Responses of radial growth in Larix principis-rupprechtii to climate change along an elevation gradient on the southern slope of Luya Mountain

Many studies have addressed the effects of climatic factors on the radial growth of trees in different habitats. However, changes in climate can modify the relationships between tree growth and climate, and this, in turn, can modify the annual growth patterns of trees. Luya Mountain, located in the north of central China, has experienced a clear increase in air temperature over the last several decades according to the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The Wuzhai County Meteorology Station has also recorded an increasing trend in the annual mean air temperature and a slight decrease in total annual precipitation from 1996 to 2007. Trees at three different elevations on the southern slopes of Luya Mountain ( low, 2330 m; middle, 2440 m; and high, 2540 m) were selected for study, and tree-ring chronologies were created to study variation in radial growth response of Larix principis-rupprechtii trees to climate change along an elevation gradient. A total of 92 cores from 46 trees were co