• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.105 no.1
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• pp.122-131
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• 2016

This study was conducted to analyze the effect of climatic variables on tree-ring growth of Larix leptolepis distributed in Korea by dendroclimatological method. For this, annual tree-ring growth data of Larix leptolepis collected by the $5^{th}$ National Forest Inventory were first organized to analyze yearly growth patterns of the species. To explain the relationship between tree-ring growth of Larix leptolepis and climatic variables, monthly temperature and precipitation data from 1950 to 2010 were compared with tree-ring growth data for each county. When tree-ring growth data were analyzed through cluster analysis based on similarity of climatic conditions, six clusters were identified. In addition, index chronology of Larix leptolepis for each cluster was produced through cross-dating and standardization procedures. The adequacy of index chronologies was tested using basic statistics such as mean sensitivity, auto correlation, signal to noise ratio, and expressed population signal of annual tree-ring growth. Response function analysis was finally conducted to reveal the relationship between tree-ring growth and climatic variables for each cluster. The results of this study are expected to provide valuable information necessary for estimating local growth characteristics of Larix leptolepis and for predicting changes in tree growth patterns caused by climate change.