Silva Fennica : quarterly issues : 34(4) : sa344317.htm
Climatic signals extracted from ring-width chronologies of Scots pines from the northern, middle and southern parts of the boreal forest belt in Finland
Silva Fennica 34(4): 317–330
Climatic signals were extracted from ring-width chronologies of Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) from natural stands of the northern, middle, and southern parts of the boreal forest belt in Finland. The strength of the common growth signals (forcing factors) were quantified as a function of time. This was achieved by mean inter-series correlations, calculated over a moving 30-year window, both within and between the regional chronologies. Strong regional signals and also evidence for common forcings were found, especially between northern and central, central and eastern, as well as central/eastern and southern chronologies. Response function analyses revealed that growing season temperatures govern the growth rates of northern pines, while towards south, pine growth becomes less affected by temperatures, and more affected by e.g. precipitation. During some periods, growing conditions seem to have been favorable in the south, while they have been unfavorable in the north (growth inversions). Going from the north to the south, the variability of radial growth clearly decreases, and the variance of ring-width series becomes smaller. Growth variability in the four regions was compared during the common interval of the chronologies, from 1806 to 1991. The spectral densities of the northern, central, eastern and southern chronologies were also compared as functions of frequency, viz. cycles per year. The variance is much greater and there is more periodic behavior in the north than in the south in high, medium, as well as lower frequencies.
Keywords
boreal forest, Scots pine, tree-rings, ring-width chronologies, growth variability, growth responses, spectral analysis
Addresses
Lindholm and Meriläinen, Saima Centre for Environmental Sciences, University of Joensuu, Linnankatu 11, FIN-57130 Savonlinna, Finland; Lehtonen and Kolström, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu Research Station, Box 68, FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finland; Eronen, Department of Geology, Division of Geology and Palaeontology, Box 11, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland; Timonen, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Rovaniemi Research Station, Box 16, FIN-96301 Rovaniemi, Finland
Received 16 November 1999 Accepted 20 September 2000
ISSN 0037-5330