DENDROCLIMATOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF SPRING-SUMMER PRECIPITATION FOR FAZENDA RIO GRANDE, PR, WITH SAMPLES OF Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze

Abstract

-Samples of Araucaria angustifolia were collected at Fazenda Rio Grande, Paraná, Brazil (25º39'S 49 18'O) in January 2011. The 32 samples from 8 trees were subjected to treatments following dendrochronological techniques. The cores were measured and dated using optical and computational methodology, and then standardized to obtain a growth-ring time series, which considers the 1907-2009 time range and represents Fazenda Rio Grande. Tree-ring indices were analyzed and correlated to temperature and precipitation averages from the 1961-2009 range. This procedure aimed to study and understand the influence of the local climate on the plant growth and if this influence can be quantified. A. angustifolia trees produce visible annual growth rings, and their earlywood and latewood are clearly defined. The present study shows that A. angustifolia is sensitive to climate variables (e.g., low temperatures in wintertime tend to stop the growth rate). The correlation between tree rings and monthly precipitation series showed a common trend, making it possible to estimate the seasonal rainfall behavior for the entire 1907-2009 range.

Araucaria growth response to solar and climate variability in South Brazil

“…Tree-ring data have been used to reconstruct the climate (e.g., Case and MacDonald, 1995;Jacoby et al, 2003;D'Arrigo et al, 2001;Salzer and Kipfmueller, 2005;Shao et al, 2005;Therrell et al, 2006;Lorensi and Prestes, 2016), and there is evidence of solar influence on these data in timescales of decades to centuries. In addition, there is evidence of solar cycles in living and fossil tree-ring time series (Mori, 1981;Ammons et al, 1983;Nordemann et al, 2005;Raspopov et al, 2011;Prestes et al, 2011Prestes et al, , 2014Dorotovič et al, 2014;Perone et al, 2016).…”

“…As the samples were collected from live trees in 2005, the last year of ring formation is 2004. In samples of Araucaria angustifolia, the counting of growth rings is usually used to provide an estimation of tree age (Oliveira et al, 2009;Santos et al, 2015;Lorensi and Prestes, 2016).…”

“…In Brazil, dendrochronological/dendroclimatic studies are still incipient (Fritts, 1976;Schöngart et al, 2002Schöngart et al, , 2004Rigozo et al, 2007aRigozo et al, , b, 2008Lisi et al, 2008;Oliveira et al, 2009;Prestes et al, 2011Prestes et al, , 2014Andreacci et al, 2013;Pagotto et al, 2015;Lorensi and Prestes, 2016;Lorensi, 2016;Perone et al, 2016), considering the great biodiversity and continental dimension of Brazil when compared to South American countries such as Chile and Argentina. However, these kinds of studies have become more numerous in the recent years (Rigozo et al, 2007a(Rigozo et al, , b, 2008Lisi et al, 2008;Oliveira et al, 2009;Prestes et al, 2011Prestes et al, , 2014Andreacci et al, 2013;Pagotto et al, 2015;Lorensi and Prestes, 2016;Lorensi, 2016;Perone et al, 2016).…”

“…However, these kinds of studies have become more numerous in the recent years (Rigozo et al, 2007a(Rigozo et al, , b, 2008Lisi et al, 2008;Oliveira et al, 2009;Prestes et al, 2011Prestes et al, , 2014Andreacci et al, 2013;Pagotto et al, 2015;Lorensi and Prestes, 2016;Lorensi, 2016;Perone et al, 2016).…”

Climate Influence in Dendrochronological Series of Araucaria angustifolia from Campos do Jordão, Brazil

“…Tree rings from high elevation sites provide climate-sensitive records that can reach over a thousand years or more with annual to seasonal resolution [5]. Among the species most used in dendrochronology, the use of Araucaria angustifolia stands out due to the high longevity of the species, as well as its sensitivity to the climate [6][7][8].…”