A dendroclimatic analysis of Pinus densiflora from Mt. Chiri in southern Won-Kyu Park, Ram R. Yadav

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Won-Kyu Park, Ram R. Yadav. A dendroclimatic analysis of Pinus densiflora from Mt. Chiri in southern Korea. Annales des sciences forestières, INRA/EDP Sciences, 1998, 55 (4), pp.451-459. ￿hal-00883213￿

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A dendroclimatic analysis of Pinus densiflora from Mt. Chiri in southern Korea

Won-Kyu Park* Ram R. Yadav*

Department of Forest Products, College of Agriculture, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 361-763, Republic of Korea

(Received 24 February 1997; revised 12 May 1997; accepted 2 February 1998)

Abstract-The influence of climate on the radial growth of Pinus densiflora Sieb. and Zucc. in southern Korea was investigated using a 196-year (AD 1801-1996) -ring chronology devel- oped from 27 sampled in the Chiri mountain range. The relationship between ring width and climate was analyzed using the response function, which indicated 56 % of the chronology vari- ance attributable to climate. This analysis has demonstrated that warm January and March tem- peratures have a direct relationship to ring width. An inverse relationship has been noted with August precipitation. The association between tree growth and climate reveals the potential use- fulness of this species in climatic reconstruction. (© Inra/Elsevier, Paris.)

Pinus densiflora / tree rings / growth-climate relationship / southern Korea

Résumé - Une analyse dendroclimatique de Pinus densiflora au mont Chiri en Corée du Sud. L’influence du climat sur la croissance radiale de Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc. en Corée du Sud a été étudiée en utilisant une chronologie de cernes de 196 ans (1801-1996 AD) développée à par- tir de 27 arbres échantillonnés au mont Chiri. La relation entre épaisseurs de cernes et climat a été analysée grâce à une fonction de réponse qui indique que 56 % de la variance de la chronologie est attribuable au climat. Cette analyse a démontré que des températures élevées en janvier et mars ont un effet positif sur la croissance. Un effet négatif a été noté pour les précipitations d’août. Cette association entre croissance et climat révèle les potentialités de cette espèce pour des recons- tructions climatiques. (© Inra/Elsevier, Paris.)

