Welcome to Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology! Today is Share:

Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2021, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (10): 3636-3642.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.202110.026

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Climatic signals recorded by Qinghai spruce tree-ring density in the western part of Qilian Mountains, China

YANG Liu1,2, QIN Chun1, LI Gang3*   

  1. 1Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China;
    2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
    3Qilian Mountain National Nature Reserve Administration of Gansu Province, Zhangye 734000, Gansu, China
  • Received:2021-06-09 Revised:2021-07-27 Online:2021-10-15 Published:2022-04-15
  • Contact: * E-mail: ligang1426@163.com
  • Supported by:
    Independent Deployment Project of the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environmental Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (E055020101, Y951971001).

Abstract: Dendroclimatology is one of the important methods for studying climate changes in the past. Previous studies showed that tree-ring density is an important proxy for temperature in the growing season. In this study, we established 132-135 years chronologies of tree-ring maximum density, the minimum density, the latewood and the earlywood average density of Picea crassifolia at the western Qilian Mountains. We compared the climatic signal and its seasonal best combination of different tree-ring density chronologies, and evaluated their potential values as climate proxies. The responses of tree-ring latewood average density and the earlywood average density to climate signals during the growing season were much lower than that of tree-ring maximum and the minimum den-sity. The tree-ring earlywood average density and the minimum density had a strong relationship with the Palmer drought index, indicating that the earlywood average density and the minimum tree-ring density had the potential as substitute indicators for drought.

Key words: tree-ring density, Picea crassifolia, climate response, growing season temperature, extreme drought