Climate effects on inter- and intra-annual larch stemwood anomalies in the Mongolian forest-steppe

•Climate-effects on tree-ring width and wood anatomical anomalies are studied.•The study refers to Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) in the Mongolian forest-steppe.•Temperature has strongly increased and tree-ring width is reduced by summer drought.•Latewood thickness has declined which is attributable to increased aridity in summer.•Missing ring frequency has increased.

Climate response of tree-ring width and intra-annual wood anomalies were studied in stands of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) on Mt. Bogd Uul in the forest-steppe ecotone of Mongolia. Climate on Mt. Bogd Uul is characterized by an increase of the annual mean temperature by 1.5 K between 1965 and 2007, the lack of a long-term trend for annual precipitation and, with it, an increase in aridity. Tree-ring width increases with increasing June precipitation of the current year (June) and increasing late summer precipitation of the previous year. In >100-year old trees, also a negative correlation of tree-ring width with the July temperature of the year prior to tree-ring formation was found. Decreasing tree-ring width with increasing snowfall in December can be explained with the protection of the frost-sensitive eggs of gypsy moth by snow cover, which is a major herbivore of larch in Mongolia and causes reduction in the annual stem increment. The most significant change in wood anatomy was the decline of wide latewood, which is attributable to the increase of summer days with a mean temperature > 15 °C and drought periods in summer without precipitation. Increasing summer drought is also thought to have caused the repeated occurrence of missing rings since the 1960s, which were not observed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.