Journal article
Temperature and rainfall strongly drive temporal growth variation in Asian tropical forest trees
M Vlam, PJ Baker, S Bunyavejchewin, PA Zuidema
Oecologia | Published : 2014
Abstract
Climate change effects on growth rates of tropical trees may lead to alterations in carbon cycling of carbon-rich tropical forests. However, climate sensitivity of broad-leaved lowland tropical trees is poorly understood. Dendrochronology (tree-ring analysis) provides a powerful tool to study the relationship between tropical tree growth and annual climate variability. We aimed to establish climate-growth relationships for five annual-ring forming tree species, using ring-width data from 459 canopy and understory trees from a seasonal tropical forest in western Thailand. Based on 183/459 trees, chronologies with total lengths between 29 and 62 years were produced for four out of five species..
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Awarded by European Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
This study was financially supported by the European Research Council (ERC, grant #242955). We thank the National research Council of Thailand and Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation for granting permission to carry out fieldwork in the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary. We thank Dr. Somboon Kiratiprayoon for providing both company and support during our stay in Thailand. The field staff of the Huai Kha Khaeng Long Term Forest Dynamics Research Project are acknowledged for their assistance in the field. We thank four anonymous reviewers and the editor for valuable comments.