The Relationship Between Tree Radial Growth and Topographic and Climatic Factors in Red Pine and Oak in Central Regions of Korea

摘要

This study analyzed the impact of climatic and topographic factors on tree radial growth of Pinus densiflora and Quercus spp. in central regions of Korea. To find the relationship between annual tree radial growth and climatic factors, we took the core samples from individual trees and measured the tree radial width. On the assumption that the tree radial growth is related to the tree age, we estimated the radial growth by the tree age as an independent variable. Also, we estimated the standard growth, defined as the radial growth of trees aged 30. As results, we found the spatial auto-correlation in the radial growth of the red pine. Moreover, we also found the relationships between climatic and topographic and the standard growth using the GAM (Generalized Additive Model). Increase of temperature has negative impacts on the radial growth of Pinus densiflora, while it has positive impacts on the radial growth of Quercus spp.. On the other hands, increase of precipitation has negative impacts on the radial growth of both species. Lastly, we predicted the spatial distribution changes of Pinus densiflora and Quercus spp. using the temperature increase scenario and the Geographic Information System (GIS) based forest type map. We could predict that Pinus densiflora is more vulnerable than Quercus spp. to climate change so that the habitats of Pinus densiflora will be gradually changed to the habitats of Quercus spp. in eastern coastal and southern regions of Korea after 60 years.