Climatic Factor Impact On the Height Growth Of Lapland Pine in The Northwestern Russia

Abstract

Lapland pine (Pinus sylvestris var. lapponica Hartm.) is a geographical and climatic ecotype and subspecies of Pinus sylvestris L. It is widespread in the north of Eurasia. Its height growth is interconnected with both climatic parameters and the state of the habitat of pine trees. Long-term data on height growth indices of Lapland pine from various humid biogeocenoses of three specially protected natural territories of Northwestern Russia were studied. Also, sixteen basic climatic parameters averaged over the growth period of the examined trees were calculated for these regions. The comparison of different climatic parameters and pine stand height growth in various biogeocenoses was made using cluster analysis. It was established that the mean daily average temperature in January (-9.4°C, -10.4°C, -16.1°C in the Kivach, Polar Circle and Pechora-Ilych Reserves respectively) and the amount of precipitation in spring and early summer periods have a primary influence on the cluster similarity of the Lapland pine height growth in Northwestern Russia. The similarity of soil and biocenotic conditions also influenced the similarity of Lapland pine height growth indices, but had a lower rank within the two main clusters distinguished by climatic values. Our studies showed that it is possible to identify the rank influence of the most significant climatic factors and biogeocenotic conditions on the pine height growth using cluster analysis.