Different responses of the radial growth of the planted and natural forests to climate change in humid subtropical China

Abstract

ABSTRACT China holds the world’s largest area of planted forests, which play a crucial role in mitigating climate change. Knowledge gaps remain on the responses of the growth of planted forests to climate changes in China, particularly for their long-term changes. This study compared the long-term tree-ring growth patterns and their responses to climate between planted and natural forests. We developed four chronologies from two typical conifer species of Pinus massoniana and Cunninghamia lanceolata from planted and natural forests in humid subtropical China. One chronology is to our knowledge the longest chronology from planted forests in China spanning since 1944. Tree growths of both natural and planted forests are generally limited by summer drought due to the hot and dry summer in this area. In general, tree rings of the natural forests are more sensitive to climate than planted forests as indicated by higher inter-series correlations, which agree with previous studies. The natural forests are more drought sensitive wheareas the planted forests are relatively more limited by temperature. The C. lanceolata forests showed more significant correlations with the accumulated drought than P. massoniana for both the natural and planted forests.