Climate–Growth Relationships in Laurus azorica—A Dominant Tree in the Azorean Laurel Forest

Forests on oceanic islands, such as the Azores archipelago, enable interesting dendroclimatic research, given their pronounced climatic gradients over short geographical distances, despite less seasonality. The Lauraceae play an essential ecological role in Macaronesian natural forests. An example is Laurus azorica (Seub.) Franco, a relevant species its high frequency and physiognomic dominance Azorean laurel This study aims to quantify climate–growth relationships L. using dendroecological approach. We sampled four stands at São Miguel two Terceira for total of 206 trees. Following standard dendrochronological methods rigorous sample selection procedures, we obtained relatively low rbar values temporal autocorrelation. Using stepwise Random Forest analysis followed by Generalized Linear Models calculation, found prominent effects present previous year temperature, but precipitation signal growth rings, with some model variation between stands. Our results agreed observations broad-leaved diffuse porous wood, contributing increase baseline knowledge about Due levels within- between-stand variation, refine analysis, complementary approaches should be explored future.