Climate-growth relationship of spruce (Picea smithiana) grown in Kaghan Forest Division
Climate-growth relationship of spruce (Picea smithiana) grown in Kaghan Forest Division
Tanvir Hussain, G. M. Nasir, and Khalid Hussain Sulangi
ABSTRACT
The present study was conducted to assess the climate-growth relationship of Blue Pine (Picea smithiana) grown in moist temperate areas of Kaghan Forest Division. The climatic parameters including mean annual temperature and precipitation were taken into consideration for the determination of relationship over time scale of 44 years (1971-2015). After visual cross-dating of cores, the total ring width (TRW) was measured with the help of advanced WinDendro System. The chronology of Spruce for the area was developed by verification of data through statistical program Cofecha and elimination of the edaphic factors after detrending and standardization through the computer based program Auto-Regressive Standardization (ARSTAN) and its empirical modeling was done by the software Dendroclimb 2002. Tree-ring chronology showed a strong positive response to precipitation (p<0.05) and weak response to temperature. Significant positive correlation was found with January of the current growth season in case of annual temperature and August to precipitation. These findings showed that the Pinus wallichiana growth is mainly limited to precipitation rather than temperature, and the species has potential for the climate reconstruction in the study area.
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March 2019
Vol. 69, Iss. 1
