Dendroclimatological analysis of wild pear Pyrus pyraster (L.) Burgsd. from Biedrusko military area (west Poland) : preliminary study

European wild pear (Pyrus pyraster, syn. Pyrus communis subsp. pyraster L.) is widely distributed in Europe, but rarely studied by dendrochronologists. This preliminary study was aimed to assess the age and effect of climate on tree-ring width in the largest Polish population of P. pyraster, in Biedrusko military area (western Poland). On the basis of samples from 21 trees, a chronology (BIE) was constructed, covering 45 years (1963–2007). Mean tree-ring width in the studied trees is 1.92 mm. The performed analyses (pointer years, correlations, and response function) indicate that tree-ring widt his strongly dependent on weather conditions in the year preceding formation of the tree-ring. Annual rings of pear trees were wide after cold and rainy previous summer and after rainy previous October, while in the current year, ring width was affected by insolation in February and temperature in August (positive correlations) and precipitation in May (negative correlation). The low similarity of the ring-width pattern and effect of climate on tree-ring width between this population and a wild pear population from the Bielinek Reserve, located 200 km away, indicate that tree-ring width in this species is strongly dependent on habitat and there is a need to continue dendrochronological analyses.