Climate Influences on the Radial Growth of Centrolobium microchaete,a Valuable Timber Species from the Tropical Dry Forests in Bolivia

In this study, we use tree‐ring records to determine the climate factors controlling the growth of Centrolobium microchaete, a high‐value timber species from the tropical dry Chiquitano forest in Bolivia. We present the first tree‐ring chronologies from C. microchaete for Concepción and Santa Mónica, Bolivia. Statistical analyses show that the chronologies are of good quality and have a significant common signal between trees. The growth of C. microchaete is strongly influenced by climatic conditions during late spring–early summer. Abundant precipitations concurrent with below‐average temperatures during this period of the year favor tree growth. Climate variations in late spring–early summer explain >40 percent of the total variance in C. microchaete tree growth during the interval 1943–2005. Minor differences in tree responses to climate recorded between the two stands may reflect differences in the extent of the dry season and in soil water capacity between sites. Although the chronologies cover the past 180 yr, adding samples from older individuals would permit the extension of these records further back in time. The strong climate dependency of tree growth suggests that predicted future climate changes in the region could have a significant influence on C. microchaete tree growth during the 21st century.     

Climate/growth relationships of Brachystegia spiciformis from the miombo woodland in south central Africa

We present five Brachystegia spiciformis Benth. (BrSp) tree-ring chronologies from the seasonally dry miombo woodland in south central Africa. Between 9 and 34 stem discs were collected from three dry and two wet miombo sites. All samples showed distinct growth rings, which were marked by terminal parenchyma bands. Site chronologies varied in length between 43 and 149 years. An increase in the number of growth ring anomalies in older trees, however, resulted in an increase in dating error and a decrease in between-tree correlations with increase in the chronology length. Annual precipitation variability accounted for some 28% of the common variance in the BrSp chronologies and we found no difference in climate sensitivity between wet and dry miombo sites. The influence of climate, and of precipitation in particular, on tree growth was strongest at the core of the rainy season (December–February). This is also the time of the year when ENSO peaks in amplitude and ENSO effects on precipitation variability in southern Africa are the strongest. We found a negative response of tree growth to ENSO throughout most of the growth year, suggesting that the development of longer chronologies from the miombo region would allow for the investigation of temporal ENSO variability. A spatial extension of the miombo tree-ring network should therefore focus on regions where ENSO effects are the strongest (e.g., southeastern Africa).     

Biases in RCS tree ring chronologies due to sampling heights of trees

The Regional Curve Standardization (RCS) is one of the most employed standardization methods to remove biological signals in long tree ring chronologies. The approach assumes that an overall age-related growth trend typify all tree ring series to be included in a standardized tree ring chronology. Although several potential problems of the method have been examined, the influence of varying the sampling height along tree stems has not been evaluated. Considering that age-related growth trends may vary with stem height, biases may arise when combining samples from unknown or variable sampling heights, a frequent situation with subfossil logs. In this study we perform a detailed stem analysis of 15 lakeshore black spruce (Picea mariana Mill. B.S.P.) trees in the taiga of eastern Canada to describe how the age-related growth trend varies with stem height and evaluate associated biases in RCS chronologies built from living and subfossil trees. Results show that the age-related growth trends vary markedly and systematically along stems, potentially generating large methodological biases in RCS chronologies, especially near the recent chronology end. These biases may lead to erroneous reconstructions of recent climatic trends and cause false divergence between tree ring and climate series. We have developed a correction procedure that appears efficient in removing these biases from chronologies built with the lakeshore trees and associated subfossil logs.     

