Impact of climate change on scots pine plantations: state, problems, challenges

Abstract

It is proved that since the beginning of the XIX century. the degradation of pine stands is enormous on all continents. In Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, the average annual temperature since the beginning of the 20th century has increased by more than 2 °C, including 1.2 °C over the past 30 years. In recent years, the number of days with maximum summer temperatures above 35 °C and 40 °C has almost doubled in extreme weather. In most of the territory of Ukraine, there is already a tendency towards an increase in drought, increased fire hazard, recurrence of years during which plantations will experience water stress, damage by pests, as well as degradation of forest ecosystems as a whole as a result of an increase in forest areas. number and duration of hot periods. It was found that dendrochronological methods are used to study the relationship between climate change and pine radial increment. The main methods for studying radial increment are taking cores at a height of 1.3 meters from two opposite radii in order to prevent the influence of random factors on radial increment. The annual ring width is determined using dendrochronological instruments with automatic data recording. The data on the values of annual rings are processed according to the programs of the International Tree Ring Data Bank (ITRDB). To synchronize the series with the establishment of the calendar year for the formation of each annual increment, the specialized COFECHA program is used. It has been established that the growth of scots pine is limited by the humidification of the climate and the presence of sufficient moisture in the soil, however, in the presence of extreme temperatures, the negative tendency towards drying out of plantations persists.