Regional variation in long-term growth of Cryptomeria japonica D. Don trees in Japan: testing the phenology hypothesis

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26850102
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Forest science
• Research Institution: Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute
• Principal Investigator: Nishizono Tomohiro 国立研究開発法人森林総合研究所, 森林管理研究領域, 主任研究員 (90353797)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: スギ / 成長フェノロジー / 成長期間 / 成長の地域差 / 緯度傾度

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated regional variation in radial growth phenology (onset, cessation, and duration of radial growth) of Cryptomeria japonica D. Don trees in Japan. In sites with higher latitude, the C. japonica trees started to grow later than in sites with lower latitude. The cessation of the radial growth was independent of latitude. Consequently, in sites with higher latitude, the C. japonica trees continued to grow for a shorter period than in sites with lower latitude. The latitudinal gradients for duration of radial growth weakly but significantly supports that the regional variation in the growth phenology is one of the key factors of generating the regional variation in the long-term growth.

Free Research Field

森林計測学