不同去趋势方法对树轮气候信号识别的影响

树木生长受到气候因子、随年龄增长的内在生长趋势、环境干扰和其他扰动信号的影响。目前存在不同的去趋势方法对树木年轮进行去趋势以识别树木生长中的气候信号。以往的研究多基于单个方法识别树轮气候信号，而不同去趋势方法识别的树轮气候信号可能会有一定的差别。为了对比不同去趋势方法对树轮气候信号识别的影响，我们基于国际年轮数据库网站获取中国西部地区68个点的树轮宽度数据，采用最常用的"signal-free"方法（SsfCrn）、线性和负指数函数法（std）、67%样条函数法（spline）、firedman方法、以及基于经验模式分解去趋势方法（EEMD）5种去趋势方法分别建立树轮年表，并对比分析同一地点的不同年表对气候响应的异同。结果表明：不同去趋势方法得到的年表对温度、降水以及相对湿度等气候因素的响应具有明显差异。其中，SsfCrn去趋势方法建立的年表对温度（月平均温、月最低温、月平均最低温）响应中相关最高的样点在所有样点中占比最高；EEMD去趋势方法建立的年表对降水量、相对湿度和月最高温响应中相关最高的样点在所有样点中占比最高；firedman去趋势方法建立的年表对月平均最高温响应中相关最高的样点在所有样点中占比最高。研究结果表明SsfCrn，EEMD和firedman方法在识别树轮气候信号方法具有一定的优势。在不同研究区域中，不同去趋势方法建立的年表对不同气候条件响应有差异，因此选择不同的去趋势方法识别树木生长趋势，分析哪种方法可以更好的反应气候变化对树木生长的影响显得尤为重要。     

Species-Specific Growth Responses to Climate Variations in Understory Trees of a Central African Rain Forest

Basic knowledge of the relationships between tree growth and environmental variables is crucial for understanding forest dynamics and predicting vegetation responses to climate variations. Trees growing in tropical areas with a clear seasonality in rainfall often form annual growth rings. In the understory, however, tree growth is supposed to be mainly affected by interference for access to light and other resources. In the semi-deciduous Mayombe forest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the evergreen species Aidia ochroleuca, Corynanthe paniculata and Xylopia wilwerthii dominate the understory. We studied their wood to determine whether they form annual growth rings in response to changing climate conditions. Distinct growth rings were proved to be annual and triggered by a common external factor for the three species. Species-specific site chronologies were thus constructed from the cross-dated individual growth-ring series. Correlation analysis with climatic variables revealed that annual radial stem growth is positively related to precipitation during the rainy season but at different months. The growth was found to associate with precipitation during the early rainy season for Aidia but at the end of the rainy season for Corynanthe and Xylopia. Our results suggest that a dendrochronological approach allows the understanding of climate–growth relationships in tropical forests, not only for canopy trees but also for evergreen understory species and thus arguably for the whole tree community. Global climate change influences climatic seasonality in tropical forest areas, which is likely to result in differential responses across species with a possible effect on forest composition over time.     

Convergence in growth responses of tropical trees to climate driven by water stress

Widely documented for temperate and cold forests in both hemispheres, variations in tree growth responses to climate along environmental gradients have rarely been investigated in the tropics. Seven tree‐ring chronologies of Centrolobium microchaete (Fabaceae) in the Cerrado tropical forests of Bolivia are used to determine the growth responses to climate along a precipitation gradient. Chronologies are distributed from the humid Guarayos forests (annual precipitation > 1600 mm) in the transition to the Amazonia to the dry‐mesic Chiquitos forests (annual precipitation < 1200 mm) in the proximity to the dry Chaco. On a large spatial scale, radial growth is positively influenced by rainfall and negatively by temperature at the end of the dry season. However, this regional pattern in climate‐tree growth relationship shows differences along the precipitation gradient. Relationships with climate are highly significant and extend over longer periods of the year in sites with low rainfall and extremely severe dry seasons. At wet sites, larger water soil capacity and endogenous forest dynamics partially mask the direct influence of climate on tree growth. Stronger similarities in tree‐growth responses to climate occur between sites in the dry Central Chiquitos and in the transition to the Guarayos forests. In contrast, the relationships show fewer similarities between sites in the humid Guarayos. We conclude that growth responses to climate in the tropics are more similar between sites with limited rainfall and severe and prolonged dry seasons. Our study points to a convergence in the patterns of growth responses of tropical trees to climate, modulated by scarce rainfall and marked seasonality. The negative impact of water deficits on tree physiological processes induces not only the documented reduction in forest species richness, but also a convergence in tree‐growth responses to climate in dry tropical forests.     

