Influence of Temperature and Moisture on the Radial Growth of Scots Pine and Norway Spruce in Kaunas, Lithuania

Ring-width chronologies of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) from two experimental forest plots in Kaunas, Lithuania were developed to study tree growth-climate relationship in different geohydrological conditions using response function analysis. The tree ring-width chronologies of Scots pine ranged from 1883~1987 A.D. and 1864~1989 A.D., and Norway spruce 1838~1987 A.D. and 2870~1989 A.D., respectively. The response function analysis has vividly demonstrated that the growth of Scots pine is favoured by warm summer and Norway spruce by cool and moist summer. Spring temperature has shown direct relationship with tree growth of both the species. There also exists notable intraspecies analogies in growth responses except some minor differences.