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The aim of the studies was to evaluate the usefulness of the microscopic features of wood in characterising the climatic conditions of a period for which only proxy data are available. Samples were taken from historical wood from Koronowo collegiate church and from a living Scots pine tree growing in the Toruń-Wrzosy site. All measurements were performed using ImageJ software. The dendroclimatological analysis was carried out in the program DendroClim2002. The results show a correlation between the microscopic features of wood and climatic conditions. For the period 1951-2000 the maximum optical density of pine wood depends on average May air temperature and June precipitation, with correlation coefficients of -0.32 and -0.29, respectively. A similar correlation was found for mean maximum and minimum temperatures in May; -0.35 and -0.37, respectively. Additional correlations between selected meteorological elements and the maximum optical density of the wood were found using 30-year moving averages and moving intervals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Highlights: This study used a 99-year time-series of daily climatic data to determine the climate-growth relationship for Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) growing in Northern Poland. The use of daily climatic data improved the calculated climatic response of the trees. Background and Objectives: It was hypothesised that daily temperature and precipitation data would more precisely identify climate–growth relationships than monthly data. We compared our results to a previous study conducted in the 1990s that utilised monthly precipitation and temperature data. Materials and Methods: The chronology construction and data analyses were performed using CooRecorder, CDendro and R packages (dplR, treeclim, dendrotools). Forty-nine cores from 31 trees were included in the final chronology. Results: The precipitation and temperature of March had the strongest influence upon ring-widths. Despite a statistically significant correlation between monthly temperature and ring-widths, reduction of error (RE) and coefficient of efficiency (CE) statistics confirmed that daily data better describe the effect of climate on tree rings width than monthly data. Conclusions: At this site, the growing season of Scots pine has changed with the observed association with precipitation now starting as early as February–March and extending to June–July. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scots pine is an adaptable and prevalent European tree species that grows naturally throughout Europe and has been planted in a wide range of environments. Previous studies have indicated that climatic variables affect tree-ring growth patterns in this species, but it is also possible that certain aspects of the growth environment moderate this response. In order to understand the potential impact a shifting climate has on this important species, this study compared the growth response of two populations of Scots pine. Trees from similar bioclimatic regions in Hungary and Poland were compared using the hypothesis that differences in the association between climate and growth would be reflected by the degree of tree-ring width variation. We also wanted to know how changing climatic conditions influenced the temporal stability of the climate–growth signal in the most important periods for tree growth. Clear similarities in the effect of temperature and precipitation on tree-ring width variation were found between the two sites, but there were also some interesting differences. In the late winter to early spring period both populations reacted to warming with a decreasing association with temperature. Summer precipitation was shown to be the dominant factor in controlling ring-width. A decreasing trend in summer precipitation values at both Hungarian and Polish sites resulted in a weakening in correspondence for the Hungarian trees, while the Polish trees showed a significant increase in correlation with summer precipitation. The results indicated that changes in climate influenced the studied trees in different ways which has implications for the future balance of Scots pine growth in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]