EXPLORATORY RESEARCH PROJECT
ID 65

romania

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PROJECT IMPORTANCE

     <>The actual climatic change represents a political and scientific debate. The impact of these environmental changes on forest vegetations constitutes an actual research direction which has a high interest for the scientific community. The knowledge of the response of trees to the variation of climatic factors will provide the scientific bases for scenarios on the regional and global climatic changes impacts on forest and as well as for sustainable management and development of forestry.
     Tree growth was proved to be strongly affected by fluctuations of climate, and thus growth variations can be used to reconstruct past variations of one or more climate parameter. The analysis of the annual growth ring supplies empirical information regarding the way in which trees respond to the climate influence at a spatial and time level, which are not accessible from the eco-physiological models. The width of the annual growth ring varies from one year to the other more or less regularly, a part of this variability regarding the climatic conditions
(Fritts, 1976; Carrer and Urbinati, 2006). The correlation degree the annual growth ring width and the climatic parameters depends on the ecological amplitude of the specie, the existence of extreme climatic events, the variability of the factors which influences the growth (Bouriaud et al., 2005). The annual growth ring’s characteristics variation might be related to the variation of one ore more environmental elements which affect the biological processes leading to the formation of the annual growth ring.
    From dendroclimatological point of view, the variation of the growth ring determined by the climatic elements might associate with the signal of a communication system, the variations due to the non-climatic factors related to the noise of the signal. According to this association, the series of growth indices laying in the areas of climatologically optimum have a certain reduced ratio between signal and noise, related to the trees from the areas’ limit, which have a very high signal noise ratio
(Cook şi Kairiukstis, 1990). The tree is considered a real fitoclimatograph of high sensitivity, with hundreds of year’s duration, capable of registering and storing information regarding the environmental factors influence (Giurgiu, 1977).
    Dendroclimatology offer the possibility to obtain century old chronological series, of high resolution, looking of the dynamics of climate extending the meteorological records data sets (Gunnarson şi Linderholm, 2002). The researches undertaked in the area of dendroclimatology has permitted as much the theoretical substation of the statistical methods of analysis (Bitvinskas, 1974; Fritts, 1976; Cook and Kairiukstis, 1990; Schweingruber, 1985, 1996) how much the reconstruction of the dynamics of climate in the last centuries and millennium (Hughes et al. 1982; Villalba 1989; Jacoby şi D’Arrigo, 1996; Schulmann, 1958; Serre-Bachet et al., 1992; Eckstein şi Aniol, 1981; Schweingruber et al., 1987; Briffa et al., 1990, 2001; Schweingruber and Eckstein, 1990).
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      The economic importance of wood production has always encouraged the study of xylogenesis processes in order to assess the period when earlywood and latewood growth occurs, the mechanisms involved in xylem growth, the influence factors and the length of different tree ring formation
(Downs et al, 2002; Wimmer, 2002; Butterfield, 2003). Complex studies from different mountainous areas permitted the establishing of growth and tree ring formation models linking the measurement with point dendrometers and microsections analysis. (Rossi et al., 2007; Deslauriers şi Morin, 2005; Deslauriers et al., 2006; Gindl et al., 2000; Schmitt et al., 2004; Vaganov et al., 1999).
     
In our country, in the field of dendrochronology the researches have a pregnant ecological character, of evaluation by dendroecological methods of the impact of environment degradation on the growth process of trees and stands. On remake the studies with a exploratory character of dendrochronological techniques made as a part of forest auxology (Giurgiu, 1967, 1974, 1977, 1979), been make in evidence the cyclic variations of growth to silver fir and other species (Giurgiu, 1967, 1974).
    In the field of dendroecology on remark the researches regarding the quantification of the impact of pollution on the forest ecosystems (Ianculescu, 1975, 1977,1978,1987; Alexe, 1984; Decei et al., 1987; Tissescu, 1988, 1989; Ianculescu and Tissescu, 1989; Barbu, 1989, 1991; Flocea, 1992, 1996b),  and also them in the field of the study of structural changes of forest ecosystems been possible the establishment of some criteria for growth trend classification in relation with the kenotic position and structural modifications (Cenusa, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1999; Iacob, 1998). It are achieved dendroecological researches concerning the dynamics of disturbance factors (Popa, 2002, 2003) and on the study of spatial variability of dendrochronological series, (Popa, 2002, 2003), researches in the filed of dendroclimatologie concerning the study of the relation climate – trees (Popa 2002), been achieved the reconstruction of historic dynamics of some meteorological parameters from study areas (Popa, 2002, 2003; Popa et al., 2003).
      In direction of study of growth dynamics at intra-annual level, with specific reference to timberline, in Romania on remake the researches done by Cenuşa (1996,1999) using the comparator auxometer. In this way was evidenced the specific particularities for spruce and stone pine and different reaction in function of social position in stand. 

    The applications of modern methods, with high measurement precision and time resolution, linked with detailed microscopic analysis on microsections represent a new type of studies for Romanian research. The Carpathians by their climatic and vegetation particularities and by the presence of undisturbed forest ecosystems constitute a distinct component of European mountains.  The implementation of this type of research with practical applications in the knowledge of tree growth processes in timberline forest it is absolutely necessary. The use of theoretical models regarding the impact of climate change on forest productivity without the knowledge of regional specifications of the relationship between radial growth and environmental factors, at inter- and intra-annual level, represent a high risk. For this the present project will offer an important contribution in the knowledge of the response of forest ecosystems for the global warming and to the intensification of extreme climate events.