Nonannual tree rings in a climate‐sensitive Prioria copaifera chronology in the Atrato River,Colombia

In temperate climates, tree growth dormancy usually ensures the annual nature of tree rings, but in tropical environments, determination of annual periodicity can be more complex. The purposes of the work are as follows: (1) to generate a reliable tree‐ring width chronology for Prioria copaifera Griseb. (Leguminoceae), a tropical tree species dwelling in the Atrato River floodplains, Colombia; (2) to assess the climate signal recorded by the tree‐ring records; and (3) to validate the annual periodicity of the tree rings using independent methods. We used standard dendrochronological procedures to generate the P. copaifera tree‐ring chronology. We used Pearson correlations to evaluate the relationship of the chronology with the meteorological records, climate regional indices, and gridded precipitation/sea surface temperature products. We also evaluated 24 high‐precision ¹⁴C measurements spread over a range of preselected tree rings, with assigned calendar years by dendrochronological techniques, before and after the bomb spike in order to validate the annual nature of the tree rings. The tree‐ring width chronology was statistically reliable, and it correlated significantly with local records of annual and October–December (OND) streamflow and precipitation across the upper river watershed (positive), and OND temperature (negative). It was also significantly related to the Oceanic Niño Index, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and the Southern Oscillation Index, as well as sea surface temperatures over the Caribbean and the Pacific region. However, ¹⁴C high‐precision measurements over the tree rings demonstrated offsets of up to 40 years that indicate that P. copaifera can produce more than one ring in certain years. Results derived from the strongest climate–growth relationship during the most recent years of the record suggest that the climatic signal reported may be due to the presence of annual rings in some of those trees in recent years. Our study alerts about the risk of applying dendrochronology in species with challenging anatomical features defining tree rings, commonly found in the tropics, without an independent validation of annual periodicity of tree rings. High‐precision ¹⁴C measurements in multiple trees are a useful method to validate the identification of annual tree rings.     

Evaluating the annual nature of juvenile rings in Bolivian tropical rainforest trees

Knowledge on juvenile tree growth is crucial to understand how trees reach the canopy in tropical forests. However, long-term data on juvenile tree growth are usually unavailable. Annual tree rings provide growth information for the entire life of trees and their analysis has become more popular in tropical forest regions over the past decades. Nonetheless, tree ring studies mainly deal with adult rings as the annual character of juvenile rings has been questioned. We evaluated whether juvenile tree rings can be used for three Bolivian rainforest species. First, we characterized the rings of juvenile and adult trees anatomically. We then evaluated the annual nature of tree rings by a combination of three indirect methods: evaluation of synchronous growth patterns in the tree- ring series, ¹⁴C bomb peak dating and correlations with rainfall. Our results indicate that rings of juvenile and adult trees are defined by similar ring-boundary elements. We built juvenile tree-ring chronologies and verified the ring age of several samples using ¹⁴C bomb peak dating. We found that ring width was correlated with rainfall in all species, but in different ways. In all, the chronology, rainfall correlations and ¹⁴C dating suggest that rings in our study species are formed annually.     

