EGU21-10168, updated on 04 Mar 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-10168
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Dendrochronological potential of the Azorean endemic gymnosperm Juniperus brevifolia (Seub.) Antoine

Diogo C Pavão1, Jernej Jevšenak2, Ricardo Camarinho3, Armindo Rodrigues3, Lurdes Borges Silva1, Rui B Elias4, and Luís Silva1
Diogo C Pavão et al.
  • 1CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Pólo dos Açores, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade dos Açores, Rua da Mãe de Deus, Apartado 1422, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, Açores, Portugal.
  • 2Slovenian Forestry Institute, Department of Forest Yield and Silviculture, Večna pot 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
  • 3IVAR – Instituto de Vulcanologia e Avaliação de Riscos, University of the Azores, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, Portugal.
  • 4cE3c/ABG – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes/Azorean Biodiversity Group and University of the Azores, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Azores, Portugal.

Tree-ring interannual pattern variation is crucial in dendrochronology, allowing the identification of possible limiting factors on growth. Thus, trees exposed to sub-tropical or tropical climates without a marked seasonality, may show a low degree of interannual variation, impeding a straightforward dendroclimatological approach. Meanwhile, subtropical regions, and areas in transitional climates such as the Azores archipelago, are widely unexplored in terms of dendroclimatology, providing opportunities to work with endemic trees, including the dominant Azorean tree Juniperus brevifolia (Seub.) Antoine. To evaluate the dendrochronological potential of J. brevifolia, we analyzed wood anatomy and tree-ring patterns, cross-dating capabilities, and correlation with climate parameters. We sampled 48 individual trees from 2 natural populations (São Miguel and Terceira islands) using an increment borer. In addition, a Trephor tool was used to obtain wood microcores for micro-anatomical analysis. Tree-ring widths were measured with CooRecorder (Cybis) and cross-dated with the PAST-5 software (SCIEM). After detrending, master chronologies were built and correlated with aggregated daily temperature and precipitation data using the dendroTools R package. Microcores were prepared following standard protocols to obtain high resolution images. Our results showed the transition from latewood to earlywood marked by thick-walled fibers, . However, there were also unclear ring transitions or partially indistinct ring boundaries and wedging rings, complicating the cross-dating process. Our preliminary climate-growth correlations indicated significant positive correlations with precipitation at the end of the growing season. Our results suggest an acceptable dendrochronological potential for Juniperus brevifolia, which could be further used in distribution modelling or in recent climatic reconstructions, for which more samples will have to be analyzed.

How to cite: C Pavão, D., Jevšenak, J., Camarinho, R., Rodrigues, A., Borges Silva, L., B Elias, R., and Silva, L.: Dendrochronological potential of the Azorean endemic gymnosperm Juniperus brevifolia (Seub.) Antoine, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-10168, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-10168, 2021.

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