Stella Bogino , María José Fernández Nieto, Felipe Bravo

Climate effect on radial growth of Pinus sylvestris at its southern and western distribution limits

Bogino S., Fernández Nieto M. J., Bravo F. (2009). Climate effect on radial growth of Pinus sylvestris at its southern and western distribution limits. Silva Fennica vol. 43 no. 4 article id 183. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.183

Abstract

The associations between tree-ring width and climatic variables, the tree age effect on climate-growth relationship and the drought index impact on radial growth of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) were studied in Mediterranean environments in the Iberian Peninsula. Dendrochronological techniques were applied to construct six tree-ring width chronologies for P. sylvestris. The association between tree growth and climate was analysed with correlation coefficients and bootstrapped response functions. Drought index (DRI) was used to detect the effects of aridity. Tree-ring width was positively correlated with rainfall in the growing season but this association stated earlier at the lowest altitudinal sites. The effects of temperature varied according to the site. The response to climatic variables depended on the age of the trees: more of the variability was explained by climatic variables in young stands than in old stands. The significant association between radial growth and DRI suggests that drought is a determining factor in the radial growth of P. sylvestris. Climate forecast scenarios show an increase in rainfall irregularity in the Mediterranean region so the differential tree response to rainfall at different elevations can be used to predict tree growth for determining silvicultural treatments.

Keywords
Scots pine; dendroclimatology; tree ring; pulse and interpulse

Received 12 December 2008 Accepted 2 July 2009 Published 31 December 2009

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