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

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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.

Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Priscila Amaral de Sá and MSc. Claudio Roberto Anholetto Júnior for field and laboratory support. We would also like to thank Dr. Ana Carolina Maioli Campos Barbosa and Dr. Clóvis Angeli Sansigolo for their contributions to this study, as well as the “National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development” (CNPq) for the financial support (Project 561910/2010-3), its coordinator, Dr. Edson José Vidal da Silva, the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research of Chile (CONICYT- PAI/INDUSTRIA 79090016) and Siria Rosales for English corrections and two anonymous reviewers for valuable feedback on and improvements to an earlier draft of this article.

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Venegas-González, A., von Arx, G., Chagas, M.P. et al. Plasticity in xylem anatomical traits of two tropical species in response to intra-seasonal climate variability. Trees 29, 423–435 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-014-1121-z

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