Pinus densiflora / cernes d’arbre / relation croissance-climat / Corée du Sud

* Correspondence and reprints E-mail: [email protected] ** Present address: Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53 University Road, Lucknow 226007, India. 1. INTRODUCTION A previous study (Park and Yadav, unpublished data) on Korean red samples obtained from a xeric site in cen- The analysis of annual growth rings of tral Korea indicated that the growth of this trees growing on stressed sites provides species is strongly associated with spring coherent quantitative estimates of envi- precipitation. The present study is the ronmental variables [4, 5, 11]. Some extension of this earlier study to the south species in Korea reported growing for sev- along the Korean Peninsula in order to test eral centuries [16] may provide unique the feasibility of developing a tree-ring opportunities for developing long tree- network of this species for regional-scale ring chronologies useful for climatic dendroclimatic studies. reconstructions from this region. Recent dendrochronological reconnaissances in southern Korea [25, 30] also indicated the 1.1. Study area and climate possibility of finding multi-century old trees in some of the high mountain areas. A natural stand of Korean red in Though this area is very important from pine the cool zone on the a climatic perspective, only a few high- temperate growing northern area resolution tree-ring records are available slope (Hadong-Jangteomok for the Korean Peninsula [2]. Intensive at 1 450 m, a.s.l.) of the Chiri mountain was chosen for this chronology development efforts are cur- range study (figure 1). The area was located below rently underway to develop a high-quality sampling just the which is dom- representative geographic network of tree- subalpine zone, inated Abies koreana and Pinus ring chronologies for this region. The pre- by koraiensis The broad-leaved zone sent report is the first dendroclimatic study [33]. found in and on is domi- on Pinus densiflora Sieb. and Zucc. from valleys slopes southern Korea. nated by Quercus mongolica, Fraxinus mandshurica and Acer species, occasion- ally mixed with Korean red pine. Pure P. densiflora is commonly referred to as stands of Korean red pine are found on Korean red pine or Japanese red pine. It ridges. These isolated patches are sepa- occurs naturally in Korea, Japan and rated from the Korean red pine zones at Manchuria, covering a wide ecological lower elevations (400-700 m, a.s.l.) [13, spectrum [22, 36]. It is a shade-intolerant 33]. At lower elevations old Korean red species, favouring warm and moderate trees are not found due to moist conditions the sea- pine heavy during growing human disturbances and occasional fires. son and dry conditions during the dormant season [21, 36]. This species occupies Climate over the southern Korean nearly 40 % of the forests of Korea, which Peninsula is under both strong polar and cover approximately 65 % of the total land tropical influences. During the winter, con- area [17]. Though the trees attain consid- tinental high-pressure air masses that erable age and produce distinct datable develop over Siberia bring strong northerly growth rings, their dendroclimatic poten- cold dry air. The circulation reverses in tial has not been extensively explored. A summer and southerly winds bring warm few studies have been conducted on this moist air masses and monsoon rains. The species to investigate the effect of air pol- summer monsoon (occurring mainly from lution on radial growth rates in Korea and June to August) contributes about Japan [14, 20, 24, 26, 35]. In these studies 45-60 % of the annual precipitation. Win- the effect of climatic factors on growth ter precipitation accounts for about 3-10 % has not been well documented. of the annual precipitation. Weather records of the Chiri mountain heavy monsoon rainfalls with the heaviest experimental station (750 m elevation) for in August (425 mm). Total annual pre- 1975-1986 [15] indicate that mean cipitation is around 2 030 mm. Consider- monthly temperature remains below 0 °C ing the total annual precipitation and during winter (December-February) (fig- evapotranspiration, the area is classified ure 2). January is the coldest with a mean as humid (B4) zone [31, 34]. The study of -4.3 °C, while August is the hottest area experiences heavy snowfall during with a mean of 22.1 °C. Considering the winter as is evidenced by the thickets of lapse rate, January mean temperature at dwarf bamboo (Sasa borealis) on the the sampling site ( 1 450 m) will be around slopes indicating deep winter snow cover - 9.3 °C. July and August are featured by [12, 23]. In this region where winds are very strong dwarf bamboo cannot survive taken at breast height using an increment borer. the winter without remaining covered by The sampled trees were carefully selected to snow. avoid any visible defects or scars. The tree- ring sequences of the mounted and surfaced cores were cross-dated using the skeleton plot method [28]. After the calendar date to 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS fixing each ring, ring widths were measured to the nearest 0.01 mm using a Velmex measuring system. Ring-width plots of each core (log 2.1. Tree-ring data scale) were produced from the ring-width mea- surements using the program TSAP [27]. These A total of 31 trees constituting the domi- plots were used for visual comparison on a nant canopy trees were sampled during the light table to cross-check the dating of sample autumn of 1996. Paired increment cores were cores within and between the trees. Another cross-check of dating and measurement accu- 2.3. Tree growth-climate relationship racy was performed by correlating overlap- of all measured series ping 50-year segments Reasonable chronology confidence was using the program COFECHA [10]. This pro- achieved in the residual chronology back to gram helps in identifying segments of a core or 1936 with the replication of 14 tree samples group of cores for which dating or measure- each year. Therefore, we used the chronology ment errors might occur. Dating and measure- length from 1936-1995 (60 years) for tree ments of a few samples that showed any ambi- growth-climate