To which side are the scales swinging? Growth stability of Siberian larch under 1 permanent moisture deficit with periodic droughts

Abstract

In moisture-limited regions in which droughts leave a significant “footprint”, monitoring of quantitative climatic parameters and of forest adaptation and acclimation to these parameters is of utmost importance due to the ambiguity of spatial patterns in reaction of tree growth to drought and the variety of drought resistance strategies exhibited by trees at the genetic, morphological and physiological levels. This is a case study of the radial growth of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) along the forest-steppe transect in the foothills of the Bateni Ridge (Kuznetsk Alatau, Southern Siberia, Russia) and of its climatic response and stability under the influence of droughts and contributing factors.