Paleoclimate reconstructions from tree rings have so far been restricted to the western and northern Caucasus, and there have been no published tree-ring studies on any topic from the Republic of Azerbaijan in the eastern Caucasus. Here we report the first tree-ring study conducted in Azerbaijan and show that, in the southern part of the country, the common yew (Taxus baccata L.) has potential to provide annually-resolved paleoclimate information on temperature variability during winter. During the summers of 2016 and 2017, we obtained single cores from 23 yews in the Hyrcanian forests of southern Azerbaijan, near the village of Hamarat (Lerik district). The oldest yew had an inner ring date of C.E. 1867, but most other trees at this location began growing in the early 20^th Century. Growth at the Lerik site is primarily and positively influenced by winter temperatures and, to a lesser degree, precipitation during summer and early autumn. Future collections of tree-ring widths from T. baccata in Azerbaijan could fill important geographic and seasonal gaps in our current paleotemperature network, and also provide useful information regarding the pace and potential impacts of wintertime warming in this region.

迄今为止，从树年轮进行的古气候重建仅限于高加索西部和北部，并且尚未有关于东高加索地区阿塞拜疆共和国关于任何主题的树年轮研究的发表。在这里，我们报告了在阿塞拜疆进行的第一个树木年轮研究，结果表明，在该国南部，普通紫杉（Taxus baccata L.）有潜力提供每年解析的冬季温度变化的古气候信息。在2016年和2017年夏季，我们从阿塞拜疆南部哈马拉特村（Lerik区）附近的Hyrcanian森林的23个紫杉中获得了单核。最古老的红豆杉有CE 1867年的内环日期，但在这个位置上大多数其他树木始于上世纪20日益增长^日世纪。莱里克（Lerik）站点的生长主要受到冬季温度的积极影响，而夏季和初秋的降水则受到较小程度的影响。未来从阿塞拜疆的巴塔克烟草中收集的年轮宽度可以填补我们当前古温度网络中的重要地理和季节空白，也可以提供有关该地区冬季变暖的速度和潜在影响的有用信息。