Temporal Stability and Dendroclimatology in Silver Fir and Red Spruce

SMITH K.T., ČUFAR K. & LEVANIČ T. 1999. Temporal stability and dendroclimatology in silver fir and red spruce. Phyton (Horn, Austria) 39 (3): (xxx) (xxx). Dendroclimatology uses precisely dated tree-ring series and climate measurements to reconstruct climate for periods prior to instrumented records. Dendroclimatology requires a predictable, relationship between growth and climate. Tree-ring series from silver fir in Slovenia and red spruce in the northeastern US were calibrated to monthly climate variables for two periods, corresponding approximately to the first and second halves of the 20th Century. Bootstrapped response function analysis indicated that growth during the two periods was associated with markedly different variables of monthly mean temperature and monthly total precipitation. These findings suggest caution in dendroclimatic reconstruction and are interpretable as indications that the relationship of tree growth to climate may have changed during the 20th Century.