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Araucaria araucana tree-ring chronologies in Argentina: spatial growth variations and climate influences

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Abstract

Seventeen tree-ring chronologies from the conifer Araucaria araucana (Molina) K. Koch have been analyzed across its range of distribution in Argentina. We studied the growth patterns and determined the main climatic factors influencing A. araucana radial growth. All the chronologies show a strong common signal observed by the high amount of variance explained by the first principal component (PC1) and the high mean correlation (r = 0.597) between the chronologies over the 1676–1974 interval. On this basis, we developed a regional chronology that is 866 years long (A.D. 1140–2006) and includes 621 tree-ring series. Based on the PC2 scores, chronologies were clearly separated by elevation in high- and low-elevation records. Regional tree growth is strongly negatively related to temperatures during summer and fall in the previous-growing season and spring in the current-growing season, respectively. A positive association of tree growth with precipitation is recorded during spring in the current growing season. These results suggest a close relationship between A. araucana tree growth and water availability on a regional scale. This observation is also consistent with a positive and significant correlation between our A. araucana regional record and a reconstruction of November–December rainfall for northern Patagonia inferred from the xeric Austrocedrus chilensis during the past 400 years. Negative correlations between A. araucana regional growth and the sea surface temperature in the Niño 3.4 region reflect the occurrence of above-mean summer temperatures in the region during positive tropical Pacific SST anomalies. The negative relationship with the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) results from reduced precipitation in our study region during the positive phase of the AAO. The effect of elevation on water availability is consistent with significant correlations between ring-width variations at lower elevations and the Palmer Drought Severity Index during spring and summer in the current growing season. Our study emphasizes the high dendroclimatological potential of A. araucana chronologies for reconstructing past climate variations in northern Patagonia during the past millennium.

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Notes

  1. The International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) held at the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology website (NOAA Paleoclimatology Program, http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/treering.html).

  2. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

  3. The Niño 3.4 region is the tropical Pacific extending from 5° N to 5° S, and from 170° to 120° W). We used the updated series available from the website of the Global and Climate Dynamics of the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/catalog/climind/TNI_N34/index.html).

  4. The series available from the website of the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) of the University of Washington was used (http://jisao.washington.edu/data/aao/).

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI-CRN 2005 and 2047) and by a CONICET doctoral fellowship (National Council for Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina). We are grateful to Eduardo Barrio, Alberto Ripalta, Lidio López, María Alejandra Giantomasi, Sergio Piraino, Ana Srur, Carolina Szymañsky and Andrés Manceñido for research assistance. We thank the Administración de Parques Nacionales, Áreas Naturales Protegidas del Neuquén, Corporación Interestadual Pulmarí, and the owners and administrators of Ea. Nahuel Mapi and Rahue site for facilitating this research. We are greatly indebted to Brian Luckman for comments and corrections on an early version of this manuscript. We also thank the communicating editor and two anonymous reviewers for helping to improve the final version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Dendrocronología e Historia Ambiental. IANIGLA, CCT CONICET-Mendoza, CC 330, M5502IRA Mendoza, Prov. de Mendoza, Argentina

    Ignacio A. Mundo, Fidel A. Roig Juñent & Ricardo Villalba

  2. LISEA, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 1900 La Plata, Prov. de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Ignacio A. Mundo & Marcelo D. Barrera

  3. Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA, CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Comahue, 8400 San Carlos de Bariloche, Prov. de Río Negro, Argentina

    Thomas Kitzberger

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  1. Ignacio A. Mundo
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  2. Fidel A. Roig Juñent
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  3. Ricardo Villalba
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  4. Thomas Kitzberger
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  5. Marcelo D. Barrera
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Correspondence to Ignacio A. Mundo.

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Communicated by S. Leavitt.

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Mundo, I.A., Roig Juñent, F.A., Villalba, R. et al. Araucaria araucana tree-ring chronologies in Argentina: spatial growth variations and climate influences. Trees 26, 443–458 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-011-0605-3

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