Interannual growth response of Norway spruce to climate along an altitudinal gradient in the Tatra Mountains, Poland

Abstract

Ring-width chronologies of Picea abies (L.)

Picea abies provenance test in the Czech Republic after 36 years - Central European provenances

“…Significantly lower growth of provenances originally from the altitude above 800 m a.s.l. was documented on our experimental site (Table 2), which corresponds with other studies (Šindelář 1994;Savva et al 2006), concerning stem volume (Oleksyn et al 1997) or biomass (Modrzyński, Eriksson 2002). At the same time documented that (Slovakian) spruce provenances generally responded positively (increased height and volume growth) to transfer to lower altitudes (warmer and drier climates).…”

“…The extremity of the stand is probably quite an important factor (Kapeller et al 2012) and increment (of European provenances) responds to climatic conditions markedly only on the extreme sites (Mäkinen et al 2002). It was also confirmed by Savva et al (2006), who reported for Norway spruce at high altitudes a higher correlation between summer temperatures and radial increment (rather than height increment). Since in our experiment the highest altitude of the provenance location was 1,600 m a.s.l.…”

“…It is one of the explanatory characteristics, which appears in our study as a factor of high significance (Table 1) for diameter growth and also (somewhat lower significance) for height increment. According to Savva et al (2006) results, there is quite a large difference between Norway spruce stands from sites close to the tree line (over 1,440 m a.s.l.) and the other two groups at middle (1,000-1,200) and lower altitudes (800-1,000).…”

“…At the same time documented that (Slovakian) spruce provenances generally responded positively (increased height and volume growth) to transfer to lower altitudes (warmer and drier climates). Also, trees at low elevations usually respond positively to warmer weather in the spring, trees at high elevations respond to higher summer temperatures (Savva et al 2006) and the diameter growth at high-elevation sites has a higher correlation with temperature and at low-elevation sites with precipitation, at least in mountainous regions of Europe (Mäkinen et al 2002). Nevertheless, the growth of spruce at the lowland site is much more variable than the growth in the Alpine stands (Levanič et al 2009).…”

The altitudinal variability and temporal instability of the climate–tree-ring growth relationships for Changbai larch (Larix olgensis Henry) in the Changbai mountains area, Jilin, Northeastern China

“…Tree-ring width is commonly related to climate in both the previous year and current year (Bräuning 1999;Takahashi et al 2005;Savva et al 2006), which was also verified in this study. Generally, TRW was negatively associated with temperatures in the prior winter and the months before the growing season at all elevations (Fig.…”