PJB-2018-1578
Climatic upshot using growth pattern of Pinus roxburghii from western Nepal
Sugam Aryal, Dinesh R Bhuju, Deepak K Kharal, Narayan P Gaire and Nita Dyola
Abstract
The middle mountain of Nepal Himalaya is experiencing higher rate of temperature rise. A dendrochronological study was carried out to verify and record the impact of this warming by using the tree-cores of Pinus roxburghii Sarg. from Bicharichautara village of Syangja in Western Nepal representing a middle mountain of Himalaya with sub-tropical climatic zone. For this total 50 cores of P. roxburghii were collected from 30 trees. The standard methodology was used for sample preparation and analysis. A 165-year long chronology spanning from 1851 to 2015 AD was constructed from the cores. The result showed that the tree ring chronology of P. roxburghii in study site was positively correlated with pre-monsoon (March and April) rainfall and negatively correlated with the temperature of November of previous growth year and February, March and April of present growth year. However, the analysis of climate response to temperature revealed that there was a negative response of chronology for pre-monsoon season especially for monthly average temperature of April of current year whereas the response with rainfall was positive for pre-monsoon season, but they were statistically insignificant. From this study, it was concluded that the growth of P. roxburghii was limited by the pre-monsoon temperature particularly by April temperature. This conifer (P. roxburghii) has been recommended as a good choice of tree for the past climate study. The main problem with this species is that it contains several false rings and sometimes there is absent ring as well. To overcome such problems, a detailed study encompassing anatomical features to identify and locate false and missing rings is suggested.
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