Background information

Climate change-induced range expansion of treeline populations depends on their successful recruitment, which requires dispersal of viable seeds followed by successful establishment of individual propagules. The Global Treeline Range Expansion Experiment (G-TREE) is a global initiative involving researchers from Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand (Brown et al., 2013). At 15 alpine and Arctic treeline sites worldwide the mechanisms determining the elevational and latitudinal distribution of tree populations are studied using a standardized experimental approach. In summer 2013, a multifactorial seedling recruitment experiment has been established at the Stillberg ecological treeline research site. The aim of this experiment, is to quantify the effect of multiple abiotic and biotic drivers on emergence, survival, and growth of Larix decidua and Picea abies seedlings in replicated plots along an elevation gradient with three sites below (1930 m a.s.l.), at (2090 m a.s.l.), and above treeline (2410 m a.s.l.; Frei et al., 2018). All plots have been surveyed annually to count seedlings and to measure their total height. Additional environmental factors, such as soil temperature, have been recorded.

Experimental design

The Stillberg research area is located in the Eastern Swiss Alps near Davos, Switzerland. The site has been used for several long-term monitoring as well as experimental studies for the last four decades. Our G-TREE experiment consists of a lowest site located in a subalpine Larch-Spruce forest (Larici-Picetum) dominated by Larix decidua and Picea abies (1930 m a.s.l.), a transition zone site dominated by alpine shrubs (2100 m a.s.l.), and an uppermost site in an alpine meadow with some dwarf shrubs (2390 m a.s.l.). The three experimental sites were set up following the standard protocol of the global G-TREE initiative (Brown et al., 2013). In a split-plot design, 20 plots (224 cm × 45 cm) were established at each site, which were randomly assigned to the 2 × 2 treatment combinations of the main factors seeding and scarification (i.e. seeding and scarification, seeding only, scarification only, and full control), resulting in five replications per main treatment combination. Each plot was divided into 16 split-plots (22.5 cm × 28 cm), to which treatment combinations of four additional two-level factors species (larch and spruce), provenance (low- and high-elevation), herbivore exclosure (with and without exclosure), and seeding year (2013, 2014) were randomly assigned, which resulted in a total of 960 split-plots (Details see Frei et al. 2018).

Data description

All plots have been surveyed annually to count seedlings and to measure their total height. Seedling height was assessed with a hand ruler as the total length from the original emerging point to the apical meristem (Details see Frei et al. 2018). Additionally, soil temperature at each site, has been continuously recorded since 2013. Here, we present data from eight years (2013–2021).

• Funding information not available.

EnviDat Project: Treeline Research Stillberg Switzerland https://www.envidat.ch/group/treeline-research-stillberg-switzerland

Frei, E.R., Bianchi, E., Bernareggi, G., Bebi, P., Dawes, M.A., Brown, C.D., Trant, A.J., Mamet, S.D. & Rixen, C. 2018. Biotic and abiotic drivers of tree seedling recruitment across an alpine treeline ecotone. Scientific Reports 8: 10894. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28808-w

Brown, C.D., Johnstone, J.F., Mamet, S.D. & Trant, A.J. 2013. Global Treeline Range Expansion Experiment Field Protocols. [WWW document] URL www.treelineresearch.com