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Dendroecological investigations on Swietenia macrophylla King and Cedrela odorata L. (Meliaceae) in the central Amazon

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Abstract

The width of the increment zones in the xylem of Swietenia macrophylla King and Cedrela odorata L. was investigated by dendroecological methods in a primary forest near Aripuanã, Mato Grosso, Brazil (10°09′S, 59°26′W). The annual period of cambial cell division and its intra-annual variation were determined by dendrometer measurements of 30 trees of each species. Tree-ring width chronologies for Swietenia and Cedrela were developed from cross-dated increment curves of 33 out of 47 Swietenia and 51 out of 64 Cedrela trees. Simple correlations were computed between the radial growth increment and monthly precipitation for the period 1890–2000. In Swietenia, cambium activity occurred throughout almost the whole year, but in Cedrela it was restricted to the rainy period from September of the previous year to June of the current year. Tree-rings were formed annually in the juvenile and adult wood of Cedrela, while in Swietenia the annual formation of tree-rings was restricted to the adult wood. Consequently the age of the Swietenia trees could be dated by the tree-rings in good approximation, while age dating of the Cedrela trees was exact. Correlation analyses revealed a significant relationship between the precipitation at the beginning and at the end of the growth season and the width of the increment zones in the adult xylem of Swietenia. In contrast, the width of the growth increment in the xylem of Cedrela was significantly correlated with the precipitation in March and May of the previous growth period.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and the DLR, Bonn, Germany and the CNPq/IBAMA, Brasilia, Brazil for financial support within the German-Brazilian cooperation program SHIFT (Studies on Human Impacts on Forests and Floodplains in the Tropics). The comprehensive cooperation of Dr. L. Gasparotto, EMBRAPA, Manaus, is very much acknowledged. We thank the Municipio Aripuanã for providing the experimental trees and are also grateful to G.R. Montóia and I.R. Montóia for joining in the experiments. We wish to thank M. Müller, T. Schwarz and R. Rebello for technical assistance. The critical reading and improvement of the manuscript by Prof. R. Borchert is especially appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Wood Biology, University of Hamburg, Leuschnerstrasse 91, 21031, Hamburg, Germany

    Oliver Dünisch & Josef Bauch

  2. Department of Soil Science, Federal University of Parana, Rua dos Funcionarios 1540, 80035-50 , Curitiba, PR, Brazil

    Oliver Dünisch

  3. EMBRAPA Amazonia Ocidental, Rodovia AM 010, km 29, 69048–970, Manaus, AM, Brazil

    Valdinez Ribeiro Montóia

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  1. Oliver Dünisch
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  2. Valdinez Ribeiro Montóia
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Correspondence to Oliver Dünisch.

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Dünisch, O., Montóia, V.R. & Bauch, J. Dendroecological investigations on Swietenia macrophylla King and Cedrela odorata L. (Meliaceae) in the central Amazon. Trees 17, 244–250 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-002-0230-2

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