten reference sites located along a latitudinal gradient in the same megadrought domain, despite similar drying trends. Our results reveal the utility of tree-ring delta C-13 to reconstruct spatiotemporal patterns during the organizational phase of a megadrought, demonstrating that trees near the arid boundaries of a species' distribution might be useful in the early detection of long-lasting droughts.

Automated summary

Recent evidence has shown the emergence of a megadrought in southwestern North America since 2000. Trees near their arid range limit exhibit unique sensitivity to pre-megadrought conditions, particularly in key seasonal months such as winter and summer. This physiological sensitivity could potentially aid in the early detection of long-lasting droughts.