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Climatic control of intra-annual wood density fluctuations of Pinus pinaster in NW Spain

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Abstract

Tree rings of Pinus pinaster often contain intra-annual density fluctuations (IADFs), which have been attributed to the succession of dry and rainy periods typical of Mediterranean climate, but their formation has not been studied yet under Atlantic climate. We analyzed the occurrence and climatic significance of replicated IADFs in ten monospecific stands in NW Spain. The frequency of IADFs was higher than previously reported for this species under Mediterranean conditions and consistently decreased with increasing elevation. The formation of bands of latewood-like tracheids within the earlywood was favored by dry previous August, cold previous winter and dry April. Bands of earlywood-like tracheids within the early latewood were also favored by low winter temperatures. However, their occurrence was geographically heterogeneous, with two groups of stands being defined by their distances to the shoreline. In coastal stands, cold May–August triggered IADFs formation, while in inland stands their formation was favored by dry May–July. Regional winter temperatures and April water balance were strongly related to the East Atlantic (EA) pattern, which greatly conditioned the occurrence of IADFs in the earlywood and the early latewood. By contrast, the presence of bands of earlywood-like tracheids in the late latewood was independent of the EA pattern, being strongly related to warm conditions in spring and especially to a wet October. The link between regional climate and the EA pattern strongly controlled the physiological processes that determine intra-annual growth dynamics and short-term cell enlargement of P. pinaster in NW Spain.

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Acknowledgments

We thank N. Bermejo, A. González, S. Lamas, P. Manso, B. Rodríguez-Morales and A. Soliño for field and laboratory assistance. The personnel from Dirección Xeral de Montes, Xunta de Galicia, Forest Districts and Islas Atlánticas National Park facilitated site accession. V. Rozas benefited from research contracts by INIA-Xunta de Galicia and CSIC. This research was funded by Dirección Xeral de Investigación, Desenvolvemento e Innovación, Xunta de Galicia (PGIDIT06PXIB502262PR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Misión Biológica de Galicia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Apdo. 28, 36080, Pontevedra, Spain

    Vicente Rozas & Rafael Zas

  2. Departamento de Botánica, Escola Politécnica Superior, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Campus de Lugo, 27002, Lugo, Spain

    Ignacio García-González

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  1. Vicente Rozas
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  2. Ignacio García-González
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  3. Rafael Zas
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Correspondence to Vicente Rozas.

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Communicated by A. Braeuning.

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Rozas, V., García-González, I. & Zas, R. Climatic control of intra-annual wood density fluctuations of Pinus pinaster in NW Spain. Trees 25, 443–453 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-010-0519-5

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