Cedrela nebulosa: a novel species for dendroclimatological studies in the montane tropics of South America

LAYME-HUAMAN, E.T.; FERRERO, M.E.; PALACIOS-LAZARO, K.S.; REQUENA-ROJAS, E.J.

Dendrochronologia

ELSEVIER GMBH, URBAN & FISCHER VERLAG

Lugar: ALEMANIA; Año: 2018 vol. 50 p. 105 - 112

1125-7865

Up to now, the development of dendrochronological records from tropical regions in South America has been limited to the lowlands with emphasis in the Amazon basin. In this contribution, we present the first chronology of Cedrela nebulosa, a species that develops in the mountain regions of tropical South America. We collected samples from trees in Monobamba district in Peru, analysed the anatomical features that determine the growth rings, and processed following the methods commonly used in dendrochronology. The 133-years chronology covering the 1883?2015 period, showed large correlation and strong signal between series. In order to determine the climatic variables that control tree growth, we performed correlation analyses between tree-growth and local and regional precipitation and temperature records. We found that temperature acts as the mail control in annual growth during the summer season. Also, C. nebulosa chronology present coherent variations with the Multivariate Enso Index (MEI) and Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures during summer months. This climate-sensitive new tree-ring record indicates good potential for dendroclimatic studies and provides an opportunity to reconstruct climatic variations in the scarcely study montane forests of the tropical Andes.