| dc.description.abstract | Seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTF) are biodiverse yet endangered ecosystems facing significant threats from various factors including climate change. Analysing the long-term effects of climatic conditions on tree growth is crucial for understanding the potential impacts of future climatic changes on SDTF and to provide insights into their age history. In this context, dendroecology is considered a valuable approach. Guatemala's SDTF are highly degraded and fragmented, with small, isolated forest patches, and remain poorly studied, lacking any prior dendroecological investigations. Therefore, in this study I investigated the dendroecological potential of two species belonging to prominent neotropical genera, Swietenia humilis Zucc. and Cedrela salvadorensis Standl., aiming at examining the relationship between climatic variables and their radial growth. Using standard dendroecological methods, I identified distinct annual growth rings in both species: 16 trees of S. humilis and 11 trees of C. salvadorensis, with an average age of 55 and 58 years, respectively. However, crossdating and chronology building proved unsuccessful, leading to inconclusive climate-growth analysis. Nonetheless, the presence of false rings alongside narrow growth rings suggests that the inter-annual growth variations in both species are influenced by rainfall seasonality and temperature. Further research is needed to validate these findings, focusing on anatomical characterisation through both macroscopic differentiation and microscopic examination. This will enhance the precision, measurement, synchronisation, and analysis of growth ring widths, facilitating the development of chronologies, crucial for climate-growth analysis in Guatemala's SDTF. Additionally, the relatively young age of the studied trees highlights the importance of long-term protection measures in SDTF nature reserves in Guatemala, particularly in the face of climate change and ongoing forest degradation. The findings of this study represent a pioneering endeavour in the SDTF of Guatemala, demonstrating the potential of S. humilis and C. salvadorensis for dendroecological investigations, given their distinct annual tree-ring formation.
Key words: tree rings, Meliaceae, climate sensitivity, wood anatomy, seasonally dry tropical forests. | |
