Growth patterns of Centrolobium Microchaete in relation to climate in tropical lowlands

LIDIO LOPEZ, RICARDO VILLALBA Y MARIELOS PEÑA-CLAROS

Vancouver, Canada

Congreso; AmeriDendro; 2008

University of British Columbia,

The lack and shortness of instrumental records in the tropical forests of Bolivia limit our understanding on regional climate variability. Therefore, it is necessary to use proxy-climatic records to reconstruct past environmental changes. Tree rings provide continuous series with annual resolution which can be modeled to accurately reconstruct annual variations of temperature, precipitation and, atmospheric pressure during the past centuries. Our goal was to develop chronologies with Centrolobium microchaete (Tarara amarilla) and determine the relationships between the radial growth of this species and the climatic variations during the 20th century in different eco-regions of the tropical Cerrado Boliviano.