Climatic response of Cedrus deodara tree-ring parameters from two sites in the western Himalaya

Cores of Cedrus deodara D. Don from two different sites of western Himalaya were subjected to densitometric analysis to obtain data for earlywood, latewood, minimum, maximum, and mean densities and total ring width. Most of these variables show moderately high values of common variance and signal to noise ratio except latewood and maximum densities. These analyses suggest density parameters of this species may be useful in dendro climatic studies. Response function analyses indicate significant relationships between pre-monsoon (March-April-May) summer climate and earlywood density parameters, as well as total ring width. Based on the relationships derived from response function analyses, the potential of tree-ring chronologies from this species to provide reconstructions of the pre-monsoon climate in western Himalayan region has been established.