THE EFFECT OF SUNSHINE ON THE HEIGHT INCREMENT OF SCOTS PINE

Abstract. One of the main dendrometric characteristics of Scots pine is the height incre-ment. This characteristic is used to assess the condition of trees and determine radial in-crements in considered periods. Meteorological conditions have a large impact on the length increments, both during formation of buds and during tree growth. The duration of sunshine is one of the factors influencing the weather, thus the relationship between this factor and height increments was considered in this paper. The correlation coefficients and forward stepwise regression analysis were both used for this purpose. The significant dependences between increments in height of Scots pine and sunshine were shown. The sunshine in the vegetation season (current year) had the largest impact mainly in winter and spring months, as well as in July of the current year