Analysis of Biweight Site Chronologies: Relative Weights of Individual Trees over Time

Abstract

The relative weights on individual trees in a biweight site chronology can indicate the consistency of tree growth responses to macroclimate and can be the basis for stratifying trees in climate-growth analyses. This was explored with 45 years of ring-width indices for 200 trees from five even-aged jack pine (Pints banksiana Lamb.) stands. Average individual-tree relative weights were similar, but most trees had at least one transient occurrence of low relative weight. The standard deviations of individual-tree relative weights suggested that some trees had mom variable growth responses than others. The trees were classified by the average and standard deviation of their relative weights, and biweight site chronologies were then calculated for these subgroups. Chronologies derived from trees with low average weights, and from trees with high standard deviation of weights, sometimes appeared to be different from chronologies derived from the remaining trees.