Influence of Climatic Factors on Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) Growth on the Coast of the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea

The purpose of this study is a comparative analysis of linear and radial increments of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) as a response to the growing conditions on the coast of the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea, as well as an evaluation of the temperature and precipitation influences of the current and previous growing seasons. These were applied to the conventional methods of measurement and data analysis. The dynamics of growth in height and diameter were employed as indicators of the stands' response to habitant conditions. A statistical analysis of the growth rates was performed, which vary depending on habitat type, as well as an assessment of the connection between biometric indicators of the stands and the amount of precipitation and mean temperature. The significant differences in the series of linear increment increases were found as distinctions between biotopes, but they were absent for the radial increment. Therefore, it is possible to monitor the typical behavior of tree diversity independent of the biotope type using radial growth series. This provides the foundation for a long-term retrospective analysis of environmental impact on the stands by using the annual rings of the trees without taking growing conditions into account. Precipitation was determined to be a limiting factor for radial and linear growth throughout the phenophase of internodal growth and early wood formation. Temperature was identified as a limiting factor for radial development only during the stages of late wood formation and resource accumulation for the following growing season. The high sensitivity of linear increases to climatic conditions was revealed, which makes it useful as a criterion for assessing the state of forest ecosystems over short time periods (up to 30 years). However, this, in turn, dictates the impossibility of forming long-term linear increment series, as for radial growth, which is a significant limitation of this method. The choice of linear or radial growth analysis methods is concluded to be determined by the goals of the intended study, i.e., monitoring forest ecosystems under current climate change conditions or long-term paleoclimate analysis.