Climate change can affect tree growth in the Mediterranean basin, which is one of the most fragile areas; therefore, dendroclimatology can provide important information about the effect of climate change on trees in this basin. The purpose of the study is to find the effect of climate parameters and changes on tree-ring growth by producing site chronologies of Pinus brutia Ten. (Turkish pine) and Olea europaea L. (Olive tree) for İzmir in the Aegean region of Türkiye. A total of 45 cores, 22 from O. europaea and 23 from P. brutia trees, were taken. After building two site chronologies, gridded data of 0.50 x 0.50 for the area within 37–38 N latitude and 27–27.5 E longitudes was used in dendroclimatological analysis. The results showed that both species responded to climate parameters and changes. The highest correlation (0.70) was found between the total precipitation of October (t-1) to June (t) and tree-ring widths of P. brutia in the years 1950–2019. Average temperature in December–February, which has a positive influence on tree rings, had significant positive correlation during 1955–1999; later, its effect has decreased and became non-significant in O. europaea but remained significant in P. brutia trees. The reason for this change is the increasing temperature; therefore, it will be negative in the next decades. However, this negative effect will be seen earlier in O. europaea than in P. brutia. In conclusion, increasing temperature, which causes drier conditions, and low precipitation are the most important limiting factors on tree-ring growth in the region. The negative effect of these factors has been getting more severe over the last two decades.
Cite this article as: Etöz, M., Şen, O. F., Bora, E., Yüceerim, G., & Akkemik, Ü. (2025). Tree-ring responses of Pinus brutia and Olea europaea from İzmir (Türkiye) to changing climate. Forestist, 75,0070, doi:10.5152/forestist.2025.24070.