Drought signal in the tree rings of three conifer species from Northern Pakistan |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Earth and Environmental Systems, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN, United States;2. Department of Botany, University of Buner KP, Pakistan;3. Dr. Moinuddin Ahmed Laboratory of Dendrochronology and Plant Ecology, Department of Botany, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan;1. Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany;2. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom;3. Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland;4. Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CzechGlobe), 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic;5. Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic;6. Moravian Dendro-Labor, Brno, Czech Republic;1. Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic;2. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St., Andrews, UK;1. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, 411008, India;2. Department of Geophysics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India;1. Laboratory of tree-ring research, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetniy Lane, 29, 119017 Moscow, Russia;2. National Research University, Higher School of Economics, Faculty of Geography and Geoinformation Technologies, Pokrovsky Boulevard-11, L212, Russia |
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Abstract: | Anthropogenic and climatic stressors have affected the forests of northern Pakistan in recent decades. Several studies have been conducted to understand forest growth and its relation to the changing climate in this region, but more work needs to be done to understand this complex environment. In this study, we have collected tree core samples of three conifer species (Pinus wallichiana, Picea smithiana, and Abies pindrow) from three different sites in northern Pakistan to understand their radial growth pattern with the goal of finding a relationship between ring-width and climatic parameters (temperature, precipitation, and drought). A 610-year (AD 1406–2015), a 538-year (AD 1478–2015), and a 306-year (AD 1710–2015) long tree-ring width chronology of Pinus wallichiana, Picea smithiana, and Abies pindrow were developed, respectively, using living trees. The ring-width chronologies of these three species showed a strong positive link with the self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI) rather than precipitation or temperature alone, indicating that soil moisture is the primary limiting climatic factor for the growth of these species in the sampling locations. The chronologies of Pinus wallichiana and Picea smithiana exhibited growth suppressions during AD 1570–1610 and the second half of 17th century while their growth was heightened from AD 1540–1560. We have found the lowest growth in Abies pindrow and Picea smithiana from AD 1900–1920, suggesting dry conditions. All three chronologies have exhibited the most rapid increase in growth during the recent decades, suggesting that this region is experiencing climate change with a strong trend towards wetter conditions. |
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Keywords: | Dendroclimatology Pakistan scPDSI Pinus wallichiana Picea smithiana Abies pindrow |
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