High-fidelity representation of climate variations by Amburana cearensis tree-ring chronologies across a tropical forest transition in South America

Numerous ring-width chronologies from different species have recently been developed in diverse tropical forests across South America. However, the temporal and spatial climate signals in these tropical chronologies is less well known. In this work, annual growth rings of Amburana cearensis, a widely distributed tropical tree species, were employed to estimate temporal and spatial patterns of climate variability in the transition from the dry Chiquitano (16–17°S) to the humid Guarayos-southern Amazon (14–15°S) forests. Four well-replicated chronologies (16–21 trees, 22–28 radii) of A. cearensis were compared with temperature and precipitation records available in the region. The interannual variations in all four A. cearensis tree-ring chronologies are positively correlated with precipitation and negatively with temperature during the late dry-early wet season, the classic moisture response seen widely in trees from dry tropical and temperate forests worldwide. However, the chronologies from the dry Chiquitano forests of southern Bolivia reflect the regional reduction in precipitation during recent decades, while the chronologies from the tropical lowland moist forests in the north capture the recent increase in precipitation in the southern Amazon basin. These results indicate that A. cearensis tree growth is not only sensitive to the moisture balance of the growing season, it can also record subtle differences in regional precipitation trends across the dry to humid forest transition. Comparisons with previously developed Centrolobium microchaete chronologies in the region reveal a substantial common signal between chronologies in similar environments, suggesting that regional differences in climate are a major drivers of tree growth along the precipitation gradient. The difficulty of finding A. cearensis trees over 150-years old is the main limitation involved in the paleoclimate application of this species. The expansion of monocultures and intensive cattle ranching in the South American tropics are contributing to the loss of these old growth A. cearensis trees and the valuable records of climate variability and climate change that they contain.     

芦芽山阳坡不同海拔华北落叶松径向生长对气候变化的响应

为研究树木生长对气候变化的响应状况,选取芦芽山阳坡的3个海拔高度建立了华北落叶松(Larix principis-rupprechtii)的树轮宽度年表。年表的统计参数表明,3条年表均为研究气候信息的可靠资料。结果表明,芦芽山阳坡华北落叶松的径向生长和生长与气候的关系均具有海拔差异,中海拔(2440 m)和高海拔(2540 m)的华北落叶松具有相似年际生长变化,而二者均与低海拔(2330 m)华北落叶松的年际生长不同。低海拔华北落叶松的生长与4月平均气温和上一年11月降水量显著负相关,而中海拔和高海拔的生长均与上一年10月平均气温和6月降水量显著负相关。通过年表与气候因子之间的滑动相关分析发现,3个海拔高度华北落叶松生长与气候因子的关系均不稳定,生长与气温条件之间的显著相关关系是随着气温升高而出现的。气温的升高引起了华北落叶松生长与气温因子关系的海拔差异,以及径向生长的海拔差异。这一结果对于气候变化对植被垂直梯度影响的研究具有一定参考价值。     

Age and Long-term Growth of Trees in an Old-growth Tropical Rain Forest, Based on Analyses of Tree Rings and 14C1

In an old‐growth tropical wet forest at La Selva, Costa Rica, we combined radiocarbon (¹⁴C) dating and tree‐ring analysis to estimate the ages of large trees of canopy and emergent species spanning a broad range of wood densities and growth rates. We collected samples from the trunks of 29 fallen, dead individuals. We found that all eight sampled species formed visible growth rings, which varied considerably in distinctiveness. For five of the six species for which we combined wood anatomical studies with ¹⁴C‐dates (ring ages), the analyses demonstrated that growth rings were of annual formation. The oldest tree we found by direct ring counting was a Hymenolobium mesoamericanum Lima (Papilionaceae) specimen, with an age of ca. 530 years at the time of death. All other sampled individuals, including very large trees of slow‐growing species, had died at ages between 200 and 300 years. These results show that, even in an everwet tropical rain forest, tree growth of many species can be rhythmic, with an annual periodicity. This study thus raises the possibility of extending tree‐ring analyses throughout the tropical forest types lacking a strong dry season or annual flooding. Our findings and similar measurements from other tropical forests indicate that the maximum ages of tropical emergent trees are unlikely to be much greater than 600 years, and that these trees often die earlier from various natural causes.     

