Anthropogenic-management could mitigate declines in growth and survival of Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia) in the east Qilian Mountains, northeast Tibetan Plateau

Ongoing climate changes posed significant threats to forest growth, structure and ecological functions. However, in our field survey in the east Qilian Mountains, we found that growth condition of Qinghai spruce under climate changes was better in anthropogenic management forest than disturbance-free stands. Accordingly, we suggested a hypothesis that the environmental change induced suppression in Qinghai spruce growth could be mitigated by anthropogenic management. Such a hypothesis was tested by comparing Qinghai spruce growth and population dynamic patterns between anthropogenic-managed forests and disturbance-free ones. We found that Qinghai spruce radial growth persistently declined since the late 1950s in the disturbance-free forests, while the radial growth of anthropogenic-managed trees almost kept steady-going trends since the 1970s in which anthropogenic-management appeared. Besides, some anomalous growth-declining years occurred in disturbance-free forests did not appear in anthropogenic-managed forests in the same year after anthropogenic-management emerged. Moreover, missing ring and tree mortality took place in disturbance-free stands and became increasingly frequent after the mid-1980s. The frequencies and proportions of missing rings and tree die-off were much lower in anthropogenic-managed forests than disturbance-free ones. Additionally, the occurrence of Qinghai spruce radial growth decline and increased mortality in recent time in our disturbance-free forests could be well explained by global-change-type drought in conjunction with elevated temperature and warming-related pest outbreaks. These results would be of fundamental significance for the further understanding of the changing forests, which could provide new clues for forest management and conservation in the future.