Growth loss of Lebanon cedar (Cedrus libani) stands as related to periodic outbreaks of the cedar shoot moth (Dichelia cedricola)

An outbreak ofDichelia cedricola (Diakonoff) (Lep.: Tortricidae), the cedar shoot moth (CSM), began in spring 1998 and lasted 3 years. This was the first monitored outbreak of the CSM in Isparta, Turkey. Tree crowns recovered to near normal condition by the middle of each growing season (in early June) during the outbreak. Tree volume and volume element increments were examined throughout the outbreak cycle from 1954 to 2001. In the past, CSM activity in stands of Lebanon cedar (Cedrus libani A. Rich.) was assessed through radial increment analyses. Cedar tree ring chronologies were analyzed for evidence of the CSM. Tree-ring chronologies from nonhost cedar (nondefoliated sample trees) were used to estimate potential growth in the host cedar (defoliated sample trees) during current and past outbreaks; all trees selected were the same subspecies and varieties. Regional outbreaks of the CSM were identified by synchronous and sustained growth periods of the trees. In 2001, increment cores were collected from 17 host and 16 nonhost dominant or codominant trees and annual radial growth indices from 1954–2001 were calculated for each of two host and two nonhost sample plots. Growth functions were defined as the cumulative sum of radial, height, and volume increment, and were graphically compared between CSM host cedar and nonhost cedar trees. Tree ring evidence suggests that a large-scale outbreak occurred in 1955 (from 1955 to 1966) and a small outbreak occurred in 1985 (1985–1990) and in 1998 (1998-continued) in the study area. The average diameter growth reductions around 1955, 1985 and 1998 were 40%, 46% and 7% of potential, respectively. It was concluded that a narrow latewood band is significant indicator of defoliation by the CSM and the outbreaks appear to be associated with dry winter and spring weather prior to the autumn and winter in which wood feeding occurred. http://www.phytoparasitica.org posting Nov. 24, 2004.     

Establishing climate–growth relationships for yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) in the northeast Pacific using a dendrochronological approach

We applied dendrochronology (tree‐ring) methods to develop multidecadal growth chronologies from the increment widths of yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) otoliths. Chronologies were developed for the central California coast, a site just north of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and at Bowie Seamount west of the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. At each site, synchronous growth patterns were matched among otoliths via the process of cross‐dating, ensuring that the correct calendar year was assigned to all increments. Each time series of growth‐increment measurements was divided by the values predicted by a best‐fit negative exponential function, thereby removing age‐related trends. These detrended time series were averaged into a master chronology for each site, and chronologies were correlated with monthly averages of sea surface temperatures, upwelling, the Northern Oscillation Index, and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. The two northern growth chronologies positively correlated with indices of warm ocean conditions, especially from the prior summer through the spring of the current year. During the same period, the California chronology positively correlated with indices of cool ocean conditions, indicating an opposing productivity regime for yelloweye rockfish between the California Current and the Gulf of Alaska. Overall, this study demonstrates how tree‐ring techniques can be applied to quickly develop annually resolved chronologies and establish climate–growth relationships across various temporal and spatial scales.     

Relationships of climate change and tree ring of Betula ermanii tree line forest in Changbai Mountain

Based on the tree-ring growth characteristics of Erman＇s birch （Betula ermanii charm.） and the relationships between it and climatic ）＇actors at elevation of 1950m, the sensitivity of tree lines in Changbai Mountain to climatic factors was assessed. The results indicated tree line forest in Changbai Mountain had an obvious sensitivity to climate factors. However, difference from other study sits is that the main climatic control factor on tree-ring growth was not current growth season temperatures, as might be expected, but previous winter and current March temperature. Although the precipitation in the region was quite abundant, the tree-ring growth was still significantly correlated with the precipitation during previous winter and current spring. Additionally, climatic factors which influenced the Erman＇s birch growth were not the yearly variables, but seasonal and monthly variables. Therefore, the reported increase in yearly mean temperature and total yearly precipitation since 1980s was not responded by sustained increase in ring widths in recent decades.     

