Abstract
The increment zones width in the xylem of Swietenia macrophylla King was investigated by dendrochronological methods in an undisturbed and a strongly disturbed tropical site near Aripuana, Mato Grosso, Brazil (10°09’ S, 59°26’W). The study aimed to assess the impact of forest disturbance on the relationship between precipitation and the cambial growth of this species. Tree-ring width chronologies were developed for both sites from cross-dated increment curves. Simple correlations were computed between monthly precipitation records and the annual increment of Swietenia for the period between 1870 and 2000. Logging activities and altered land use caused a significant decrease of the water supply of the Swietenia trees grown in the disturbed area compared to trees grown in the undisturbed area. Consequently, the precipitation of almost the total growing season had a significant influence on the tree ring width of Swietenia grown in the disturbed area, while in the undisturbed forest area the significant correlation between monthly precipitation and the tree ring width of Swietenia was restricted to the beginning of the growing season (November to January). However, the reconstruction of monthly precipitation data from the tree ring width records was more precise using the chronology developed from tree ring width records of undisturbed trees compared to the chronology developed from tree ring widths from the disturbed area. It was concluded that the use of the tree ring widths of Swietenia as climate proxies is restricted to certain months of the year and requires tree ring width chronologies developed from trees grown in undisturbed or only slightly disturbed forest areas without severe anthropogenic changes in microclimate.
Highlights
Long-term meteorological records proved the increase of the mean global surface air temperature during the last decades and recent climate models predict a further increase of the mean surface air temperature in the forthcoming years (IPCC, 2014)
Due to the lack of strong seasonality in the humid tropics, the suitability of tropical trees for dendrochronology has been questioned for many years, even though the pioneering investigations by Coster (1927, 1928) indicated a regular pattern in wood formation of some tropical tree species related to a distinct rainfall periodicity in some tropical areas
Studies on the ecophysiology (Dünisch et al, 2002b) and on the wood anatomy (Fujii et al, 1998) of Swietenia macrophylla proved the high sensitivity of this tropical tree species to changing water supply, which makes this species extremely interesting for dendroclimatology with special regard to the reconstruction of the hydrological situation in former times (Fichtler & Worbes, 2012)
Summary
Long-term meteorological records proved the increase of the mean global surface air temperature during the last decades and recent climate models predict a further increase of the mean surface air temperature in the forthcoming years (IPCC, 2014). In wide parts of the humid tropics meteorological records are rare (Vincent et al, 2005), the humid tropics are considered to be one of the key regions for the global climate (Malhi & Wright, 2004; Makarieva & Gorshkov, 2006; Anhuf, 2008). In these regions climate proxies might be useful for the reconstruction of missing meteorological data in the past. Studies on the climate‐tree growth relationship of some Meliaceae species from the neotropics (Worbes, 1999; Dünisch et al, 2002a; Dünisch et al, 2003; Schöngart et al, 2002) proved the annual formation of tree rings and the strong influence of the water supply on the tree ring width in Swietenia macrophylla (true mahogany)
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