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     The timberline forest ecosystems, due to their vegetation particularities and natural character, with low human intervention, represent an objective indicator of the effects of actual and future climatic changes on forests. It is a necessity to have interdisciplinary researches on the response of the ecosystem, at structural and productivity level, to the increase of the temperature and to the modification of the precipitation regime. Comprehensive studies of the tree-ring formation linked with a high resolution climate monitoring offer the understanding of radial growth processes in the conditions of forests from timberline needed.
     The present project, by its objectives, will add a significant contribution to clarifying these aspects. The general objectives of the project are as follow:  <>
  
       - monitoring and understanding the inter- and intra-annual dynamics of radial growth processes in treeline forest ecosystems to provide the scientific bases required for the scenarios regarding the effect of regional and global climatic changes on forests;

      - increasing the performance and the international visibility of the research team in the field of dendroclimatology and xylology, integrated in partnerships with similar teams in Europe.

     In order to achieve these general objectives, we propose the following specific points:

    - choosing and establishing plots for climatological and auxological monitoring; analysing growth’s response to the variability of climate factors in relation to the age and the canopy position of the tree;

       - the variability of dendroclimatological response of each species along an altitudinal gradient;

       - analysing the inter-  and intra-annual dynamic of the climatic regime in treeline forests;

       - the intra-annual monitoring of growth processes by point dendrometers;

     - monitoring and modeling the dynamic of the tree ring formation phases evaluated by microcores method;

<>     In the literature are presented several scenarios of the evolution of vegetation under climatic changes, but only a few of them have integrated information on the relationships between the growth processes and the climatic factors, mostly at intra-annual level. The knowledge of the timing of growth initiation or end, of the wood biomass accumulation, of the periods of acceleration or slowing down of the cambial activity, the modification of the growth and vegetation period, in direct link with climatic factors represent a original approach, fact sustained by the research methods and infrastructure proposed.
     In the context of actual global climate change (Houghton et al., 2001) the realization of realistic forecasts of the future climate and vegetation evolution became a pressing subject in the European research. Such studies are necessary and are integrated in the Romanian scientific strategies with which this proposal is perfectly aligned. The dendrochronological and dendroclimatological studies represent a distinct objective of Romanian forestry research strategy and implicitly of the forestry strategy in generally, this project been focalized perfectly in these strategic objectives. Through its modern and exploratory character, the originality of the methods and the specific proposed approach to be retained to reach the objectives, the contribution of the project to the development of the knowledge of the variability of the relationship climate-tree growth (with specific focus on intra – and inter-annual dynamics) and by his multidisciplinary approach we can appreciate that the performance parameters and the quality of solutions are very high.
     By the building a radial growth model accounting for differing ring formation phases, statistical models of trees response climate variations, also depending on the species, the age, the canopy position and the altitudinal gradient, this project will constitute in the same time a very important source of information for the decisional act for sustainable management and for the environmental strategies in general.
    Furthermore, the project will improve the state of environment conservation and sustainable resources management and will ensure the success of strategic goals regarding the development of forestry and biodiversity conversation. The major objective of the project has a high level of conformities with European standards regarding the quality of ecosystems, environment evaluation being an essential condition to accelerate the harmonization with the economic and social space of European Union.