Climate, not land-use, drives a recent acceleration of larch expansion at the forest-grassland ecotone in the southern French alps.

Abstract

In recent decades significant forest expansion into treeless alpine zones has been observed across global mountain ranges, including the Alps, driven by a complex interplay of global warming and land-use changes. The upward shift of treelines has far-reaching implications for ecosystem functioning, biodiversity, and biogeochemical cycles. However, climate variables alone account for only a fraction of treeline dynamics, highlighting substantial research gaps concerning the influence of non-climatic factors. This study addresses these gaps by combining dendrochronological methods, high-resolution bioclimatic data, and historical land-use records to investigate treeline dynamics in the southern French Alps. Our results reveal a marked acceleration in tree establishment, starting in the early 2000s, attributable primarily to climate change rather than the pastoral abandonment of the 19th century. We demonstrate that historical land-use changes created predisposing conditions for tree establishment, while recent climate change has increasingly acted as an accelerator for this dynamic. While key climatic factors, such as thermal indicators and growing season length, are identified as significant contributors to treeline shifts, our study highlights the need for further research to disentangle the specific drivers of tree recruitment and survival in the context of ongoing climate change.