Dendroclimatological assessment of Polylepis rodolfo-vasquezii: A novel Polylepis species in the Peru highlands

In spite of enormous diversity in tree species, dendrochronological records in the tropical Andes are very scarce. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the search for new tree species with high dendrochronological characteristics in the tropical Andes, including the humid Puna of Peru. We present the first tree-ring chronology from Polylepis rodolfo-vasquezii, a recently described tree species in the Central Andes of Peru between 4000 and 4400 m elevation. Fifty trees were sampled in the district of Comas, Peru. After establishing the anatomical characteristics that delimit the annual growth rings, we developed a ring-width chronology by applying conventional dendrochronological techniques. The chronology covers the period 1869–2015 (157 years) and is well replicated from 1920 to present (> 20 samples). The statistics used to evaluate the quality of the chronology indicate that the P. rodolfo-vasquezii has similar values of MS, RBAR and EPS to those shown by other Polylepis spp chronologies. To determine the main climatic factors controlling the growth of P. rodolfo-vasquezii, we compared our chronology with local and regional temperature and precipitation records. Growth season temperature (November to May) seems to be the main climatic factor modulating inter-annual variations in the growth of this species. The sensitivity to inter-annual temperature variations highlights the potential of P. rodolfo-vasquezii to provide climatically sensitive dendrochronological records in the Central Andes. To our knowledge, this is the first tree-ring record in South America displaying significant relationships with temperature over the tropical Atlantic Ocean.     

Assessing cross-datable distinct annual growth rings in non-native Pinus kesiya Royle ex Gordon in Zambia

The response of non-native forest plantation trees to climate change remains poorly understood.We hypothesized that precipitation and temperature modulate tree-ring width chronology at each site and that higher tree growth is exhibited at remote sites than sites near copper mines. This study investigates if the annual tree-ring boundaries in non-native Pinus kesiya Royle ex Gordon in Zambia are distinct, cross-datable, and coherent with climate signal. We collected increment cores from live trees and climate data near and further away from emission sources and developed site tree-ring width chronologies. Based on cross-dating and chronology building statistics (i.e., ESP > 0.85; Glk > 0.6 and series inter-correlation > 0.4), P. kesiya posses cross-datable distinct annual growth ring boundaries that exhibited a high climate signal at both sites. The tree-ring width chronology was positively modulated by precipitation and negatively by solar radiation and temperature. The dry season precipitation was the limiting factor for the growth of P. kesiya. The predicted decrease in dry season precipitation and increase in temperature and solar radiation may reduce tree growth of P. kesiya, reduce productivity, and extend the rotation age. The mean ring width in P. kesiya was not significantly (p = 0.296) different between sites. However, the mean basal area increment at the site near the emission source (Ichimpe) was significantly (p < 0.001) higher than at the remote site (Chati), suggesting site-specific influences that require investigation. We recommend evaluating the causes and consequences of tree growth variation between sites and their relation to environmental variation, including microclimate, soils, and pollution. In this regard, an assessment of site-specific ring-width chronology and tree growth variation in this study directly contributes to an improved understanding of non-native P. kesiya ecology, and it offers the potential to study trees' responses to edaphic and climatic factors. Knowing these responses deepens our understanding of non-native pine tree growth in the face of climate change, given the significant role of tropical forests in the global carbon cycle.     

利用树木年轮重建赣南地区1890年以来 2-3月份温度的变化

采用树木年轮气候学方法,利用江西赣南地区马尾松(Pinus massoniana)的年轮宽度资料,分析了马尾松径向生长与气候要素变化的相关及响应关系,结果表明赣南地区马尾松径向生长与当年2—3月份的平均温度相关性最高。在响应分析的基础上,重建了江西赣南地区1890年以来2—3月份温度的变化历史。重建序列显示在过去119a中研究区存在3个较为明显的冷期(1892—1906年、1918—1922年、1944—1957年)和3个明显的暖期(1909—1917年、1959—1968年和1998—2008年)。     

Growth response to climate and drought in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pinus nigra</Emphasis> Arn. trees of different crown classes