Models to predict time since death of Picea abies Snags

Number of years since death was estimated by dendrochronological cross-dating of 107 standing dead trees (snags) of Norway spruce [Picea abies (L.) Karst.] in a submountainous old-growth forest in south–central Norway. Snag characteristics (size, bark cover, branch order present and variables derived from tree-ring analyses) were used in stepwise linear regression procedures to identify variables that explained time since death. Number of branch orders present (where branches growing directly on the stem were branch order 1, branches growing on order 1 branches were order 2, and so on) explained two-thirds of the variation in time since death. Adding other significant variables, such as diameter, relative height of snags, percentage bark cover and average tree-ring width in the final years before death, increased model precision only moderately. The models were validated by the PRESS statistic, which showed that new observations were predicted fairly well with 65–69% of the variation explained.     

Fire history recorded on pine trunks and stumps: Influence of land use and fires on forest structure in North Karelia

Dendrochronological dating of fire scars was used to determine the history of forest fires, and the effects of the fires and of slash‐and‐burn cultivation on forest structure were studied in eastern Finland. A total of 67 fire years were dated over an area of 26 km². Forest fires increased towards the end of the 17th century and again towards the end of the 18th century, but decreased markedly in the middle of the 19th century. The mean fire interval was shorter near the historically known slash‐and‐burn cultivation areas than elsewhere. A forest survey map from 1913 was used to reconstruct the forest structure after the cessation of slash‐and‐burn cultivation and forest fires. This map showed that most of the younger forests were situated near old slash‐and‐burn cultivation areas, while the older forests were situated farther away from these. The proportion of deciduous trees decreased with increasing distance from slash‐and‐burn cultivation areas.     

极端干旱区湖岸柽柳径向生长对水环境演变的响应

该文利用黑河下游内蒙古西居延海3道湖岸堤上的湖岸林柽柳树轮年表,研究了柽柳树轮生长对水环境演变的生态响应. 对3个年表进行的主成分分析结果表明,第一主成分的贡献率达到53.3％,它反映了3道湖岸堤上柽柳轮宽生长对同一环境因子的共同响应;第二主成分的贡献率达到30.7％,它反映了3道湖岸堤上柽柳轮宽生长对第一主成分以外因素的响应. 相关分析表明,第一主成分与生长季节（5—8月）湖泊水位波动呈显著正相关关系,第二主成分与区域年降水量呈显著正相关关系,与地下水位波动呈微弱负相关关系. 上述结果表明,在地下水位可以满足湖岸柽柳生长条件下,地下水位的变化对柽柳轮宽生长作用占绝对优势.反之,天然降水将对维持柽柳的基本生存具有重要的贡献. 柽柳径向生长的生态响应模式不仅体现在3道湖岸堤的空间尺度上,同样体现在同一样点年表在时间序列上的变化. 通过石羊河、黑河和塔里木河3个干旱区内陆河流域柽柳生态水位对比,认为非地带性植被——柽柳的最大生态水位差异是由于区域降水差异造成的.      

长白山北坡不同林型内红松年表特征及其与气候因子的关系

运用树木年轮学的基本原理和方法,选取了长白山北坡保存完好的典型性植被阔叶红松林,探讨了杨桦红松林和椴树红松林内建群种红松(Pinus koraiensis)径向生长对气候要素的响应.结果表明,长白山北坡红松的径向生长对降水较为敏感,杨桦红松林和椴树红松林中,红松年轮宽度均与当年7月以及上一年9月的降水呈显著正相关关系.不同林型内红松的生长与气候因子的关系也有差异.椴树红松的年轮宽度还与上年7月的降水显著负相关,与当年3、4月份的平均气温呈显著正相关.而杨桦红松林内红松年轮宽度和平均温度没有显著的相关关系.特征年分析进一步验证了响应函数相关分析的结果,即当年生长季以及上年生长季末的降水充足促进了红松的径向生长;椴树红松林中,初春温度的升高有利于红松的生长.     

