Mikhail V. Kozlov , Pekka Niemelä

Drought is more stressful for northern populations of Scots pine than low summer temperatures

Kozlov M. V., Niemelä P. (2003). Drought is more stressful for northern populations of Scots pine than low summer temperatures. Silva Fennica vol. 37 no. 2 article id 499. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.499

Abstract

Needle fluctuating asymmetry, which is a non-specific stress indicator, was used to evaluate responses of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) to annual climatic variation in the Kola Peninsula, NW Russia, during 1992–1999. Although the 30 trees surveyed for this study demonstrated individualistic responses to the temperature and precipitation of the growth seasons, at the population level we found no effect of temperature and a significant increase in fluctuating asymmetry with a decline in precipitation during the previous August. This finding suggests that the vitality of Scots pine populations at the northern tree limit is controlled by late summer precipitation rather than by temperatures of the growth season.

Keywords
Pinus sylvestris; climate change; precipitation; stress; temperature; fluctuating asymmetry; Kola peninsula

Received 12 May 2000 Accepted 14 January 2003 Published 31 December 2003

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