RING-WIDTH VARIATIONS IN CEDRUS-DEODARA AND ITS CLIMATIC RESPONSE OVER THE WESTERN HIMALAYA

Tree-ring anlaysis of Cedrus deodara from three different sites of wes tern Himalaya has been carried out. The chronologies include 47 cores (26 trees) from Manali, 33 cores (18 trees) from Kufri (Shimla) and 25 cores (13 trees) from Kanasar forest sites. Moderately high values of common variance exhibited by all three chronologies indicate the grea t potential of the species for dendroclimatic studies. Response functi on and correlation analyses using the above tree-ring-width data and S himla climate show a significant negative relationship with summer tem perature and positive relationship with summer precipitation. Based on these results, calibration equations have been developed for differen t periods, and appropriately verified using independent data, to recon struct the pre-monsoon (March-April-May) temperature at Shimla The rec onstruction has extended the temperature record of the region back to the eighteenth century.