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<p><italic>Pinus sylvestris</italic> L. is the most common tree species growing in Poland. Trees of this species are considered to be resistant to difficult meteorological conditions; however, in the past decades, many of them have died and been cut down by foresters. The measurements of the annual tree ring width can provide information on how trees respond to drought events. This study aimed to investigate the potential differences between healthy and declining trees (identified as trees to be cut down by foresters). For this purpose, we collected samples of five trees from each group and analysed them using dendrochronological and quantitative wood anatomy approaches. We measured ring width index (RWI) chronologies for healthy and declining trees and compared them with climate data. Additionally, we compared some anatomical features of trees from both groups as cell wall thickness (CWT) and lumen area (LA). The conducted analyses showed significant differences between healthy and declining trees. In particular, declining trees were characterised by lower RWI, LA and CWT values, especially in the past 20 years, and showed greater sensitivity to changes in temperature and humidity than healthy trees.</p>
</abstract>

Pinus sylvestris L. is the most common tree species growing in Poland. Trees of this species are considered to be resistant to difficult meteorological conditions; however, in the past decades, many of them have died and been cut down by foresters. The measurements of the annual tree ring width can provide information on how trees respond to drought events. This study aimed to investigate the potential differences between healthy and declining trees (identified as trees to be cut down by foresters). For this purpose, we collected samples of five trees from each group and analysed them using dendrochronological and quantitative wood anatomy approaches. We measured ring width index (RWI) chronologies for healthy and declining trees and compared them with climate data. Additionally, we compared some anatomical features of trees from both groups as cell wall thickness (CWT) and lumen area (LA). The conducted analyses showed significant differences between healthy and declining trees. In particular, declining trees were characterised by lower RWI, LA and CWT values, especially in the past 20 years, and showed greater sensitivity to changes in temperature and humidity than healthy trees.

Investigation of Trees' Sensitivity to Drought: A Case Study in the Opole Region, Poland

University of Campania ‘L. Vanvitelli’

Geochronometria

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Pinus sylvestris L. is the most common tree species growing in Poland. Trees of this species are considered to be resistant to difficult meteorological...

	Chronology length (years)	Mean age (years)	GLK	Mean sensitivity
Declining	90	72 ± 15	68 ± 8	0.14
Healthy	87	65 ± 17	72 ± 4	0.17

Investigation of Trees' Sensitivity to Drought: A Case Study in the Opole Region, Poland

Online veröffentlicht: 18. Feb. 2024

Seitenbereich: 135 - 143

Eingereicht: 10. Nov. 2023

Akzeptiert: 28. Dez. 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/geochr-2023-0011

Schlüsselwörter
declining trees, tree ring width, quantitative wood anatomy, drought, Scots pine

© 2023 Barbara Benisiewicz et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Fig 1.

Fig 2.

Fig 3.

Fig 4.

Fig 5.

Fig 6.

Dendrochronological characteristic with a standard error of declining and healthy groups of trees.

Investigation of Trees' Sensitivity to Drought: A Case Study in the Opole Region, Poland

Online veröffentlicht: 18. Feb. 2024

Seitenbereich: 135 - 143

Eingereicht: 10. Nov. 2023

Akzeptiert: 28. Dez. 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/geochr-2023-0011

Schlüsselwörterdeclining trees, tree ring width, quantitative wood anatomy, drought, Scots pine

© 2023 Barbara Benisiewicz et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Fig 1.

Fig 2.

Fig 3.

Fig 4.

Fig 5.

Fig 6.

Dendrochronological characteristic with a standard error of declining and healthy groups of trees.

Schlüsselwörter
declining trees, tree ring width, quantitative wood anatomy, drought, Scots pine