Relationships Between Temperature and Precipitation Conditions and Tree- Ring Growth in Küre Mountains National Park in the Context of Climate Change

Abstract

This study aims to determine the effect of monthly average temperature and monthly total precipitation on tree ring growth and to reveal the possible effects of climate change by using gridded data from the lower and upper growing limits of Scots pine, fir and black pine in the Küre Mountains National Park. Küre Mountains National Park is an essential natural protected area in Türkiye's Black Sea Region. This park is one of the 9 Hotspots in Turkey. For dendrochronological analyses, samples were taken from the lower and upper growing limits of Scots pine, fir and black pine trees, using increment borer, from locations determined within the national park's borders. Measurements of the samples taken were made using the LINTABTSAP measurement system with a sensitivity of 0.01 mm. In analyzing climate-tree ring relations, gridded data taken from the World Meteorological Organization Regional Climate Center website was used for areal precipitation totals and temperature averages, as it has longer-term data. Response Functions were calculated with the help of DENDROCLIM2002 to reveal the statistical relationships between climate data and tree ring growth. According to our results, tree ring growth on trees in the research area is positively affected by the increases in monthly total precipitation in June and July for all site all chronologies and negatively affected by November of the previous year and January, February, September and October of the current year.