Radial Growth of Scots Pine in the Northern Taiga

The research aims at assessing the influence of daytime and nighttime meteorological parameters (air temperature, dew point, relative air humidity, wind velocity and amount of precipitation) on the pine radial growth in the northern taiga subzone in blueberry, lingonberry and bush-sphagnum forest types. The study was carried out in the Arkhangelsk region near the Pinega settlement (northern taiga subzone). Sample plots were laid out in areas with different forest types specific for this territory. A total of 63 core samples were taken from 7 of the most representative sites. Meteorological parameters for 2008–2015 were collected by a digital weather station WMR918 H (Huger GmbH, Germany) located in the research area and operating in the monitoring mode. In blueberry pine forest, we have detected a high correlation of radial growth with air temperature and dew point in July (0.80–0.88), and even higher correlation with the night values of these parameters (0.90). Both direct and inverse correlations were found with wind velocities in May, June, and September: from 0.77 to 0.78 and from –0.84 to –0.79. An inverse correlation was observed in one of the sample plots with precipitation of May and June. Dependencies similar to the blueberry pine forest have been found in the lingonberry pine forest. A correlation with relative air humidity was found in the shrub-sphagnum forest type. Direct and inverse correlations of radial growth with wind velocity indicate its different influence on physiological processes in the leaf blade by cooling it and enhancing transpiration. Significant variability in the correlation in the blueberry forest type is probably caused by differences in the inventory parameters of the studied stands, and may also be a feature of blueberry pine forests. Generally, pine in the blueberry, lingonberry and shrub-sphagnum forest types has a similar response to the variability of meteorological factors, the main of which is the air temperature regime. Acknowledgments: The research was carried out within the framework of the state assignment No. 122011300380-5 of the N. Laverov Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. For citation: Neverov N.A., Chistova Z.B., Mineev A.L. Radial Growth of Scots Pine in the Northern Taiga. Lesnoy Zhurnal = Russian Forestry Journal, 2022, no. 6, pp. 193–205. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.37482/0536-1036-2022-6-193-205