Spatiotemporal Variation of the Climatic Signal of Tree-Rings Chronology of the Pine Belt and Priobie Pine Forests

Abstract

The results of the dendrochronological study of the pine belt and Priobie pine forests of the Altai Territory, growing in the forest-steppe and steppe zones, are presented. The usage of regular network of 36 study plots allowed us to conduct a detailed research of the features of the growth of Scots pine in various zonal conditions (track changes in the climate signal from the southern forest to the dry steppe). On the basis of the cluster analysis two zonal groups of chronologies (forest-steppe and steppe) were received, and it showed the manifestation of the mesoclimatic signal in the tree-ring series. Comparative valuation of the cluster analysis results, of sensitivity and cross-series correlations coefficients, of climatic response of pine in the first and second halves of the XX century, which were characterized by different hydrothermal regime, was conducted. As a consequence the climatic signal attenuation in the first half of the XX century in favorable conditions for the growth of pine (cooler and more humid conditions) was discovered

Keywords

• dendroclimatology
• climatic signal
• pine belt forest
• Priobie pine forest
• cluster analysis of tree-ring chronology
• forest-steppe and steppe zones