Prediction of the carbon pool for lacebark pine under future temperature changes

Abstract

The correlation between tree-ring widths of lacebark pine and climate was investigated. Radial growth was positively correlated with monthly mean temperatures in the previous September and significantly negatively correlated with monthly mean and monthly maximum temperatures in March. There was no significant response to levels of precipitation. Treering variation was reconstructed by a transfer function using STD chronology and monthly mean temperatures. Assuming future temperature increases of 1.4 °C to 4.0 °C according to IPCC (2006), tree-ring widths would increase by 4.7% to 12.8%, and lacebark pine carbon pools would increase observably by 10.9% to 31.1%. Temperature has a positive impact on increasing biomass and hence carbon stored for lacebark pine. The results provide a theoretical reference for forest management and an evaluation of the capacity for forests to sequester carbon under climate change.