DendrochronologiaPub Date : 2025-05-24DOI: 10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126370
Katrien Boonen , Rohan Shetti , Tomáš Navrátil , Tereza Nováková , Jan Rohovec , Jiří Lehejček
{"title":"Atmospheric mercury pollution recorded in conifer tree rings: Disentangling the effects of tree-ring width, water content, and climate on mercury concentrations","authors":"Katrien Boonen , Rohan Shetti , Tomáš Navrátil , Tereza Nováková , Jan Rohovec , Jiří Lehejček","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126370","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126370","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mercury (Hg) is a contaminant of major concern for public and ecosystem health, known for its toxicity and bioaccumulation in the environment. Reconstructing past Hg pollution, as well as monitoring current Hg concentrations, is therefore essential. Tree rings offer a valuable archive for reconstructing historical atmospheric Hg pollution, yet the reliability of dendrochemical Hg reconstructions depends on understanding all factors that influence Hg accumulation in the xylem. This study investigated whether factors beyond atmospheric Hg concentrations, i.e., climatic variables (temperature and precipitation), tree-ring width, and water content, influenced Hg concentrations in the tree rings of European larch and Douglas fir growing near a chlor-alkali plant in the Czech city of Ústí nad Labem. Both tree species showed similar long-term trends in Hg concentrations, broadly reflecting historical trends in atmospheric Hg pollution. However, short-term (high-frequency) variability in tree-ring Hg concentrations remaining after detrending was associated with other factors. A positive correlation between water content and Hg concentrations suggested that a fraction of the Hg was retained in xylem sap. In European larch heartwood, Hg concentrations correlated positively with tree-ring width, likely due to heartwood formation processes. In Douglas fir, a positive correlation between August-September precipitation and tree-ring Hg suggested that this tree species’ isohydric behaviour affected Hg uptake. These findings indicated that while tree-ring Hg concentrations can serve as proxies for historical atmospheric Hg pollution, other factors, such as tree-ring width, water content, and late-summer precipitation, may modulate the signal and should be considered in dendrochemical Hg reconstructions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"92 ","pages":"Article 126370"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144169805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DendrochronologiaPub Date : 2025-05-23DOI: 10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126367
Kristina Seftigen , Georg von Arx , Marina V. Fonti , Jesper Björklund
{"title":"Benchmarking Blue Intensity from drought limited Pinus sylvestris using tree-ring anatomy","authors":"Kristina Seftigen , Georg von Arx , Marina V. Fonti , Jesper Björklund","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126367","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126367","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Robust, high-resolution proxy information on hydroclimate is critical for understanding the recent European drying in the context of natural variability. This is particularly true for Fennoscandia and the surrounding northern high latitude regions, where such records are scarce, and little is known about the physical drivers of these rare events. Recently, the potential of tree-ring Blue Intensity (BI) of <em>Pinus sylvestris</em> L. from cool drought-prone sites has emerged as a source of high-resolution hydroclimate information. Limitations to these proxies may however be linked to the analytical measurement resolution of the technique as well as potential color-related biases caused by the heartwood-sapwood transition and decay-associated discoloration of the tree-ring samples. These proxy uncertainties need to be addressed before the methodology can be used more systematically in the context of hydroclimate reconstructions. Here, we evaluate the reliability of BI tree-ring parameters, specifically regarding their ability to accurately track both low-frequency variations as well as hydroclimate extremes. This is accomplished by benchmarking these parameters against newly developed quantitative wood anatomical (QWA) data from <em>Pinus sylvestris</em> trees in southeast of Sweden. The ΔBI parameter shows a high similarity to its QWA analogue across scales ranging from interannual to centennial, suggesting that the Δ conversion efficiently overcomes the long-term trend biases seen in the raw BI data. The earlywood and latewood BI parameters record largely the same strong spring-summer precipitation signal, together explaining over 50 % of the variance in May-July precipitation, as do their QWA counterparts. However, both BI and QWA show a pronounced asymmetric response to precipitation extremes such that dry extremes are captured better than the wet extremes. This dry-biased extreme value capture needs careful consideration in future reconstruction efforts. We conclude that tree-ring BI holds significant potential for contributing to regional reconstructions, especially given the untapped opportunities to utilize the region’s extensive collection of historical pine material for paleoclimate research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"92 ","pages":"Article 126367"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144169803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DendrochronologiaPub Date : 2025-05-23DOI: 10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126366
