Brief Overview of Greek Fir Radial Growth in Response to Climate and European Fir Budworm: Three Case Studies from Giona Mountain, Central Greece

Tree rings provide an invaluable insight into how trees adapt to changes in climate. This study presents aggregated results, from our research on tree rings, climatic response and the insect Choristoneura murinana infestations from three studies on Greek fir, located in stands across Central Greece...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Climate (Basel) 2023-04, Vol.11 (4), p.78
Main Authors: Koulelis, Panagiotis P., Petrakis, Panos V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Altitude
Case studies
Climate
Climate change
Datasets
Drought
Evapotranspiration
Evergreen trees
Extreme drought
Forest management
Forests
Growing season
Growth models
High altitude
Insects
Maximum temperatures
Mountains
Observatories
Pathogens
Precipitation
Rain
Sea level
Summer
Sustainability management
Sustainable forestry
Temperature
Temperature effects
Time series
Tree rings
Trees
Trends
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Summary:Tree rings provide an invaluable insight into how trees adapt to changes in climate. This study presents aggregated results, from our research on tree rings, climatic response and the insect Choristoneura murinana infestations from three studies on Greek fir, located in stands across Central Greece and Giona Mountain on three different altitudes. In our studies, was found that extreme droughts and wet events had a negative or positive effect on fir growth, respectively. April’s precipitation had a positive correlation with growth for all the stands, which supports other authors’ findings. Moreover, the average maximum temperature of the growing season and the maximum temperature of April, July and August were also linked to growth. Evapotranspiration during the growing season was seen to be inversely proportional to the growth of fir. An apparent decline in tree ring growth more severe in stand 3 (Average Tree Ring Width Index, ARWI < 0.6) has been observed, particularly in recent years. The data suggests that temperature is having a detrimental effect on fir growth in the area, with a significant decreasing tendency in growth from 1993 for the high altitude stands and from 1998 for the lower altitude stand. To ensure successful and sustainable forest management in the future, more research into tree rings and their relationship with climate must be carried out.
ISSN:2225-1154
2225-1154
DOI:10.3390/cli11040078