Identifying climatically suitable areas for growing particular trees in Latin America

Six climatic factors important for tree species selection were calculated from monthly mean values of maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation estimated for 66,688 locations in a 10-min (18.5 km approx.) grid across Latin America. These included measures such as mean annual temperature, mean maximum temperature of the hottest month, mean annual precipitation and rainfall regime. Three microcomputer programs were written to enable the database to be interrogated for Latin America as a whole, and also for the northern and southern regions. The use of the programs is demonstrated with Acacia mearnsii, Eucalyptus camaldulensis (northern provenances) and Pinus radiata. It is concluded that the programs can assist identifying climatically suitable areas for these trees and also assist developing improved descriptions of climatic requirements for other species and provenances. (C) 1998 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.