Climate and growth of Podocarpus salignus in Valdivia, Chile

Abstract

Little dendroclimatic research has been conducted on species of Podocarpus, in response to inherent difficulties associated with tree-ring differentiation and cross-dating. We sampled complete stem cross sections from a plantation of Podocarpus salignus trees in Valdivia, Chile, near the southern edge of the species' range. We measured earlywood, latewood, and total ring widths avoiding ring wedging, and we calculated the corresponding chronologies. The relationship of these chronologies with maximum temperature, precipitation, and sea level pressure was addressed using correlation and redundancy analyses. All chronologies showed a similar response to climate that was consistent with the cloudy, rainy, and temperate conditions of the study area. That is, warm and dry conditions during previous late springs were beneficial, while warm and rainy winters under low atmospheric pressures were detrimental for growth. The observed climatic responses are in contrast to those of conifers from mountainous areas of southern South America. Limitation of carbohydrates available for growth in the following active season was a possible cause for the observed responses to climate. That is, high winter temperatures may deplete stored carbohydrates by increasing respiration, and a high degree of cloud cover reduces the radiation received by the trees in the active season, which may hamper photosynthesis. Our work highlights the dendroclimatological value of Podocarpus salignus to investigate the influence of climatic variation on tree growth and forest productivity.

Conifer wood assemblage dominated by Podocarpaceae, early Eocene of Laguna del Hunco, central Argentinean Patagonia

“…We infer that the remains of Protophyllocladoxylon francisiae came from a tree older than 100 years (Table 3). In one sample, the type of growth ring (type B according to Creber and Chaloner 1984) and width of the growth rings reveal a significant and uniform growth of more than 5 mm in diameter annually (mean ring width 2.8 mm, widest ring of 3.7 mm, Table 3) which is similar to those of Podocarpaceae growing in wet Patagonian forests today (e.g., Rozas et al 2016). Interestingly, the plant would have grown more than the global mean ring width of ca.…”

Dendroclimatology in Latin America, State of the Art and Contributions for Understanding Climate Variation

“…Our finding indicates that almost half of the research has been done using coniferous species and broadleaf species. Through the search for suitable tree species, it has been possible to explore previously unstudied geographic areas and research niches, which enable us to broaden the scope of the methods applied in dendroclimatology [10,29,38,44,48,50,51,81,82]. Dr. Sergio Zárate and Mary-Ann Hall for their professional support in revising the English version of the manuscript.…”

Drought Effects on Vessel Plasticity of Two Endemic <em>Magnolia</em> Species in the Tropical Montane Cloud Forests of Eastern Mexico

“…Additionally, we verified the cross-dating with the software COFECHA [42,43]. We used the Northern Hemisphere criteria [44][45][46] to date our tree-ring series and assigned every ring the year in which growth started. False tree-rings were detected through re-examination and comparison between wood cores and a cross-section from fallen trees to correct the chronologies from each site [15,47].…”