Tree-ring chronologies were examined to investigate the influence of climate on radial growth of Pinus nigra in southeastern Spain. We addressed whether drought differentially affected the ring-widths of dominant and suppressed trees and if our results supported the hypothesis that, in a Mediterranean climate, suppressed conifer trees suffer greater growth reductions than dominant trees. Climate–growth relationships were analyzed using response and correlation functions, whereas the effect of drought on trees growth was approached by superposed epoch analysis in 10 dry years. A cool, wet autumn and spring, and/or mild winter enhanced radial growth. Latewood was the most sensitive ring section in both kinds of trees and it was primarily influenced by current year precipitations. Earlywood was mostly influenced by climatic conditions previous to the growing season. In general, May was the most influential month. Pinus nigra was shown to be very drought sensitive tree in the study area. Tree-rings in suppressed trees showed lower growth reductions caused by drought than those of dominant trees. However, dominant trees recovered normal growth faster. Dominant trees showed a more plastic response, and suppression appeared to reduce the effect of climate on tree radial growth. Some possible causes for these effects are discussed. Our results support the essential role of the balance between light and moisture limitations for plant development during droughts and show that it is not appropriate to generalize about the way in which suppression affects climate-growth relationship in conifers.     

Climatic signals in tree rings of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Burkea africana</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pterocarpus angolensis</Emphasis> from semiarid forests in Namibia

Tree-ring studies contribute worldwide to the understanding of climate and its relation to tree growth. Long tree-ring chronologies serve as climate proxies for the reconstruction of past, pre-instrument climate and its recent change. In tropical regions, the availability of exactly dated tree-ring chronologies is limited. The dendroclimatic potential of two dominant species from dry forests in northern Namibia was examined in the study presented in this paper. Both species (Burkea africana Hook and Pterocarpus angolensis DC) were sampled at two sites (ca. 900 km apart), and the response to several climatic variables, including ENSO indices, is studied. All specimens showed distinct growth rings and cross-dating between radii was successful for all trees. Species-specific mean curves were built for both sites. The mean curves of different species of the same site synchronised significantly, allowing the construction of a site-specific chronology. Synchronisation between sites was not possible, but spectral analysis of the chronologies implied that both show similar long-term (6.7 year) oscillation patterns. B. africana is more sensitive to rainfall variation than P. angolensis at both sites. Growth response to rainfall was positive, but a time-lag in the reaction occurred between the sites, corresponding to the time-lag of the beginning of the rainy season. Air temperature showed a negative correlation with stem increment at both sites. The response at the westernmost site to two ENSO indices indicates a tree growth decrease during El Niño years, which are generally dry in southern Africa.     

Teleconnection between tree growth in the Amazonian floodplains and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation effect

There is a limited knowledge about the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) effects on the Amazon basin, the world's largest tropical rain forest and a major factor in the global carbon cycle. Seasonal precipitation in the Andean watershed annually causes a several month‐long inundation of the floodplains along the Amazon River that induces the formation of annual rings in trees of the flooded forests. Radial growth of trees is mainly restricted to the nonflooded period and thus the ring width corresponds to its duration. This allows the construction of a tree‐ring chronology of the long‐living hardwood species Piranhea trifoliata Baill. (Euphorbiaceae). El Niño causes anomalously low precipitation in the catchment that results in a significantly lower water discharge of the Amazon River and consequently in an extension of the vegetation period. In those years tree rings are significantly wider. Thus the tree‐ring record can be considered as a robust indicator reflecting the mean climate conditions of the whole Western Amazon basin. We present a more than 200‐year long chronology, which is the first ENSO‐sensitive dendroclimatic proxy of the Amazon basin and permits the dating of preinstrumental El Niño events. Time series analyses of our data indicate that during the last two centuries the severity of El Niño increased significantly.     

