Spatial Variation and Temporal Instability in Climate-Growth Relationships of Sessile

Spatial variation and temporal instability in climate-growth relationships of sessile oak (Quercus petraea [Matt.] Liebl.) under temperate conditions

Plant Ecology

Pierre Mérian1,2 *, Jean-Daniel Bontemps, Laurent Bergès, François Lebourgeois

1: AgroParisTech, ENGREF, UMR 1092 INRA/AgroParisTech Laboratoire d’Etude des Ressources Forêt-Bois (LERFoB), 14 rue Girardet, 54000 Nancy, France

2: INRA, Centre de Nancy, UMR 1092 Inra/AgroParisTech Laboratoire d’Etude des Ressources Forêt-Bois (LERFoB), 54280 Champenoux, France

*Corresponding author; Tel +33-383396880; Fax +33-383396878; E-mail:

Online Resource 2 Growth and climatic anomalies of the pointer years observed on the period 1914-1993. The 31 chronologies were split into 2 groups according to the sign of the PCPY2 scores: West and East with positive and negative scores respectively (see Fig.3 for details). For each zone (West or East), only the pointer years for which at least 40 % of chronologies showed a particular growth are presented. Climatic anomaly is defined as the difference between the climate of the year and the mean climatic conditions on the period 1914-1993. Negative anomalies denote fresh and/or rainy conditions. % of resp. chr.: percentage of responding chronologies; RGV: relative growth variations (%); T5-7: temperature anomaly from May to July (°C); P5-7: precipitation anomaly from May to July (°C). Bold values highlight the negative pointer years. Italic values highlight the extreme cold year 1956 for which the temperature anomaly of February is presented

West (n=17) / East (n=14)
Growth / Climatic anomalies / Growth / Climatic anomalies
Year / % of resp. chr. / RGV (%) / T5-7 (°C) / P5-7 (mm) / % of resp. chr. / RGV (%) / T5-7 (°C) / P5-7 (mm)
1915 / 50 / -16 / 0.65 / -40
1916 / 57 / 41 / -1.14 / 16
1918 / 41 / -15 / 0.12 / -48
1919 / 50 / -14 / -1.15 / -32
1921 / 47 / -21 / 1.75 / -44 / 43 / -21 / 1.39 / -73
1922 / 64 / 39 / 0.15 / -41
1928 / 57 / -18 / -0.23 / -57
1933 / 53 / -22 / 0.21 / -28 / 71 / -20 / -0.46 / 28
1934 / 53 / -21 / 1.28 / -68
1936 / 59 / 54 / -0.40 / 43
1943 / 86 / 43 / 0.73 / -26
1946 / 53 / 30 / -0.44 / 4 / 93 / 59 / 0.20 / 10
1947 / 57 / -20 / 2.01 / -53
1949 / 41 / -5 / 0.10 / -94
1950 / 41 / 22 / 1.65 / 10
1951 / 41 / 20 / -0.78 / 76
1954 / 53 / -20 / -1.06 / -65
1955 / 50 / 29 / -0.41 / 28
1956* / 47 / -14 / -8.70 / / / 43 / -24 / -10.10 / /
1958 / 71 / 49 / -0.32 / 104 / 71 / 45 / 0.09 / 52
1961 / 50 / 26 / -1.02 / -9
1962 / 50 / -17 / -1.45 / -46
1964 / 50 / -15 / 1.33 / -113
1969 / 71 / 37 / -0.13 / 23
1972 / 41 / -15 / -1.43 / -20
1976 / 82 / -25 / 2.11 / -97 / 79 / -24 / 2.17 / -95
1978 / 47 / 31 / -1.16 / -9
1982 / 86 / 51 / 1.20 / 49
1989 / 71 / -22 / 1.58 / -41
1993 / 47 / 32 / 0.45 / 20