Effects of climate on radial growth of Picea meyeri in semi-arid grassland, north China

Abstract

Dendroclimatic assessment of Picea meyeri Rehd. et Wils was carried out on the sandy land in semi-arid Inner Mongolian grassland. Response function analysis was performed to identify climate-growth relationships for P. meyeri. The growth of P. meyeri exhibits a positive relationship with precipitation in current February and May as well as in prior September. Furthermore, it is showed that several variables among mean monthly temperature and total monthly precipitation from September of current year to August of preceding year can explain about 70% of the variance in the tree-ring width. The results reveal a greater sensitivity of this species to climate conditions in this area, suggesting that P. meyeri is a suitable species for dendroclimatic studies.