Reduced Temperature Sensitivity of Maximum Latewood Density Formation in High-Elevation Corsican Pines under Recent Warming
Open Access
- 21 June 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in Atmosphere
- Vol. 12 (7), 804
- https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12070804
Abstract
Maximum latewood density (MXD) measurements from long-lived Black pines (Pinus nigra spp. laricio) growing at the upper treeline in Corsica are one of the few archives to reconstruct southern European summer temperatures at annual resolution back into medieval times. Here, we present a compilation of five MXD chronologies from Corsican pines that contain high-to-low frequency variability between 1168 and 2016 CE and correlate significantly (p < 0.01) with the instrumental April–July and September–October mean temperatures from 1901 to 1980 CE (r = 0.52−0.64). The growth–climate correlations, however, dropped to −0.13 to 0.02 afterward, and scaling the MXD data resulted in a divergence of >1.5 °C between the colder reconstructed and warmer measured temperatures in the early-21st century. Our findings suggest a warming-induced shift from initially temperature-controlled to drought-prone MXD formation, and therefore question the suitability of using Corsican pine MXD data for climate reconstruction.Keywords
Funding Information
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (ES 161/12-1, HA 8048/1-1)
- European Research Council (AdG 882727)
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