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

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Abstract

Ring-width chronologies of Picea abies (L.) Karst. from ten sites in the Tatra Mountains, Poland, were developed to explore growth/climate responses in stands along an altitudinal gradient ranging from 839 to 1468 m a.s.l. There were positive relationships between current-year radial growth and mean monthly temperatures in March, April, June and July, but with increasing elevation, the strength of this correlation declined for March–April and increased for June–July temperatures. The mean monthly temperature in October of the previous year positively influenced radial growth of trees at all sites. Lower mean temperatures in January negatively affected growth of trees at the high-elevation sites. Trees at the low-elevation sites responded positively to a warm early spring, whereas trees at the high-elevation sites showed positive growth responses to higher summer temperatures. Growth of trees at the high-elevation sites was better explained by the temperature regime than was growth at the lower-elevation sites. Therefore, it is likely that these sites may be particularly sensitive to potential effects of temperature change.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Fulbright Foundation, the Russian Science Support Foundation, the Wilderness Research Foundation, and a cooperative Russian and Polish Academy of Sciences project. We thank Dr. Lee Frelich, Dr. Roy Rich and two anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dendroecology, Forest Institute, Akademgorodok, Krasnoyarsk, 660036, Russia

    Yuliya Savva & Eugene A. Vaganov

  2. Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Dendrology, Parkowa 5, PL-62-035, Kórnik, Poland

    Jacek Oleksyn

  3. Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, 115 Green Hall, 1530 Cleveland Avenue North, St. Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    Jacek Oleksyn & Peter B. Reich

  4. Department of Forest Science, Texas A&M University, 2135 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843-2135, USA

    Mark G. Tjoelker

  5. Department of Silviculture, Agricultural University of Poznan, Wojska Polskiego 69, 60-625, PL, Poznan, Poland

    Jerzy Modrzynski

  6. Départment des sciences biologiques, CP 8888 Succ. Centre ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada, H3C 3P8

    Yuliya Savva

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  1. Yuliya Savva
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Correspondence to Yuliya Savva.

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Communicated by R. Häsler

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Savva, Y., Oleksyn, J., Reich, P.B. et al. Interannual growth response of Norway spruce to climate along an altitudinal gradient in the Tatra Mountains, Poland. Trees 20, 735–746 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-006-0088-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-006-0088-9

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