The influence of rainfall and temperature on radial growth of urban trees under the impact of steel industry pollution

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the growth rings and evaluate the effect of the urban environment on the growth of Terminalia catappa L. under intense industrial activity. At least two wood samples were obtained from each tree with an increment borer. The regions of Volta Redonda (Northwest and Southeast regions) and Resende (used as control) were established for the collection. The dendrochronological potential of T. catappa indicated sensitivity to precipitation and temperature in a more exposed urban and industrial steel pollution area because there were differences in growth when compared to an area less exposed to the same pollution. Thus, it was possible to conclude that this species has the potential to be used as a bioindicator of anthropogenic activities. In addition, the delimitation of the growth rings of the studied species contributes to the realization of future dendrochronological studies, expanding the understanding of the behavior of this species present in urban environments at different regional scales. This study reinforces the importance of rainfall and temperature in regulating radial growth in tropical forests.

Climate-affected multi-decadal variations of biogenic volatile organic compounds in Pinus tabuliformis growth rings

“…Dendrochronology can re-establish air pollution, secondary compounds and plant biomass as a function of climate variability (Fritts 1976;Moullec et al 2018;Hember et al 2019;Khoo et al 2020). Some information from tree rings has long been acknowledged for eco-physiological reconstruction of long-term climatic change (Cook et al 1991;Grudd et al 2002;Schurman et al 2019) and for wood-chemistry physiology (Khoo et al 2020) of long-time environmental pollution with heavy metals (Locosselli et al 2018;Neto et al 2023). Thus, the comparisons of chemical profiles in growth rings are helpful to allow study of the long-term temporal variations of chemical constituents in long-lived species.…”