Temporal Variations in Tree-Ring Growth Response to Climate of European Larch (Larix Decidua Mill.): An Example from Sudetes, Poland

Abstract

The temporal stability of climate-growth relationship is a basic assumption and requirement of climate reconstruction using tree rings. However, many recent studies showed change in tree-ring growth response to climate for the last decades. The temporal stability of relationship mentioned above can depend on the local factors, e.g. slope aspect. In presented study the tree-ring growth response to climate of larch from Polish part of Sudetes was analysed over time. The aim was to investigate its temporal variability, existence of trends and influence of local factors. The relation between tree-ring growth of larches from six sites located at comparable altitudes (about 700-750 m.a.s.l.) and climatic factors that mainly control the tree-ring growth of larches in the study area was analysed over time. The Pearson correlation between tree-ring width site chronologies and climatic data for the study area (the average monthly air temperature and total monthly precipitation series from high-resolution gridded dataset CRU TS v.4.01) was calculated in 40-years moving windows for the period 1901-2010. The results showed variations in the tree-ring growth response to climate over the analysed time period. Although in general, similar trends were observed for all sites, some differences in trends and magnitudes among sites were also spotted. Interesting is, that the response of sites became more consistent and similar for the last decades. The discussion of the received results with respect to currently observed climatic trends in the region and local factors that can explain the differences in response between particular sites is presented.