Dendrochronological Reconnaissance of the Conifers of Northwest India

Abstract

Tree-ring samples were collected from six coniferous species in the western Himalayan ranges during the summer of 1984 in order to evaluate their potential for use in dendroclimatic reconstructions. Picea, Abies, and Pinus spp. had previously been collected for ring widths and densitometric analysis by Hughes and co-workers on relatively mesic subalpine sites near the Vale of Kashmir. Our results support this earlier work in that ring-width series from these habitats are relatively complacent and contain little dendroclimatic information. Density and ring widths are largely temperature-dependent. However, our sampling included Cedrus deodara and Pinus gerardiana from lower altitudes in the dry inner valleys of the Pir Panjal Range, south of Kashmir. Both species exhibit great age, high mean sensitivity and good intra- and inter-specific crossdating, and yielded chronology statistics suggestive of a drought response. We strongly recommend that they receive high priority in future tree-ring research in northwest India.