Bosnian pine (pinus heldreichii) as geoarchive at the timberline in the pirin mountains and on the balkan peninsula

Abstract

High mountains and their ecosystems offer an outstanding opportunity for studies on the impact of climate change. The Pirin Mountains in Southeast Europe, situated at the transition between temperate and Mediterranean climate, are considered as very sensitive to historical and current global changes. Site specific effects as well as the impact of historical disturbances have been analysed at treeline ecotone testplots. Bosnian Pine (Pinus heldreichii) and Macedonian Pine (Pinus peuce) are the most common species at the recent timberline around 2.100 m a.s.l. in the Pirin Mountains. The results on dendroclimatology provide an insight into the potential of the Bosnian Pine and its chronologies in the Northern Pirin Mountains. First conclusions can be drawn from the chronology and site comparison respectively as well as the climate-growth-analysis. On the one hand, the width growth is humidity limited. On the other hand, the tree-rings similarly reflect high summer temperatures as a negative impact factor at sunny south flanks. At the same time, mild winters have a positive effect. © 2009 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.