Wind and topography influence the crown growth of Picea jezoensis in a subalpine forest on Mt. Deogyu, Korea

► The responses of abiotic and biotic phenomena to winds were compared between wind-exposed and wind-protected sites. ► Topographic wind barriers block the prevailing winds and provide shading, controlling air temperature and moisture regimes. ► Wind exposed site had lower snow depth and more evapotranspiration, which induced drought stress in the winter and spring. ► The decrease in shoot growth and the increase in bud mortality lead to poor crown growth in windward direction. ► The deformation of the crown shape is developed in wind-exposed site. Tree growth in subalpine ecosystems is sensitive to wind due to their wide exposure to strong winds and sparsely wooded short surroundings. This study was conducted to understand the effects of wind and topographic wind barriers on the tree growth in a subalpine ecosystem. The annual shoot growth, bud mortality and needle moisture content of Jezo spruce (Picea jezoensis (Siebold et Zucc.) Carrière) were compared between a wind-exposed site and a wind-protected site. The wind-exposed site was located in a windward position and was exposed directly to the prevailing winds from W and WSW. The wind-protected site was located on leeward slopes with topographic barriers that blocked the prevailing winds. The wind-exposed site had higher air temperature, lower soil water content and shallower snow depth than the wind-protected site in late winter and spring. The annual mean shoot growth on the wind-exposed site was 4cm – significantly lower than that of 6.1cm on the wind-protected site (P