Nondestructive Age Estimation of Mountain Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana) Using Morphological Characteristics

Current methods for determining plant age of shrub species require destructive sampling and annual growth ring analysis on the primary stem. Although individual plant ages can frequently be determined in this manner, the method is time consuming and of limited value for plants that have lost stem wood from stem splitting and rot. Nondestructive methods for estimating big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) plant age would be useful in assessing stand age structure and population dynamics at variable spatial scales. The purpose of this study was to test a suite of traits for potential use in estimating mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana [Rydb.] Beetle) age. We evaluated traits including plant height, crown area, subcanopy litter depth, percent crown mortality, bark furrow depth, bark fiber length, circumference and diameter of plant basal stem, and circumference of secondary and tertiary branches. We measured and harvested basal cross-sections from 163 plants of varying sizes from five locations in central and south-central Utah. Plant age was determined from annual growth rings. Linear regression analyses revealed that stem diameter (r² = 0.507 P < 0.0001) was the most highly correlated variable with plant age across all sites, followed by stem circumference (r² = 0.474 P < 0.0001), secondary branch circumference (r² = 0.360, P < 0.0001), tertiary branch circumference (r² = 0.405, P < 0.0001), and bark fiber length (r² = 0.373, P < 0.0001). Results support previous findings that stem girth has value for estimating mountain big sagebrush plant age and that this trait is a better indicator of age than any other tested traits. Although the relationship between stem diameter and plant age was significant, substantial stem size variability associated with plants of the same approximate age indicates that the method is most appropriate when precise age estimates are not required. This technique was developed specifically for mountain big sagebrush, but it is expected that it can be adapted for other sagebrush taxa.     

Arizona pine (Pinus arizonica) stand dynamics: local and regional factors in a fire-prone madrean gallery forest of Southeast Arizona,USA

In southwestern North America, large-scale climate patterns appear to exert control on moisture availability, fire occurrence, and tree demography, raising the compelling possibility of regional synchronization of forest dynamics. Such regional signals may be obscured, however, by local, site-specific factors, such as disturbance history and land use. Contiguous sites with similar physical environments, lower and middle Rhyolite Canyon, Arizona, USA, shared nearly the same fire history from 1660-1801, but then diverged. For the next 50 years, fires continued to occur frequently in lower Rhyolite, but, probably as result of flood-induced debris deposition, largely ceased in middle Rhyolite. We related stand dynamics of Arizona pine (Pinus arizonica) to fire history and drought severity and compared the dynamics in the two sites before and after the divergence in fire frequency. Fires occurred during unusually dry years, and possibly following unusually moist years. Arizona pine exhibited three age structure peaks: two (1810–1830 and 1870–1900) shared by the two sites and one (1610–1640) only in middle Rhyolite. The latter two peaks occurred during periods of unusually low fire frequency, suggesting that fire-induced mortality shapes age structure. Evidence was mixed for the role of favorable moisture availability in age structure. As expected, moisture availability had a prominent positive effect on radial growth, but the effect of fire was largely neutral. The two sites differed only moderately in stand dynamics during the period of divergence, exhibiting subtle age structure contrasts and, in middle Rhyolite only, reduced growth during a 50-year fire hiatus followed by fire-induced release. These results suggest that, despite local differences in disturbance history, forest responses to regional fire and climate processes can persist.     

树木年代学在城市森林生态学研究中的应用

用树木年轮研究过去的环境和气候变化已成为全球变化研究的热点。树木年轮是记录城市环境和气候变化的理想"记录器"。作者简要介绍了沈阳两陵古油松、南京雪松、北京白皮松和油松以及云南会泽滇杨,应用树木年代学研究城市气候变化的进展情况,还介绍了国外有关研究动态。