The Growth-climate Relationships And Potential Distribution Of Siberian Pine (Pinus Sibirica) In Northeast China

In early 1950's,there were some false findings about the presence of Pinus koraiensis in Mohe county of Daxing'anling Mountain.In 1961,this finding was written in some works,yet it still can be found in some works and forestry books.Currently the distribution of Pinus sibirica to be found in Mangui,Daxing'anling Mountains with total of sixty trees in number.No as such evidence has been recorded in other parts of northeast China.The spatio-temporal distribution of forests is related to climate.Pinus sibirica is a native species in areas subject to Continental Temperate Climate that favors its growth.The aim of this research is to evaluate the climatic suitability of northeast and northwest China for the introduction of Pinus sibirica.The climate of the northeast and northwest China was compared with the climate of Western Siberia(Russia).The Climatic data obtained from NMKI Climate explorer and China meteorological administration was treated by Tukey Pairwise Comparison,the Mohe weather station in northeast China showed resemblance in temperature with three of western Siberian stations where Pinus sibirica is distributed in association with Larix sibirica and Picea obovata.The annual mean precipitation for all the weather stations was 420-609 mm.The specie is also found to grow in various elevations in Western Siberia from 2500 to 4500 m in Altai Mountains,and from 300 to 700 m in Daxing'anling Mountains.Climatic regimes in terms of temperature and precipitation in Daxing'anling Mountains allow the introduction of Pinus sibirica into northeast China.The Altai Mountains in Northwest China has a great potential for dendroclimatological studies.Dendrochronological and climatological response analysis potentials of the Altai Mountains,Northwest China remain unexplored.In this study,for the first time we have developed chronology statistics and climate response growth analysis of Pinus sibirica using(dplR)and(Treeclim)packages of the R program,with the overall goal of documenting baseline information for future research.The chronology covered a span of up to 202 years in the study site.The results highlighted that the chronology showing significant negative correlation to the previous year June and significant positive correlation to the early spring March temperature(maximum,minimum and average)respectively.The results further revealed negative responses for the previous year March in term of Palmer Drought Severity Index(PDSI)value(-0.027)and positive PDSI values(0.035,0.014,0.027)for April,May,and June.The results indicate the tree ring widths are not responding positively to the previous year growing season in the current chronology of 202 years.Climatic factors play an essential role in the tree ring growth.The study aimed to evaluate the correlation between climatic variables and tree-ring growth characteristics of Pinus sibirica at the Altai mountains,northwestern China.This study is first of its kind on climate growth analysis of Pinus sibirica in the Altai Mountains.63 samples were collected to find the effect of climatic variables e.g.precipitation,temperature,and PDSI.Results showed that Tree Ring Width chronology has a significantly positive correlation with the late winter(March)temperature and significant negative correlation with the July temperatures.A significant correlation was observed with the late summer precipitation,while no significant relation found with the Palmer Drought Severity Index.These significant correlations with temperature and precipitation suggested that this tree species had the potential for the reconstruction of the past climate in this area.Drought has been a common natural disaster in arid central Asia.Frequent and severe drought and many other hydroclimatic events are essential to the region's ecology.A dendrochronological approach to investigate the spatial growth-climate relationships of three tree species dominate the Altai Mountains,north-western China:Siberian Fir(Abies sibirica),Siberian Spruce(Picea obovata)and Siberian pine(Pinus sibirica).Moving correlations and standardization curves were used to find the growth trends and analyze the changes in climate-growth relationships of trees near the Kanas Lake,Altai Mountains.Results showed that Abies sibirica and Picea obovata significantly responding to PDSI.Climate-growth correlation analysis revealed that the(cJan)and(cMay)of the current year found to be the main climatic factors controlling the tree ring growth.A consecutive significant correlation was found in the first eight months(Jan to Aug of the current year)for Abies sibirica.A significant positive correlation was noticed in previous year's June(cJun)and current year's August(cAug)for Abies sibirica,however,no significant correlations were found in Pinus sibirica.There was significant positive correlation observed to the current year's May(cMay)and July(cJuly)for Temperature and Precipitation in Pinus sibirica,shows different growth response than other two species(Abies sibirica and Picea obovata)indicates high resistance to the Altai Climate.This study elucidated the differential temporal changes and growth patterns in climate-growth relationships of these species in the Altai Mountains north-western China.