Correlation Analysis and Growth Prediction between Climatic Elements and Radial Growth for Pinus koraiensis

This study was conducted to analyze the relationship among climatic factors and radial growth of Pinus koraiensis in South Korea. To determine climate-growth relationships, cluster analysis was applied to group climatically similar surveyed regions, and dendroclimatological model was developed to predict radial growth for each climate group under the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios for greenhouse gases. The dendroclimatological models were developed through climatic variables and standardized residual chronology for each climatic cluster of P. koraiensis. 2 to 4 climatic variables were used in the models (R 2 values between 0.35~0.49). For each of the climatic clusters for Pinus koraiensis, the growth simulations obtained from two RCP climate-change scenarios were used for growth prediction. The radial growth of the Clusters 2 and 3, which grow at high elevation, tend to increase. In contrast, Cluster 1, which grows at low elevation, tends to decrease with a large difference. Thus, the growth of Pinus koraiensis, which is a boreal species, could increase along with increasing temperature up to a certain point.