Dendroclimatological assessment of Polylepis rodolfo-vasquezii: a novel Polylepis species in the Peru highlands

EDILSON J. REQUENA-ROJAS; MARIANO S. MORALES; RICARDO VILLALBA

Dendrochronologia

ELSEVIER GMBH, URBAN & FISCHER VERLAG

Lugar: ALEMANIA; Año: 2020

1125-7865

<!-- /* Font Definitions */@font-face{font-family:"Cambria Math";panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face{font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-520092929 1073786111 9 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal{mso-style-unhide:no;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:8.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:107%;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:ES-PE;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault{mso-style-type:export-only;mso-default-props:yes;font-size:11.0pt;mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:ES-PE;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoPapDefault{mso-style-type:export-only;margin-bottom:8.0pt;line-height:107%;}@page WordSection1{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm;mso-header-margin:36.0pt;mso-footer-margin:36.0pt;mso-paper-source:0;}div.WordSection1{page:WordSection1;}-->The need to spatially extend long-term climate variability studies intropical Andes has encouraged the search for new tree species with high dendroclimatologicalpotential in the wet Puna from Peru. We present the first tree-ring chronology fromPolylepis rodolfo-vasquezii, a recentlydescribed woody species in the Central Andes of Peru between 4000 and 4400 melevation. Fifty trees were sampled in the district of Comas, Peru. Afterestablishing the anatomical characteristics that delimit the annual growth rings,we developed a ring-width chronology by applying conventionaldendrochronological techniques. The chronology covers the period 1869 - 2015(157 years) and is well replicated from 1920 to present (> 20 samples). Thestatistics used to evaluate the quality of the chronology indicate that the P. rodolfo-vasquezii has similar valuesof MS, RBAR and EPS to those shown by other Polylepisspp chronologies. To determine the main climatic factors controlling thegrowth of P. rodolfo-vasquezii, wecompared our chronology with local and regional temperature and precipitationrecords. growth season temperature (November to May) seems to be the mainclimatic factor modulating inter-annual variations in the growth of thisspecies. The high sensitivity to inter-annual temperature variations highlightsthe potential of P. rodolfo-vasqueziito provide climatically sensitive dendrochronological records in the CentralAndes. To our knowledge, this is the first tree-ring record in South Americadisplaying significant relationships with temperature over the tropicalAtlantic Ocean.