PJB-2018-1794
Ring width characteristics of 4 pine tree species from highly disturbed areas around Murree, Pakistan
Afsheen Khan, Moinuddin Ahmed, Adam Khan and Muhammad Faheem Siddiqui
Abstract
Observational and quantitative ring width characteristics of 4 pine species i.e., 1. Abies pindrow, 2. Cedrus deodara, 3. Pinus wallichiana, 4. Pinus roxburghii from highly disturbed sites of Murree Hills were studied. From each pine tree species wood (cores) samples were collected, prepared in the laboratory, studied under microscope and measured by Velmex measuring machine attached with the computer. Dendrochronological techniques were followed in the study. All four species showed clear ring boundaries, distinct rings without any missing or locally missing rings while double or false rings were recorded in Pinus roxburghii and Pinus wallichiana only. Wide or complacent rings were common in each species. Ring width pattern was cross dateable within species with some common narrow rings were also recorded among the species. Cores show poor correlation with master chronology of each species. Highest mean ring width (3.40mm) was recorded in Cedrus deodara while lowest (1.3mm) was observed in Pinus roxburghii. Unfiltered Autocorrelation was from 0.515 to 0.585 and mean sensitivity ranged from 0.37 (Cedrus deodara) to 0.433 (Abies pindrow). It was shown that observational characteristics were similar to undisturbed sites while correlation with master chronology was extremely poor if compared with trees of undisturbed site. It is concluded that besides poor correlation among the samples of a tree species and between species there is no difference between the trees of disturbed and non-disturbed areas
To Cite this article:
Download
