Abstract:

Tree growth is strongly influenced by environment and climatic variables. This paper reviewed the advances and applications of tree-ring width, density and stable isotopic compositions on reconstructing the sequences of temperature and precipitation as well as atmospheric CO₂ concentration changes. The impacts of climatic change on tree-ring width, density and stable isotopic compositions, such as hysteresis effect and junior effect were analyzed. In addition, the existing questions and future trends of dendrochronology in climatic change were also briefly discussed. In future, on the basis of tree physio-ecological characteristics, dendrochronology should clarify the interaction mechanisms and quantitative relations between tree-ring and environmental variables on medium or small time-scales. The comparative analysis between the observation record and other substitutive data must be especially improved, accordingly, the validation of tree-ring-climate model must be strengthened. The study method should transit from empirical analysis to mechanism study, and interdisciplinary and integrated application should be more emphasized.

Key words: dendrochronology, climatic change, tree-ring width and density, stable isotopic composition