The first large-scale network of 79 tree-ring chronologies in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East (EMNE; 33°N–42°N, 21°E–43°E) is described and analyzed to identify the seasonal climatic signal in indices of annual ring width. Correlation analysis and cluster analysis are applied to tree-ring data and gridded climate data to assess the climate signal embedded in the network in preparation for climate field reconstructions and formal proxy/model intercomparison experiments. The lengths of the 79 combined chronologies range from 89 to 990 years. The monthly correlations and partial correlations reveal a pervasive positive association with May, June, and sometimes July precipitation, positive correlations with winter and spring (December through April) temperatures, and negative relationships with May through July temperature, although as expected, there are site-to-site exceptions to these general patterns. Cluster analysis suggests three groups of sites based on their association with climate. The chronologies for the EMNE have coherent seasonal precipitation and temperature signals across a fairly broad geographical domain. The predominant signal is a positive growth response to May–June precipitation. Collectively, the findings suggest that the network can be exploited to develop season-specific field reconstructions of precipitation and drought history in the EMNE.

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International audienceThe European Black Pine (Pinus nigra Arn.) has a long and complex history. Genetic distance and frequency analyses identified three differentiated genetic groups, which corresponded to three wide geographical areas: Westerns Mediterranean, Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor. These groups shared common ancestors (14.75 and 10.72 Ma). The most recent splits occurred after the Messinian Salinity Crisis (4.37 Ma) and the Early–Middle Pleistocene Transitions (0.93 Ma). The posterior ancestral population size (Na) is 260, 000–265,000 individuals. Each pool is further fragmented, with evidence of a phylogeographic structure (Nst > Gst) typ- ically observed in some natural populations from the Western Mediterranean region and the Balkan Peninsula. The labora- tory analysis was performed by fragment analysis—i.e. elec- trophoretic sizing of polymerase chain reaction fragments, combined with the sequencing analysis of 33 % of all individ- uals as a control. Intense sampling of chloroplast DNA poly- morphisms (3154 individuals and 13 markers: SNPs and SSRs) over the full area of the species’ natural distribution indicated moderate among-population variability (Gst(nc) ≤ 0.177) in various parts of its range. These results indicate that the natural populations have long migration his- tories that differ from one another and that they have been strongly phylogeographically affected by complex patterns of isolation, speciation and fragmentation. Long and varying climatic fluctuations in the region of the principal genetic group have been the probable cause of different forest com- munity associations with different successional patterns resulting in interglacial refugia vs. macro long-term refugia

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