Isotope Dendrochronology: Historical Perspective

Abstract

Although the fields of dendrochronology and light stable-isotope mass spectrometry emerged at different times in the first half of the 20th Century, their convergence with the earliest measurements of isotope composition of tree rings is now ca. 70 years old. Much of the early stable isotope analysis (including on wood) explored natural variation of isotopes in the environment, but those researchers making the measurements were already contemplating the role of the isotope composition of the source substrates (e.g., water and CO2), biochemical fractionation, and environment as contributors to final tree-ring isotope values. Growing interest in tree-ring isotopes was heavily motivated by paleoclimate or paleoatmosphere reconstruction, but this new field rapidly developed to generate greatly improved mechanistic understanding along with expanded applications to physiology, ecology, pollution, and more. This chapter primarily charts the historical progression in tree-ring C-H-O isotope studies over those seven decades, but it also identifies potential productive emerging and future directions.

New insights into the mechanisms of plant isotope fractionation from combined analysis of intramolecular13C and deuterium abundances inPinus nigratree-ring glucose

“…Analysis of the systematic 13 C/ 12 C variation (commonly termed “ 13 C signal”; abbreviations in Table 1) across tree-ring series is widely used to study physiological traits such as water-use efficiency, plant-environment interactions, and past climate conditions (Leavitt & Roden, 2022). Signals found at the whole-tissue or whole-molecule level (Fig.…”

Blue intensity of Swiss stone pine as a high-frequency temperature proxy in the Alps

“…Various physical and chemical parameters of tree rings have been analysed, especially in recent decades (Björklund et al 2019;Leavitt and Roden 2022). However, tree-ring width (TRW) is still the most popular parameter used for climatic reconstructions, although it has been demonstrated…”