Dendroclimatological analysis of major forest species of the central Appalachians

A dendroclimatological study was carried out in the 80-year-old Fernow Experimental Forest of the U.S. Forest Service near Parsons, West Virginia (39°20′N, 79°40′W). The relationship between radial and basal area increments and corresponding monthly, seasonal, and yearly mean air temperature and precipitation were obtained over 53 years for four species: black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.), northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.), white ash (Fraxinus americana L.), and yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L.). These species show positive growth responses to rainfall of previous summer, autumn, and current summer. They show significantly inverse correlation to air temperature of the current growing season. The indices of radial increment show a close correlation to those of basal area increment. However, in our analyses, basal area increment indices are more sensitive to climatic variations than radial growth indices.