Bioclimatology of beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in the Eastern Alps: spatial and altitudinal climatic signals identified through a tree-ring network

Aim To identify the dominant spatial patterns of Fagus sylvatica radial growth in the Eastern Alps, and to understand their relationships to climate variation and bioclimatic gradients. Location Fourteen beech stands in the Eastern Alps, growing between 200 and 1500 m a.s.l. in Italy, Slovenia and Austria. Methods At each site, trees were sampled using increment borers or by taking discs from felled trees. Cores and discs were processed by measuring and crossdating ring width. Ring width series were standardized, averaged, and prewhitened to obtain site chronologies. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) and Principal Components Analysis of prewhitened site chronologies were used to identify spatial and altitudinal growth patterns, related to the bioclimatic position of each stand. Bootstrap correlation and response functions were computed between monthly climatic variables and either principal component scores or composite chronologies from stands associated by HCA. The stability of dendroclimatic signals was analyzed by moving correlation functions (MCF). Correlation analysis (teleconnections) based on a data base of 37 Italian and Slovenian beech tree‐ring chronologies revealed the spatial extent of principal component scores. Results Sampled trees were 200–400 years old, representing the oldest beech trees that have been crossdated for the Alps to date. Maximum age was directly related to altitude and to the presence of historical forms of conservation. Tree‐ring parameters varied according to geographic patterns and the age of sampled trees. Stands were bioclimatically organized according to their location, and with reference to their elevation and distance from the Adriatic Sea. A direct response to winter temperature was found at all elevations. The altitudinal gradient ranged from low‐elevation stands, characterized by a Mediterranean‐type, late spring–summer drought signal, to mountain and high‐elevation stands, characterized by a direct response to growing season temperature plus an inverse response to the previous year’s July temperature. The mountain and high‐elevation signal was evident in Austria, the Central Alps and Slovenia, while the low‐elevation signal was confined to mountains adjacent to the Adriatic Sea. MCF revealed trends in the response to climatic factors affecting tree‐ring formation in mountain and high‐mountain stands linked to climatic warming. Main conclusions Dendroclimatic networks can be used for bioclimatic studies of tree populations. A biogeographical separation emerged between the Alps and the Apennines at the upper elevations, while different degrees of mediterraneity distinguished sites at lower elevations. This information will be useful in assessing any future climate‐related bioclimatic shifts, especially for forests at ecotones and along altitudinal gradients.     

Development of tree-ring width chronologies and tree-growth response to climate in the mountains surrounding the Issyk-Kul Lake,Central Asia

Three tree-ring width chronologies were developed from 75 Picea schrenkiana trees ranging from low- to high-elevation in the mountains surrounding the Issyk-Kul Lake, Northeast Kyrgyzstan. The reliable chronologies extend back to the mid-18th and late-19th centuries. Spatial correlation analysis indicates that the chronologies for the relatively high-elevation trees contain large-scale climatic signals, while the chronology at relatively low elevation may reflect the local climate variability. The results of the response of tree growth to climate show that these chronologies contain an annual precipitation signal. Furthermore, the influence of temperature indicates mainly moisture stress that is enhanced with rising elevation. The tree-ring records also captured a wetting trend in eastern Central Asia over the past decades. These new tree-ring width chronologies provide reliable proxies of precipitation variability in Central Asia and contribute to the International Tree-Ring Data Bank.     

江西大岗山地区7-9月降水量的重建与分析

根据江西大岗山地区4个采样点的马尾松年轮样本,建立了本地区的综合年轮年表,分析了马尾松径向生长与气候因子变化的相关及响应关系,发现大岗山地区树木径向生长受生长季7—9月降水量影响较显著,呈负相关关系。在响应分析的基础上,首次重建了大岗山地区1892年以来7—9月的降水量,交叉检验表明重建序列是可靠的。重建结果表明,大岗山地区7—9月份降水变化在过去的117年中总体经历了3个偏干时期：1895—1902年,1908—1926年和1944—1985年,和3个偏湿阶段：1903—1907年,1927—1943年及1986—2008年。重建的降水量序列在1921年,1937年及1977年发生明显的方差突变,表明百年以来该地区降水量变化趋势存在阶段性变化。