Karen E. King , Edward R. Cook , Paul J. Krusic , Daniel J. King
{"title":"Varying climate signals embedded in latewood blue intensity along an elevational gradient: A multi-species case study from the Great Basin, Nevada, USA","authors":"Karen E. King , Edward R. Cook , Paul J. Krusic , Daniel J. King","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126366","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126366","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As blue intensity (BI) methods are increasingly employed to generate temperature-sensitive tree-ring records around the globe, the influence of intra-site variation in elevation on climate-growth relationships for BI parameters remains largely unresolved. Here, we develop six latewood blue intensity (LWBI) chronologies along an elevational gradient for two montane conifer species, <em>Abies concolor</em> var. <em>concolor</em> (Gordon & Glend.) Lindl. Ex Hilderb and <em>Picea engelmannii</em> Parry ex Engelm., growing in the arid southwestern United States. In this first documented study to examine the climate response of LWBI from <em>A. concolor</em>, we find positive, significant (<em>p</em> < 0.05) correlations between the LWBI chronology from the highest elevation plot and spring–summer temperatures (April–August, <em>r</em> > 0.46). Moreover, the positive temperature response of <em>A. concolor</em> is generally stronger and more temporally stable than for <em>P. engelmannii</em> across varying seasonal windows. In comparing the differences in climate response across species and elevation, we document distinct clinal relationships between the temperature response of LWBI for <em>A. concolor</em>, where both the strength and temporal stability of the positive temperature signal increases with elevation. Meanwhile, the mid-elevation <em>P. engelmannii</em> demonstrate the highest climate sensitivity. As such, our findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of how elevation influences the type and strength of the climatic information embedded within the LWBI parameter from arid, montane conifers growing near their historical range margins.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"92 ","pages":"Article 126366"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144169806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DendrochronologiaPub Date : 2025-05-23DOI: 10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126368
Karel Šilhán
{"title":"Aspects of different growth responses of coniferous and broadleaved tree species in landslide research","authors":"Karel Šilhán","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126368","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126368","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the differing responses of two tree species, <em>P. abies</em> and <em>F. sylvatica</em>, to landslide movements and their subsequent effects on landslide chronologies. These are the two most commonly used tree species in dendrogeomorphic landslide research in Central Europe and their combination is generally recommended. However, their specific effect on the resulting chronology is not yet taken into account although they are two quite different species. The research was conducted on 220 individuals of both species located in the Girová landslide area (Outer Western Carpathians), with a focus on the catastrophic event of May 2010. The study sought to understand how these species contribute to dendrogeomorphic reconstructions of landslide events, particularly by analyzing their growth responses and the frequency of growth disturbances (GDs) such as compression and tension wood. The results revealed significant differences in how <em>P. abies</em> and <em>F. sylvatica</em> responded to landslide activity. <em>P. abies</em> showed a higher frequency of GDs (compression wood), but exhibited greater inertia in its physiological response, potentially masking high-frequency landslide events. In contrast, <em>F. sylvatica</em> produced fewer GDs (tension wood), yet its response to landslides was more immediate and efficient, with 100 % intensity in tension wood formation, which helped create a minimum-noise chronology despite fewer identified events. The study highlights the advantages and limitations of both species in dendrogeomorphic research. While <em>P. abies</em> contributes more frequently to detecting landslide events, the inertia in compression wood formation can complicate the interpretation of rapid landslide movements. On the other hand, <em>F. sylvatica</em>, though less responsive in terms of GDs, provides a clearer and more precise landslide chronology. Future research should explore the physiological factors behind these species' different responses to enhance the accuracy of dendrogeomorphic reconstructions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"92 ","pages":"Article 126368"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144138633","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DendrochronologiaPub Date : 2025-05-23DOI: 10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126363
