Plasticity in xylem anatomical traits of two tropical species in response to intra-seasonal climate variability

• Published in: Trees (Berlin, West) Vol. 29; no. 2; pp. 423 - 435
• Main Authors: Venegas-González, Alejandro, von Arx, Georg, Chagas, Matheus Peres, Filho, Mario Tomazello
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01-04-2015; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agriculture; Biomedical and Life Sciences; climate change; Climate variability; Dendrochronology; earlywood; Environmental factors; Forestry; latewood; Life Sciences; Long Distance Transport: Phloem and Xylem; Original Paper; Pinus caribaea; Plant Anatomy/Development; Plant Pathology; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; subtropics; summer; Tectona grandis; temperate zones; temperature; Trees; Tropical environments; tropics; wood; Brazil; IADF; Xylem hydraulics; Tropical dendrochronology; Vessel size; Ecological wood anatomy
• ISSN: 0931-1890; 1432-2285
• DOI: 10.1007/s00468-014-1121-z

KEY MESSAGE : Analyses of tree-ring anatomical features showed to be more sensitive to specific intra-seasonal environmental factors than tree-ring width in Tectona grandis and Pinus caribaea growing in a subtropical region. Earlywood vessels (EWV) and intra-annual density fluctuations (IADFs) in tree rings are influenced by intra-seasonal environmental factors, as have mostly been studied in temperate climate areas. However, it is not clear whether such anatomical traits can also be used as climate proxies in tropical regions. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to analyse the relationship between the anatomical features of two tropical species growing in Piracicaba, State of Sao Paulo, Southeast Brazil—EWV in Tectona grandis and IADFs in Pinus caribaea—and the climate. Wood cores were extracted by increment borer and processed using the classical methodology of dendrochronology. Chronologies of the mean vessel cross-sectional area of the first row of each tree ring (FRV) and the entire earlywood (EWV) in T. grandis, and of IADF in earlywood (IADF-E) and latewood (IADF-L) in P. caribaea were developed for the period 1988–2011 and 1982–2011, respectively. Our results showed a significant correlation of EWV and FRV with mean accumulated precipitation during the summer season (DJF) and with mean temperature in December. The IADF-Es in P. caribaea were related to the precipitation of DJF as well as the temperature of April, whereas IADF-Ls were linked to precipitation in fall (MAM). In general, the tree-ring anatomical variables were more influenced by intra-seasonal environmental factors than tree-ring width in both species, indicating their great potential for dendroecological studies in subtropical regions.