Growth Characteristics of Annual Rings of Juniperus sibirica Burgsd. in the Highlands of the Southern Urals

• Published in: Žurnal Sibirskogo federalʹnogo universiteta. Seriâ Biologiâ (Online) Vol. 15; no. 4; pp. 456 - 470
• Main Authors: Grigoriev, Andrey A, Tishin, Denis V, Chizhikova, Nelli A, Zhuravleva, Irina V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Krasnoyarsk Siberian Federal University 01.10.2022
• Subjects: Annual rings; Cells; Climate adaptation; Climate change; Climate change adaptation; Dendrochronology; Dynamics; Ecosystems; Growth rate; Growth rings; Habitat selection; Juniperus sibirica; Mountains; Plant growth; Plants; Shrubs; Summer; Tree rings; Tundra
• ISSN: 1997-1389; 2313-5530
• DOI: 10.17516/1997-1389-0388

Juniper is one of the most common shrubs, and the study of the radial growth of its growth rings will help elucidate the processes of plant response and adaptation to climate change in the mountain ecosystems of the Urals. The article presents the analysis of the radial growth dynamics in Siberian juniper (Juniperus sibirica Burgsd.) growing in the forest-tundra ecotone on Dalniy Taganai Mountain, the Southern Urals. The ring width of most of the study plants (75 %) increased by 2019. The tree-ring chronology created covers the period from 1983 to 2019. Analysis revealed a positive response of the radial growth of shrubs to the temperature of the summer period (June, July) and a negative response to the summer precipitation (June). The seasonal cell growth was used to estimate the main phenological dates of xylogenesis in 2018: the first cells formed on June 9, the growth rate reached a maximum on July 8-10, and the last cells formed on August 18-29. The findings obtained can be useful for studying the dynamics of mountain ecosystems in the Southern Urals. The present work expands the knowledge about the radial growth of plants of the shrub life form, which are seldom the focus of dendrochronological studies compared to plants of the single-stem growth form.