Correlation Between Different Climate Variables and Indices and Growth of Turkey Oak (Quercus cerris L.)
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Abstract
Achieving the earlier set goals in forestry will not be easy in the light of global and climate change. The expected impact of climate change on forests in Serbia is already recorded in the studies of oak. This research was focused on the study of the impact of 15 climate variables from CARPATCLIM database over the Turkey oak from stand 8i (Management Unit Branjevina, Forest Division Sombor, Public Enterprise Vojvodinašume) using dendrochronological methods. Analyses using a simple Pearson’s correlation showed the higher correlation between oak growth and SPEI (Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index), RDI (Reconnaissance Drought Index) and PDSI (Palmer Drought Severity Index) in the growing season in comparison to simple variables such as mean mothly temperature of monthly sum of precipitation. To date, indices SPEI and RDI are not used to a greater extent in dendrochronological studies. Given their characteristics that they are used for monitoring of drought, and that among the 15 climate variables provide significant correlations for the main months (April to August) during growing season, they should be seriously considered in the future understanding of the impact of drought on forests.
Keywords: dendrochronology, climate change, growth, correlations