Dendrochronological Analysis of Abies koreana W. at Mt. Halla, Korea: Effects of Climate Change on the Growths

Abstract

The relationships between the growths of Abies koreana W. and climatic factors were analyzed by the use of tree-ring analysis at the subalpine belt of Mt. Halla National Park. The four cores were extracted from each 21 trees at north-facing slope (1,900m a.s.1.). The site chronology was established on the periods from 1912 to 1999. The growth of A. koreana was very poor, in particular in the years of 1982, 1988 and 1996. Simple correlation was employed to analyze the relationship between the growth of A. koreana and climatic factors. The result of simple correlation indicates that the growth of A. koreana represent positive correlations both with the mean temperatures of April and previous November, and the precipitation of previous December and January. The presence of large number of frost-damaged scars in the individual trees of A. koreana implies that local freezing temperature conditions at Mt. Halla have occurred in 1964, 1965 and 1966. The correlations between the fir chronology SOI(Southern Oscillation Index) of previous January, February and November were significantly positive. The growth ratio of A. koreana demonstrates that this species is sensitive to seasonal variations. As the winter temperature rises, the growth ratio of A. koreana decreases, on the other hand, the increase of autumn temperature accelerates the growth ratio of A. koreana. The growth decline of A. koreana was observed from 51 cores out of the 54 cores, and the overall growth declines have initiated at 1978, 1982 and 1988. Distinct growth decline of A. koreana in the range of 70% is noticed at 34 cores out of the 51 cores. The decline of, A. koreana growth appears to be related to the winter temperature which has increased since mid-1970s.