A long-term chronology of Pinus pinea L. from Parco della Versiliana (Pietrasanta, Italy) derived from treefall induced by a windstorm on March 4th-5th, 2015

Abstract

Pinewoods are distinctive environmental elements in the Mediterranean coastal area and have both natural and historical significance. From the evening of March 4th to the morning of March 5th, 2015, a severe and unusual windstorm occurred in the Tuscany region of central Italy with wind gusts over 120 km/h. The windstorm caused vast damage to the anthropic and natural environment and wounded numerous trees in the renowned pinewoods of Parco della Versiliana in the Tyrrhenian coastal area. The meteorological calamity provided the opportunity to i) date the onset of the artificial plantation of the present Italian stone pine (Pinus pinea L.) forest to the 1820s, ii) build a long-term tree-ring chronology of the Italian stone pines in the area and iii) analyze the climate-growth relationship of the Italian stone pine in the study area. The resulting Versiliana chronology was derived from 60 trees and spanned from 1828 to 2014 (187 years), representing one of the longest living Italian stone pine forests on the Italian Peninsula. Finally, the climate-growth analysis highlighted that at this site the latewood width is positively influenced by summer temperature, a peculiarity worthy of further investigations.