Climatic Response of Densitometric Properties in Semiarid Site Tree Rings

Abstract

X-ray densitometry has proven useful in dendroclimatic research on relatively fast growing, complacent trees in mesic climates. The best dendrochronological materials, however, come from semiarid-site conifers that grow very slowly, have missing rings, are extremely sensitive to climate, and attain advanced ages. This study presents the first evaluation of X-ray densitometry of Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, and pinyon from four semiarid sites in the eastern San Juan River Basin (northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado). The relationship of climate with intra-annual tree-ring anatomy is anlyzed. Moving slit X-ray densitometry definest earlywood and latewood zones, yielding eight data types for each annual ring: total ring width, earlywood and latewood width, mean ring density, mean earlywood and latewood density, and minimum earlywood and maximum latewood density. response functions using regional averages of monthly mean temperature and total precipitation indicate that climate may strongly influence all eight types of data, depending on species and site conditions. Low moisture stress (cooler, wetter climate) increases total ring width, earlywood and latewood width, and ring, latewood, and maximum latewood density. High moisture stress increases earlywood and minimum earlywood density. The climate response of the density parameters differs from that reported for conifers in more mesic environments, although selected density parameters from a relatively mesic southwestern site are strongly related to climate. Site selection has nevertheless proven to be an important factor in getting the most climatically sensitive densitometric data. This study demonstrates that densitometry is feasible with conifers from semiarid sites. The intra-annual width and density data derived can increase the climate information available from these dry-site trees and should lead to improved seasonal and annual reconstructions of paleoclimate. Practical constraints imposed by current X-ray densitometric techniques may be removed with promising new procedures such as surface image analysis of cell anatomy.