Improvement of dendrochronological crops yield reconstruction by separate application of earlywood and latewood width chronologies succeeded in rain-fed semiarid region. (1) Background: Tree-ring width chronologies have been successfully applied for crops yield reconstruction models. We propose application of separated earlywood and latewood width chronologies as possible predictors improving the fitness of reconstruction models. (2) Methods: The generalized yield series of main crops (spring wheat, spring barley, oats) were investigated in rain-fed and irrigated areas in semiarid steppes of South Siberia. Chronologies of earlywood, latewood, and total ring width of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) growing in forest-steppe in the middle of the study area were tested as predictors of yield reconstruction models. (3) Results: In the rain-fed territory, separation of earlywood and latewood allowed increasing variation of yield explained by reconstruction model from 17.4 to 20.5%, whereas total climatic-driven component of variation was 41.5%. However, both tree-ring based models explained only 7.7% of yield variation in the irrigated territory (climate inclusion increased it to 34.8%). Low temperature sensitivity of larch growth was the main limitation of the model. A 240-year (1780–2019) history of crop failures and yield variation dynamics were estimated from the actual data and the best reconstruction model. (4) Conclusions: Presently in the study region, breeding of the environment-resistant crops varieties compensates the increase of temperature in the yield dynamics, preventing severe harvest losses. Tree-ring based reconstructions may help to understand and forecast response of the crops to the climatic variability, and also the probability of crop failures, particularly in the rain-fed territories.

Modern pollen-rain analysis was carried out for the first time across central, western and eastern regions of Mizoram, encompassing different regional climatic zones. The vegetation experiences massive ecological pressure as a consequence of environmental factors, including the monsoon winds from the Bay of Bengal, high temperature, precipitation conditions, and varied topography. Additionally, intense human activities in the state of Mizoram impact the forest landscape in the remote northeastern part of India. These include agricultural activities such as shifting cultivation ( Jhum ), commercial crop plantations such as banana, rubber, oil palm, tea, etc., pastoral activities and others. We collected moss cushion samples across transects in the central, western and eastern regions of Mizoram, to comprehend the impact of natural and anthropogenic factors on the modern vegetation and resultant pollen taxa on the surface deposits. The modern pollen data were analyzed statistically, including constrained redundancy analysis (RDA). The RDA analysis revealed the impact of bioclimatic variables on the pollen record, such as isothermality, precipitation in the warmest quarter and annual precipitation. The most significant variable was isothermality (bio_3) which indicated the dominance of anthropogenically impacted sites on the species distribution. Here, we identified that an interplay of climate- and anthropogenic-driven forcing were primarily controlling the modern vegetation and pollen-rain across Mizoram. The anthropogenic indicator pollen, such Poaceae (>50 µm), Caryophylaceae, Asteroideae, Cannabaceae, and Palmae at various sites reveal the impact of anthropogenic activities on the modern vegetation. The results reveal the impact of climatic zones, altitude gradients, anthropogenic activities and vegetation distribution on the pollen yield from the surface deposits.