A long-term tree ring beech chronology from a high-elevation old-growth forest of Central Italy.

Summary: This paper describes preliminary dendroecological analyses of tree ring collections from an old-growth beech forest in the Central Apennines (Cervara Valley, Abruzzi National Park). Tree ring series show that at high-elevation sites in Central Italy the potential longevity of beech trees is more than 500 years. A 425 year site chronology spanning the period 1577–2001 was built. Its comparison with other chronologies from the same and other species showed a good connection of tree-ring patterns especially for the contexts of high elevation chronologies. The climatic signals of beech trees were investigated by means of pointer intervals and bootstrapped response functions for the period 1832–2000. Mid summer precipitation (July–August) and May temperature were the prominent climatic signals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]