Drought is More Stressful for Northern Populations of Scots Pine than Low Summer

• Main Authors: Mikhail V. Kozlov, Pekka Niemelä
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: fl uctuating asymmetry; temperature; precipitation; stress; climate change; Kola peninsula; Kola Peninsula; kola peninsula
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.577.6842; http://www.metla.fi/silvafennica/full/sf37/sf372175.pdf

pine than low summer temperatures. Silva Fennica 37(2): 175–180. Needle fl uctuating asymmetry, which is a non-specifi c stress indicator, was used to evaluate responses of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) to annual climatic variation in the Kola Peninsula, NW Russia, during 1992–1999. Although the 30 trees surveyed for this study demonstrated individualistic responses to the temperature and precipitation of the growth seasons, at the population level we found no effect of temperature and a signifi cant increase in fl uctuating asymmetry with a decline in precipitation during the previous August. This fi nding suggests that the vitality of Scots pine populations at the northern tree limit is controlled by late summer precipitation rather than by temperatures of the growth season.