Takeshi Nakajima , Yusuke Kita , Junji Sugiyama
{"title":"Tracheid anatomy of Cryptomeria japonica grown in a humid temperate region: A proxy for short-term climate variability and a crossdating index","authors":"Takeshi Nakajima , Yusuke Kita , Junji Sugiyama","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126363","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126363","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The tree and site selection principle established for dendrochronology and its subfields has long been used as a standard reference for maximizing the climatic signal recorded in ring widths. However, this principle suffers from its stringent restrictions on available tree species and age, and a minimum number of ring widths. Additionally, a limitation of using ring widths is that it fails to capture the detailed responses to signals from short-term climatic variability preserved in wood chemistry and cellular anatomy. Recently, stable isotope and quantitative wood anatomy have shed light on these perspectives, enabling the extraction of climatic signals even from specimens that were previously considered unsuitable. This study aims to evaluate the potential of quantitative tracheid anatomy in <em>Cryptomeria japonica</em> trees of approximately 70 years of age from a humid-temperate region, Ashiu Forest Research Station, as a proxy for climate signals and a crossdating index, despite being suboptimal under conventional dendrochronological principles. Specifically, lumen radial diameter and cell wall thickness were analyzed for the period between 1965 and 2016. According to a correlation analysis, daily precipitation in July (rainy season) of the current year was highly correlated with the lumen radial diameter (<em>r</em> = 0.71). The lumen radial diameter was also useful for reliably crossdating (Student’s <em>t</em>-value = 7.34) <em>C. japonica</em> specimens from 1965–2016 that could not be crossdated by ring widths. The study findings suggest the possibility that tracheid anatomy of <em>C. japonica</em> may serve as a proxy for climatic variability and a crossdating index in humid-temperate regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"92 ","pages":"Article 126363"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144147413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DendrochronologiaPub Date : 2025-05-23DOI: 10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126369
Constantin Nechita , J. Julio Camarero
{"title":"Hotter winter-spring droughts accelerated the growth decline of marginal pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) populations in dry sites from Romania","authors":"Constantin Nechita , J. Julio Camarero","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126369","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126369","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The pedunculate oak (<em>Quercus robur</em> L.) is a major tree species in Europe, but it has faced recent growth decline and dieback events in some areas resulting in economic and ecosystem losses. In the southeastern edge of its natural distribution in eastern Romania, rising temperatures since the 1980s, when a shift towards warmer and more arid conditions occurred, increased evaporative demand and triggered growth decline. We analyzed the adaptive potential of six oak stands (333 individual trees) with ages ranging between 97 and 233 years, located in three wet and three dry sites. Results showed unstable climate-growth correlations with a breakpoint after 1985 when climate warming intensified. Wet soil conditions from early spring to summer enhanced growth; on the contrary, a high evaporative demand linked to warmer conditions and greater potential evapotranspiration reduced growth, particularly in wet sites. After 1985, drought stress induced a reduction in latewood width in dry sites. The relationship between growth and summer-autumn drought intensified during the last decades in all sites. Warmer spring conditions negatively affected oak growth, particularly latewood production. Wet sites had lower resilience indices, and we also noted a post-1985 progressive reduction of growth resilience. Slow-growing trees from dry sites showed growth decline, which could be an early-warning signal of impending dieback and tree death. In contrast, fast-growing trees from wet sites showed sustained relative growth improvement, which was attributed to tree age and size effects. After 1985, the pedunculate oak is more vulnerable to drought damage in dry sites near the southeastern distribution limit in response to hotter winter-spring droughts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"92 ","pages":"Article 126369"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144255077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DendrochronologiaPub Date : 2025-05-22DOI: 10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126371
