Effects of climate and soil on the radial growth of loblolly pine ( Pinus taeda L.) in a humid environment of Southeastern U.S.A.

Abstract

A dendroclimotological study tested relationships of 48 climatic variables to annual radial growth over 30 years of 30 loblolly pinus on three soil types near Nacogdoches, Texas. Of the three climatic parameters retained in the regression, the effects of rain days in the current year and of total rainfall during the previous summer were positive, while that of temperature deviation between July and January was negative; together they explained about 40% of the total variation in a multiple regression analysis. The inclusion of soil types as dummy variables along with the three climatic parameters in a covariance analysis improved the predictability from 0.40 to 0.50. The correlation coefficient for total rainfall ( r = 0.28) in a comparable regression was smaller than that for rain days ( r = 0.47). Results suggest that other selections and/or combinations of data may even better reflect effects of basic climatic variables on tree growth.