This study addresses the effects of climatic drivers on the tree ring width parameters (total ring width, earlywood width, and latewood width) and the total ring δ¹³C series of different wood components (whole wood, α-cellulose, and holocelluose) from Masson pine in subtropical China. Pairwise correlation is significant between three ring width parameters. Earlywood and latewood width did not reveal much stronger climatic sensitivity rather than total ring width. This indicates that the use of intra-annual ring width have little benefit in extracting more climate information. The mean δ¹³C series of the three components of the total ring had the strongest climatic response to the July–September relative humidity (r= -0.792 (whole wood, WW), -0.758 (holocellulose, HC) and -0.769 (α-cellulose, AC)).

Through both stationary temporal and spatial-statistical perspectives, the moisture drivers (summer/autumn) had a significant impact on three ring width parameters and three components of Masson pine. Overall, the tree ring width parameters and the δ¹³C series showed a different response pattern to the same climate drivers during the same period. Moreover, the R-squared values of the strongest climate-proxy correlation coefficients are smaller than 50% for tree ring width. The δ¹³C series may be a more representative climate proxy than tree-ring width parameters for the dendroclimatology in subtropical China.