Growth dynamics of black spruce (Picea mariana) in a rapidly thawing discontinuous permafrost peatland

High-latitude warming has led to radical changes in abiotic conditions influencing forest growth. In the North American boreal forest, widespread declines in forest productivity (particularly in western regions) and changing climate-growth relationships have been documented. Previous studies have proposed that this decline can be attributed to drought stress as increasing temperatures may cause evapotranspirative demand to exceed available moisture. We used tree ring studies to document growth dynamics of black spruce, one of the most dominant boreal tree species, in a boreal peatland experiencing rapid permafrost thaw. We specifically look at how changing permafrost conditions influence growth. Growth of black spruce at this site has declined steadily since the mid-1900s and exhibited a shift from positive responses to temperature pre-1970 to predominantly negative responses in recent decades, despite precipitation increasing over time at this site. Our results show that there is no apparent effect of landscape position or rate of lateral permafrost thaw on growth trends of black spruce, despite gradients in soil moisture and active layer thickness across the mosaic of wetlands and drier permafrost plateaus at this site. However, this does not imply no effect of permafrost thaw on growth; our results support growing evidence that vertical permafrost thaw (i.e., active layer thickening) is causing drought stress in these slow-growing, shallow-rooted trees. To our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate permafrost as a driver of within-site variability in growth-climate responses, and we provide insight into the widespread growth declines and divergence of climate-growth relationships in high-latitude forests.