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Climatic significance of tree-ring width and intra-annual density fluctuations in Pinus pinea from a dry Mediterranean area in Portugal

Signification climatique de la largeur des cernes et des fluctuations intra annuelles de la densité chez Pinus pinea dans une région méditerranéenne sèche du Portugal

Annals of Forest Science volume 64, pages 229–238 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

In Mediterranean climates trees may go through two periods of dormancy, resulting in special anatomical features such as false rings and other intra-annual density fluctuations (IADFs). In this paper, ring growth and the presence of IADFs were studied in Pinus pinea L. growing in the coastal and inland regions of Alentejo (southern Portugal). In order to identify the triggering factors associated with the IADFs, a new classification was proposed for the IADFs in P. pinea: Type E (latewoodlike cells within earlywood); Type E+ (transition cells between earlywood and latewood); Type L (earlywoodlike cells within latewood) and Type L+ (earlywoodlike cells between latewood and earlywood of the next tree ring). Response function analyses showed that radial growth of P. pinea was strongly correlated with precipitation in southern Portugal. The climatic response of P. pinea was higher in the inland area where the summer drought is more severe, the winter temperatures are lower and the soils have low water-holding capacity, in comparison with the coastal area. IADFs were frequent in P. pinea and most of the IADFs were observed in latewood. The presence of IADFs was correlated with fluctuations in climate parameters during the growing season. The IADF type E+ was linked to precipitation events early in summer. The IADF type L and L+ were associated with above-average precipitation in early autumn.

Résumé

Dans les climats méditerranéens, les arbres peuvent traverser deux périodes de dormance, ce qui a pour conséquence des caractéristiques anatomiques particulières telles que des faux cernes et des fluctuations intra annuelles de densité (IADFs). Dans cet article, la croissance des cernes et la présence de IADFs ont été étudiées chez Pinus pinea L. poussant dans les régions côtières et intérieures de l’Alentejo (sud-ouest du Portugal). Dans le but d’identifier les facteurs déclenchants associés à l’IADFs, une nouvelle classification a été proposée pour l’IADFs chez Pinus pinea : Type E (cellules ressemblant à du bois final dans le bois initial); Type E+ (cellules de transition entre bois initial et bois final); Type L (cellules ressemblant à du bois initial dans du bois final) et Type L+ (cellules ressemblant à du bois initial entre bois final et bois initial du prochain cerne). Les analyses des fonctions de réponse ont montré que la croissance radiale de Pinus pinea était fortement corrélée avec les précipitations dans le sud-ouest du Portugal. La réponse climatique de Pinus pinea a été plus forte dans la zone intérieure où la sécheresse d’été est plus sévère, les températures hivernales plus basses et où les sols ont une plus faible capacité de rétention de l’eau, comparativement aux zones côtières. IADFs a été fréquent chez Pinus pinea et la majorité d’IADFs a été observée dans le bois final. La présence d’IADFs a été corrélée avec des fluctuations des paramètres climatiques pendant la saison de croissance. L’IADFs type E+ était lié avec des événements pluvieux en début d’été. L’IADFs type L et l’IADFs type L+ étaient associés avec des précipitations supérieures à la moyenne en début d’automne.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Botânica, Universidade de Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3001-455, Coimbra, Portugal

    Filipe Campelo, Cristina Nabais & Helena Freitas

  2. Departament d’Ecologia, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Emilia Gutiérrez

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  1. Filipe Campelo
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  2. Cristina Nabais
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  3. Helena Freitas
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  4. Emilia Gutiérrez
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Correspondence to Filipe Campelo.

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Campelo, F., Nabais, C., Freitas, H. et al. Climatic significance of tree-ring width and intra-annual density fluctuations in Pinus pinea from a dry Mediterranean area in Portugal. Ann. For. Sci. 64, 229–238 (2007). https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1051/forest:2006107

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Annals of Forest Science

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