Climate related causes of distinct radial growth reductions in Pinus cembra during the last 200 yr

Abstract

Distinct radial growth reductions in Cembran pine (Pinus cembra L.) were studied at the timberline on Mt. Patscherkofel (2246 m a.s.l., Tyrol, Austria), which is situated in the inner-Alpine dry region of the Central Austrian Alps. Six timberline stands with different aspects were sampled and ring-width chronologies developed based on dendroecological techniques. Growth-climate relationships between residual chronologies and climate variables were explored using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients. P. cembra growth at the timberline appears to be limited by cool summer (June-August) and previous autumn (September-October) temperatures and low precipitation in late winter (March). Timberline stands show concurrent growth depressions lasting ≥ 5 yr during the periods 1815–1823, 1851–1858 and 1913–1920, indicating growth depressions were steadily decreasing. Although evaluation of climate data revealed that these growth depressions can mainly be explained by occurrence of cold growing seasons and therefore the influence of recent climate warming on tree growth is plausible, an effect of tree ageing on climate sensitivity may also be involved. On the other hand, climate extremes do not inevitably induce growth responses as would be expected from growth-climate relationships. This is explained by the occurrence of synergistic and/or compensating effects of growth limiting climate variables and preconditioning of tree growth in previous years. Comparison of growth reductions with two published P. cembra timberline chronologies from inner-Alpine dry locations in the Eastern Alps revealed that investigated stands show the highest climate sensitivity during the last 200 yr. This difference in growth response to climate variability is most probably related to the special climate situation at Mt. Patscherkofel, which is exceptionally windy throughout the year and frequently exposed to warm dry winds (Fohn).