Any Mary Petritan , Dragos Postolache , Ion Catalin Petritan , Virgil Scarlatescu , J. Julio Camarero
{"title":"Higher growth synchrony and responsiveness to drought in managed-young than in unmanaged-old sessile oak stands during a shift to hotter summers","authors":"Any Mary Petritan , Dragos Postolache , Ion Catalin Petritan , Virgil Scarlatescu , J. Julio Camarero","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126371","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126371","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Historical management legacies may condition recent responses of forests to climate warming. In Eastern Europe, unique and well-preserved old-growth sessile oak forests remain. They represent a perfect setting for comparing their radial-growth responses to climate variability, particularly drought stress, with respect to younger managed forests in a region experiencing ongoing aridification. We assessed radial-growth variability and responses to climate variables in three stands dominated by sessile oak (<em>Quercus petraea</em> (Matt.) Liebl.) located in western Romania: a very old unmanaged stand, an old managed stand from seed origin and a young managed stand from sprout origin. There was a shift towards warmer and drier conditions from the 1980s onwards which could have contributed to reduce temporal growth variability, but it did not increase growth coherence among coexisting trees. Very old and old stands showed a higher growth variability among conspecifics comparing with the young stand, which presented a higher growth synchrony. Warm and dry summers and elevated vapor pressure deficit reduced sessile oak growth. The highest responsiveness of growth indices was found for 12-month long droughts ending in summer in the case of young and old managed stands, whereas the very old unmanaged stand showed the lowest responsiveness. Improving tree growth of younger and even old managed stands may make them more responsive to summer soil and atmospheric drought, thus increasing their vulnerability to further water shortage. A better knowledge on how oak growth variability and responsiveness to drought depend on root-to-shoot ratios is needed to manage oak forests and make them more resilient to aridification.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"92 ","pages":"Article 126371"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144147414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DendrochronologiaPub Date : 2025-05-18DOI: 10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126362
Tiane Yang , Yonghui Wang , Tongwen Zhang , Dong Pan , Kexiang Liu , Huaming Shang , Abula Arman , Li Qin , Ruibo Zhang
{"title":"Climate change alters the radial growth responses of P. schrenkiana and J. jarkendensis to climate extremes in the Eastern Pamirs","authors":"Tiane Yang , Yonghui Wang , Tongwen Zhang , Dong Pan , Kexiang Liu , Huaming Shang , Abula Arman , Li Qin , Ruibo Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126362","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126362","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As global temperatures rise, extreme climate events are becoming more intense, frequent, and prolonged, profoundly altering forest ecosystems, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. This study employs dendrochronological methods to examine the relationship between the radial growth of <em>Picea schrenkiana (P. schrenkiana)</em> and <em>Juniperus jarkendensis (J. jarkendensis)</em> and extreme climate events in the Eastern Pamirs. The findings reveal that: <em>P. schrenkiana</em> is more sensitive to extreme temperatures fluctuations, whereas <em>J. jarkendensis</em> exhibits a stronger response to extreme precipitation. In the context of global warming, <em>P. schrenkiana</em> and <em>J. jarkendensis</em> exhibit a gradual trend of shifting from negative to positive responses to mean temperature (T) and extreme minimum temperature (TNn). Following climatic abruptions, both species display significant positive correlations with T and TNn, reflecting their adaptive adjustments to a warming climate and indicating their ability to leverage more favorable temperature conditions to promote growth. These results suggest that global warming has significantly altered the growth dynamics of these tree species. The interaction of multiple climate factors, rather than a single variable, drives tree growth. Consequently, targeted management and conservation strategies are essential to mitigate the impacts of extreme climate events on different tree species.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"92 ","pages":"Article 126362"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144116805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DendrochronologiaPub Date : 2025-05-18DOI: 10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126361
Lisa M.Y. Jourdain , Georg von Arx , Alma Piermattei , Alan Crivellaro , Richard L. Peters , Stefan Klesse
