NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - Wang - East Tianmu Mountain - PITW - ITRDB CHIN081

Although it has been widely recognized that tree-ring response to climate drivers may change over recent decades, often due to anthropogenic environment changes, there are fewer reports of such changes in earlier pre-warming periods. In this paper we report on the pre-1930 unstable relationship between climate and tree-ring width (TRW) of Pinus taiwanensis Hayata in southeastern China based on reliable long-term temperature data. TRW of P. taiwanensis is strongly controlled by temperatures in two seasons, previous spring to summer (March to August, mainly June to July) and previous winter to current spring (December to March). However, TRW are insensitive to previous spring to summer temperature between 1890 and 1930. Reduced summer temperature variability, changing regimes of spring-summer temperature and precipitation, and complicated tree physiological processes behind the complex growth-climate relationship are the more likely causes of this phenomenon. This study adds to the body of knowledge that lower climate sensitivity of tree rings is not specific to the most recent decades.