Search results for "dendrochronology"
showing 10 items of 71 documents
Climate-tree-growth relationships of Scots pine stands (Pinus sylvestris L.) exposed to soil dryness
1998
Dendroclimatological techniques were used to assess the impact of climatic factors on radial tree growth (total ring-width and latewood-width) of stunted Scots pine trees (Pinus sylvestris L.) exposed to soil dryness and nutrient deficiency on a dolomite substrate. The response of eight scattered populations representing various habitats, yet influenced by the same regional climate was investigated. Total ring-width and latewood-width were dated, standardized and several chronology statistics, which estimate the chronology signal strength and the potential climate signal in the series, were determined. Dendroclimatic analysis comprised evaluation of event/pointer years as well as response f…
Microscopical and Mycological Investigations on Wood of Pendunculate Oak (Quercus robur L) Relative to the Occurrence of Oak Decline
1996
Summary Microscopical studies exhibited great differences between healthy and damaged pendunculate oak trees (Quercus robur L.) relative to the state of sapwood vessels and the degree of fungal infection. In the sapwood of damaged trees deposits, discolorations and early tylosis formations were found which frequently occurred in combination with fungal infections. These results lead to the assumption that the defence reaction of the trees probably induced by fungal infection changes the structure of the tree vessels to such an extent that their water transfer function is disturbed. Some fungal genera playing an important role in the discussion of the causes of oak decline could be isolated.…
Extraterrestrial confirmation of tree-ring dating
2014
Insensitivity of Tree-Ring Growth to Temperature and Precipitation Sharpens the Puzzle of Enhanced Pre-Eruption NDVI on Mt. Etna (Italy)
2017
On Mt. Etna (Italy), an enhanced Normalized Difference in Vegetation Index (NDVI) signature was detected in the summers of 2001 and 2002 along a distinct line where, in November 2002, a flank eruption subsequently occurred. These observations suggest that pre-eruptive volcanic activity may have enhanced photosynthesis along the future eruptive fissure. If a direct relation between NDVI and future volcanic eruptions could be established, it would provide a straightforward and low-cost method for early detection of upcoming eruptions. However, it is unclear if, or to what extent, the observed enhancement of NDVI can be attributed to volcanic activity prior to the subsequent eruption. We conse…
Potential and limitation of combining terrestrial and marine growth records from Iceland
2017
Abstract Seasonally formed, perennial growth increments of various organisms may possibly contain information about past environmental changes, well before instrumental measurements occurred. Such annually resolved proxy records have been mainly obtained from terrestrial archives, with a paucity of similar data originating from marine habitats. Iceland represents ideal conditions to develop both, tree ring (dendro) and bivalve shell (sclero) chronologies from adjacent sites. Here we introduce the first network of Icelandic birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.) and rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) dendrochronologies, as well as ocean quahog (Arctica islandica L.) sclerochronologies. In order to identify th…
Warfare dendrochronology: Trees witness the deployment of the German battleship Tirpitz in Norway
2019
Abstract War has an immediate and obvious effect on people and communities, but its impacts on local ecology can be more subtle. This paper shows how one military encounter in the Second World War has left a clear legacy in the northern forests of Norway, trackable more than seventy years later. We used annual growth rings of ∼180 pine and ∼30 birch trees as witnesses of the deployment of the German battleship Tirpitz at the Kafjord. The Tirpitz was the target of several Allied air attacks, but the Kriegsmarine (German navy from 1935 to 1945) used artificial smoke, consisting of chlorosulfonic acid and zinc/hexachloroethane, to hide the ship. These smoke-screen actions throughout 1944 cause…
Pointer years in tree-ring width and earlywood-vessel area time series of Quercus robur—Relation with climate factors near its northern distribution …
2013
Abstract For a long time, radial growth of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) in relation to environmental factors has been studied in Central Europe. However, there is insufficient information on oak growth in the Baltic region. Climate–growth interactions have been mostly investigated by correlation/response analysis between ring width and climatic factors. Other wood anatomical proxies, and also pointer year analysis, which focuses on weather extremes, can be sources of additional information. Wood samples were taken from 40 sites across Latvia. Tree-ring width (TRW) and mean area of earlywood vessels (EVA) were measured. To assess differences in wood formation among sites, a PCA was perfor…
New Tree-Ring Evidence from the Pyrenees Reveals Western Mediterranean Climate Variability since Medieval Times
2017
Paleoclimatic evidence is necessary to place the current warming and drying of the western Mediterranean basin in a long-term perspective of natural climate variability. Annually resolved and absolutely dated temperature proxies south of the European Alps that extend back into medieval times are, however, mainly limited to measurements of maximum latewood density (MXD) from high-elevation conifers. Here, the authors present the world’s best replicated MXD site chronology of 414 living and relict Pinus uncinata trees found >2200 m above mean sea level (MSL) in the Spanish central Pyrenees. This composite record correlates significantly ( p ≤ 0.01) with May–June and August–September mean …
South Asian monsoon climate change and radiocarbon in the Arabian Sea during early and middle Holocene
2002
The 1 4 C ages of planktonic foraminifers Globigerinoides sacculifer bracketing the Younger Dryas in a δ 1 8 O record of Globigerinoides ruber from a laminated sediment core on the Pakistani continental margin suggest thatsurface reservoir ages in the Arabian Sea were in excess of 1000 years during the deglaciation. A least squares error fit of a detailed 1 4 C chronology to the (atmospheric) tree ring record gave variable early Holocene reservoir ages between 780 and 1120 years, well above the prebomb value of 640 years. Mid-Holocene reservoir ages are less well constrained but were probably closer to the prebomb value. The method used to fit individual core sections to the tree ring recor…