relationship analysis. The guity were verified and corrected. About 10 % response function [5], which is a multiple of the cores for which such problems could regression technique using the principal com- not be corrected were excluded from further ponents of monthly climatic data, was calcu- analysis. lated for the chronology using the program PRECONK [7]. The monthly climate variables and Ring-width measurements were standard- (mean monthly temperature monthly pre- over an interval from ized to ring-width indices using the program cipitation totals) starting of the and ARSTAN [3]. Some trees showed non-syn- September previous growth year chronous patterns of suppression (narrow rings) ending in September of the current growth year were used in the The PRECONK and release (wide that are analysis. pro- rings) probably calculates the functions related to stand dynamics. The detrending gram response using the method to obtain reliable esti- methods were chosen to remove age- bootstrap applied It the of and stand dynamics-related growth trends while mates [8]. repeats calculation response functions for the (calibration), preserving the maximum common subsamples high-fre- which are extracted with In most of the cases the cubic randomly replace- quency signal. ment from the initial data set. The size of each spline with 50 % variance reduction function at subsample is the same as that of the initial data 200 years was found suitable. However, splines set. For each subsample, an independent veri- of 120 or 60 were selected for a few years fication is done on the observations omitted Each series was then young samples. from the subsample. We obtained final an model prewhitened using autoregressive response functions and multiple correlation selected on the basis of minimum Akaike cri- coefficient by averaging those of 50 subsam- terion [1, 9] and combined using a biweight ples. robust mean [3]. The resulting residual chronol- ogy was finally prepared. The expressed pop- ulation signal (EPS), a measure of correlation 3. RESULTS AND between the mean chronology derived from DISCUSSION the sample of cores and the population from which they are drawn [32], was used to deter- A 196-year (1801-1996) tree-ring chro- mine the adequacy of chronology replication nology of Korean red pine was developed for climatic investigation. from the Chiri mountain range in south- ern Korea. Cross-dating of samples revealed that missing rings were rare; how- intra-annual bands or false were 2.2. Climate data ever, rings quite common, especially within the early growth rings. About 70 % of the sampled Climate records of the meteorological sta- trees were around 100 years old and sam- tion in proximity of the sampling site are very ple depth gradually declined beyond this short-extending only two decades. Therefore, point. The chronology was truncated at we prepared regional temperature and precip- 1866 where EPS reached 0.75 with sample the itation series (1908-1995) by merging of 12 series from seven trees records from three stations replication homogeneous adja- individual trees of cent to the site (figure 3). Though sampling (figure 1). Regional around three centuries have been collected climate data also offer many advantages over single station data because problems associ- in our previous study (Park and Yadav, ated with record inhomogeneities and differ- unpublished data) from Songni Mountain ing station microclimates are reduced. in central Korea (figure 1), the oldest tree sample in our current collection reached to thates during the dormant season [5, 19]. about 200 years. However, field surveys Another possible explanation could be due indicate that there exists the possibility of to root damage to superficial roots of obtaining older trees on the ridges in the Korean red pine trees caused by low win- Chiri Mountains. The chronology statis- ter temperatures. It may occur when snows tics are summarized in table I. The are not dense enough to insulate the sur- chronology features such as between-tree face roots from the low atmospheric tem- correlation (0.34), signal-noise ratio peratures. As the roots are more tempera- (10.5), the variance explained by the first ture-sensitive in comparison to the eigenvector (37.7 %) and measure of vari- aboveground stems [18], they are liable ance held in common between trees at the to be damaged by occasional freezing. The site indicate the potential of tree-ring strongest relationship was found with chronology for dendroclimatic studies. March temperature. A comparison of ring- width indices with March The response function analysis showed temperature 56 % of the chronology variance indicated that low and high index values attributable to climate. A direct relation- are associated with a cool and warm ship between radial growth of Korean red March, respectively. The lowest index for 1936 is coincidental with the coolest pine and January and March temperature March in the total of prior to the growing season indicated in span meteorological record. the response function (figure 4) suggests that the photosynthates produced during An inverse relationship between radial the dormant season play an important role growth of Korean red pine and summer in the growth of this species during the monsoon rainfall (June-August) is indi- ensuing growth season. Similar to this cated in the response function. However, finding, many evergreen fix a this is only significant for August. A pos- considerable amount of their photosyn- sible explanation for an inverse relation- ship between radial growth and summer information on the ecological setting of the monsoon could be the reduced solar radi- study area. Critical reviews by Frank W. Dieter Eckstein and ation due to clouds and fog during this Telewski, Chang-Seok Lee on the earlier version of this manuscript season. and clouds, Frequent fogs typical greatly helped in improving the text. We thank of a mountain are com- high climate, very Joel Guiot for the French summary and Hal mon in the study area during the summer Fritts for the PRECONK program. monsoon season [29]. Korean red pine trees usually prefer warm temperature and sunny days during summer [36]. 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