Modern New Zealand Tree-Ring Chronologies III. Agathis australis (Salisb.) - Kauri

Abstract

Dendrochronological sampling of sixteen stands of kauri (Agathis australis) covering almost the whole range of the species in northern New Zealand is described. Eight new chronologies were obtained and compared to previous results from the same species. It is concluded that north-facing slopes are most suitable for tree-ring studies in this species. The chronologies cover a maximum period from A.D. 1580 to 1981 and show from 20 to 35 percent common chronology variance over the sample period 1790 to 1976. All the chronologies are significantly correlated with all others, and the degree of correlation appears unrelated to the spatial separation between the sites. Some longer-term (15 to 30 year) trends are also shared by most chronologies; narrow rings and high between-tree and between-site correlations were a feature of the first two decades of the Twentieth Century. Similar tree ring patterns, and similar site characteristics suggest that the chronology network described here is suitable for palaeoclimatic reconstruction back to at least 1750.