Tree-ring widths as an indicator of air pollution stress and climate conditions in different Norway spruce forest stands in the Krkonoše Mts.

Abstract

The negative effect of air pollution on mountain spruce stands culminated in the 70s – 90s of the 20th century, when an extensive dieback and disturbance of stands occurred in the Krkonoše Mts., the Czech Republic. Dendrochronological analysis was used on ten permanent research plots established in 1976–1980 to document the dynamics of radial increment of Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.). The objective was to determine the effect of SO2, NOX and O3 concentrations and precipitation and temperatures on spruce radial growth in climax forests, waterlogged forests and cultivated forests. The results document the strong depression of diameter increment in the period 1979–1991 caused by synergism of climatic extremes and high SO2 pollution in the 80s and 90s of the 20th century. After 2000 climate had prevailing effect on radial growth. Spruce increment was in positive correlation with temperature, particularly with temperature in the growing season and annual temperature of the current year. In general, temperature had a more significant effect on increment than precipitation, mainly in climax and peaty spruce stands. Diameter increment was in significant negative correlation with SO2 and NOX concentrations in all types of stands. Overall, peaty spruce stands were the most vulnerable to air pollution stress. Low radial increments were caused also by climate extremes, historically by strong frosts and winter desiccation in early spring, nowadays in time of climatic changes by extreme drought. Spruce stands have the ability of quickly responding by tree-ring width to both negative and positive impulses related with air pollution and climate.

Reduction determinants of Scots pine tree-ring width in the vicinity of Puławy industrial plants (central-eastern Poland)

“…Numerous dendrochronological experiments for evaluating the changes of air quality and other environmental elements have demonstrated the negative influence of emissions on tree stands (Danek 2008, Sensuła et al 2017, Putalová et al 2019. Such studies have shown that as distance from emission sources increases, the negative reactions of trees get progressively smaller, and as emissions decrease, tree-ring widths reach a value which is like the width from the preceding period, or even exceed it (Wilczyński 2006, Danek 2008.…”

“…Moreover, the tree-ring width of conifers growing in areas affected by industrial pollution, especially those in the vicinity of industrial plants with high environmental impact, may be used as an indicator of environment degradation (Parobeková et al 2016) or as an archive of past environmental pollution (Sensuła et al 2017). The changes in the width of Scots pine tree rings can be used to determine when a period of influence from industrial pollution began and ended, the number of tree rings with reduced growth (and the degree to which their width was affected), and the intensity of the pollution influence on the stands studied (Augustaitis et al 2014, Austruy et al 2019, Putalová et al 2019, Ziemiańska et al 2019.…”

A preliminary study into the use of tree-ring and foliar geochemistry as bio-indicators for vehicular NOxpollution in Malta

“…To the best of our knowledge, such a dendrogeochemical experiment has not been previously performed in Malta. Thus, if NOx emissions from traffic are shown to influence these parameters, as has been the case in previous studies conducted elsewhere [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][27][28][29][30][31][32], then tree-ring and foliar isotope geochemistry and radial growth variability would represent novel and hitherto unused proxies for ambient air quality monitoring in Malta.…”

“…Radial tree growth has also been used as a proxy for elucidating the extent of past atmospheric pollution. Studies have shown that prolonged exposure to most pollutants results in a deleterious effect on growth which manifests as narrower annual tree-rings [29][30][31]. However, the effect of increased NOx pollution on radial tree growth is not as straightforward; previous studies have found that increased deposition of NOx can result in radial growth reduction and narrower rings [32], can induce a fertilisation effect and thus contribute to tree-ring widening [17], or may have no influence on tree-ring widths whatsoever [15].…”

Growth response of seven multipurpose tree species to climatic factors: A case study from northwestern Himalayas, India

“…These deviations in annual rings of individual trees may be due to their physiology and wood anatomy or external influences, such as prevailing https://doi.org/10.17221/159/2021-JFS environmental conditions, which are also considered as decisive factors in tree growth (Bauwe et al 2015). Tree growth has been known to be sensitive to rainfall (Grogan, Schulze 2012;Bauwe et al 2015;Natalini et al 2015), air temperature (Schweingruber 1996; Jump et al 2006;Savva et al 2006;Natalini et al 2015), wind (Urban et al 1994), solar cycles (Rigozo et al 2002;Šimůnek et al 2020) and air pollution (Putalová et al 2019;Mikulenka et al 2020;Sidor et al 2021). Similarly, the radial growth of trees could also be affected by biotic factors, such as game damage (Cukor et al 2019;Vacek et al 2020), silvicultural treatments (Pérez- de-Lis et al 2011;Remeš et al 2015;Jaouadi et al 2018) or fertilization (Ponton et al 2019;Vacek et al 2019;Gallo et al 2021).…”