RING-WIDTH VARIATIONS INCEDRUS DEODARA AND ITS CLIMATIC RESPONSE OVER THE WESTERN HIMALAYA

Abstract

Tree-ring anlaysis of Cedrus deodara from three different sites of western Himalaya has been carried out. The chronologies include 47 cores (26 trees) from Manali, 33 cores (18 trees) from Kufri (Shimla) and 25 cores (13 trees) from Kanasar forest sites. Moderately high values of common variance exhibited by all three chronologies indicate the great potential of the species for dendroclimatic studies. Response function and correlation analyses using the above tree-ring-width data and Shimla climate show a significant negative relationship with summer temperature and positive relationship with summer precipitation. Based on these results, calibration equations have been developed for different periods, and appropriately verified using independent data, to reconstruct the summer (March–April–May) temperature at Shimla. The reconstruction has extended the temperature record of the region back to the eighteenth century.