How Drought Drives Seasonal Radial Growth in Pinus strobiformis from Northern Mexico

Climate change and its ecological consequences are a highly topical concern, especially because of the effects of climate change on vegetation including forests. Pinus strobiformis is restricted by a unique set of environmental conditions including relative humidity, temperature, precipitation, elevation, and solar radiation that has no other equivalent ecological niche. In this study, the climate sensitivity of earlywood (EW) and latewood (LW) production of P. strobiformis was determined by analyzing the response of EW and LW widths to climate variables (temperature, precipitation, and a drought index) using correlation and regression analyses. The width of each wood type was correlated positively with the drought index and indicated that, in the case of P. strobiformis, the temperature in the preceding season had strong influence on seasonal growth, particularly EW production. These findings enhance our knowledge of the likely response of P. strobiformis growth to predicted climate change.