{"title":"Measuring more – The key to a robust signal in ring-porous earlywood vessel chronologies","authors":"Lisa M.Y. Jourdain , Georg von Arx , Alma Piermattei , Alan Crivellaro , Richard L. Peters , Stefan Klesse","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126361","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126361","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Quantitative wood anatomy is a crucial field increasingly used in dendrochronology due to its high intra-ring resolution and close link to ecophysiological processes. However, earlywood vessel chronologies in ring-porous species often show low statistical quality, such as weak common signal strength and low expressed population signal (EPS). This raises questions about whether these limitations are inherent to the wood type or if methodological refinements could improve chronology robustness. This study evaluates how the amount of measured wood per ring (tangential width) and tree replication impacts the statistical quality and reliability of climate-growth relationships. Therefore, we conducted a systematic analysis using a highly replicated dataset (21 trees per site, 45 mm tangential width per tree) from <em>Fraxinus excelsior</em> and <em>Quercus robur</em> as a robust benchmark. We employed advanced image analysis, resampling, and data simulation techniques. Our analyses show that the spread (uncertainty) of obtained climate correlation values increases with lower replication and common signal strength, with replication as the most influential factor, followed by within-tree accuracy linked to the tangential width. We recommend collecting at least two 5-mm cores (8–10 mm TW) per tree and sampling a minimum of 20 trees in environments without a strong limiting factor (low common signal strength). In contrast to common practice, we promote subsampling based on surface quality rather than high correlation with the tree-ring width master chronology and target an EPS ≥ 0.85 for earlywood vessel chronologies. Finally, careful screening within the array of earlywood vessel variables (first row, mean size, different quantiles, etc.) enables to maximize the signal strength. We believe that our approach, results, and recommendations can contribute to improving the robustness of quantitative wood anatomy chronologies in ring-porous species, but likely also in other wood types.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"92 ","pages":"Article 126361"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144125009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DendrochronologiaPub Date : 2025-05-17DOI: 10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126360
Enrico Tonelli , Camilla Avanzi , Elena Bitocchi , Alessandro Vitali , Andrea Piotti , Ilaria Spanu , Elena Barocci , Carlo Urbinati
{"title":"Variation in radial growth sensitivity to drought among genetic groups of common yew (Taxus baccata L.) in central Italy","authors":"Enrico Tonelli , Camilla Avanzi , Elena Bitocchi , Alessandro Vitali , Andrea Piotti , Ilaria Spanu , Elena Barocci , Carlo Urbinati","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126360","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126360","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Common yew (<em>Taxus baccata</em> L.) is a long-living European species, with significant ecological importance. Climate change and severe droughts threaten its growth, emphasizing the need for preserving genetic diversity. By combining dendroecology and genetics, we aimed to identify groups of trees most resilient to changing climatic conditions. We analysed radial growth trends from 1951 to 2018 in three populations located in two mountain areas of central Italy with different rainfall regimes. From 298 selected yew trees, needles were collected for DNA extraction, and tree-ring cores were obtained for dendrochronological analysis. We assessed the relationship between tree growth and drought using the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). The studied populations clustered in two distinct genetic groups, corresponding to the driest and wettest areas. At the rainiest site, in the period 1951–2018 yew growth was less constrained by evapotranspiration rates than at the driest area, but climate-growth analysis on moving windows indicates an increasing impact of drought. Growth recovery time after the 2003 drought was longer in individuals at the rainiest area compared to the more xeric sites. The yew trees of the driest area, which were further subdivided in two genetically distinct but spatially intermingled sub-groups, appeared to be better adapted to drought events and therefore more suitable for future warmer scenarios. This study highlights the climate sensitivity of common yew, showing that summer droughts can limit growth, and suggests the advantages of using a dendrogenetic approach to delve deeper into ecophysiological responses to be exploited for reforestation and conservation efforts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"92 ","pages":"Article 126360"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144117028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}