Tree rings and rainfall in the equatorial Amazon

Granato‐Souza, Daniela; Stahle, David W.; Barbosa, Ana Carolina Maioli Campos; Feng, Song; Torbenson, Max C. A.; Pereira, Gabriel de Assis; Schöngart, Jochen; Barbosa, João Paulo Delfino; Griffin, Daniel

doi:10.1007/s00382-018-4227-y

Cited by 40 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…The reconstruction exhibits strong interannual and low-frequency variability, including decadal to multidecadal episodes of drought and wetness. The mid-19th century drought is especially notable because it extended with little relief from 1864-1882 ( Figure 3b) and was also reconstructed by Granato-Souza et al (2018). The two reconstructions now available from the Rio Paru sector therefore indicate that severe and sustained drought has been a feature of natural climate variability over the eastern equatorial Amazon, including decadal moisture regimes that exceeded any recorded during the relatively short instrumental period (Figure 3).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…High‐resolution proxy precipitation data could help document multidecadal variability in the preinstrumental period. The first moisture sensitive tree‐ring chronologies of Cedrela odorata have recently been developed in the Amazon basin (Brienen et al, 2012; Granato‐Souza et al, 2018), a significant accomplishment because most tropical tree species do not form consistent annual growth rings suitable for dendroclimatic analysis. The 231‐ year long Cedrela chronology from the eastern Amazon was used to reconstruct wet season rainfall from 1786–2016 (Granato‐Souza et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multidecadal Changes in Wet Season Precipitation Totals Over the Eastern Amazon

Granato‐Souza

Stahle

Torbenson

et al. 2020

Geophysical Research Letters

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Instrumental observations indicate that Amazon precipitation and streamflow extremes have increased during the last 40 years, possibly due to anthropogenic changes and natural variability. How unprecedented these changes might be is difficult to determine because some paleoclimatic, instrumental, and climate model simulations suggest that Amazonian precipitation and streamflow may be subject to multidecadal variability with return intervals longer than most direct observations. A new 258-year long tree-ring chronology of Cedrela odorata has been developed in the eastern Amazon and has been used to reconstruct wet season precipitation totals from 1759-2016. Reconstructed drought extremes are associated with significant sea surface temperature anomalies over the tropical Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Strong multidecadal variance is identified in the reconstruction that may reflect a component of natural rainfall variability relevant to forest ecosystem dynamics and suggesting that recent hydroclimate changes over the eastern Amazon may not be unprecedented over the past 258 years.Plain Language Summary Drought and flood extremes in the Amazon River basin have increased in frequency during the last 40 years, but how unprecedented these recent changes might be is difficult to determine because most instrumental records do not extend before 1950. A new tree-ring chronology of Cedrela odorata has been developed in the eastern equatorial Amazon, confirming the exact dating and climate signal of the single existing tree-ring chronology from the region. A tree-ring reconstruction of wet season precipitation based on this new chronology extends from 1759-2016 and documents strong multidecadal variability that impacted the frequency of reconstruction precipitation extremes over the past 258 years.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multidecadal Changes in Wet Season Precipitation Totals Over the Eastern Amazon

Granato‐Souza

Stahle

Torbenson

et al. 2020

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…Fortes et al 15 also found, in Pantanal, a relationship between V. divergens growth and annual rainfall, but no correlation to flood patterns. In a study of two Cedrela species, in Brazilian Amazon, a correlation was observed between growth ring chronology and rainfall 77 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Growth and establishment of monodominant stands affected by ENSO and flooding in the Pantanal

Gris

Paixão

Arruda

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Climatic factors can influence the establishment and growth of wood species, but little is known about the effect of these factors on monodominant communities in wetlands. Therefore, we asked how climatic factors, such as ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation), precipitation and flooding, influence growth and establishment of the dominant species Erythrina fusca in the Pantanal. We determined the age of sampled individuals, the age of the population and evaluated the effects of climate on tree growth. We obtained samples for dendrochronological analyses using destructive (seven individuals) and non-destructive methods. We cross-dated and built a chronology, correlating results with climatic factors. We sampled 0.6 ha of the population and separated individuals into diameter classes to determine age based on diameter/age ratio obtained through dendrochronological analyses. We obtained a chronology with individuals up to 34 years old, while in the population sample, the oldest individual was 54 years old. The factors that influenced growth during the study period were precipitation (positive correlation) and El Niño (negative correlation). E. fusca individuals seem to grow more during the period of highest precipitation, and El Niño events reduce precipitation in the Pantanal, resulting in a decrease in the growth of E. fusca individuals. We detected a decrease of young individuals in the last nine years, which seems to be related to the decrease in minimum flood levels. This indicates a future decline in the number of individuals. These results allow us to propose measures to protect these monodominant formations, which mainly involve avoiding further anthropic activities, that could reduce flooding levels.

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“…The period from 1860 to 1910 is characterized by high Brazil nut tree recruitment associated with mostly negative growth changes in the Bertholletia population, something that is difficult to explain. A recently published reconstruction of the precipitation based on tree rings from Cedrela odorata (Meliaceae) in Eastern Amazonia [81] suggests prolonged dryness from around 1864 to 1881, with seven consecutive severe drought years (1864–1871). The correlation maps between the tree-ring chronology of Cedrela and the precipitation regime includes Central Amazonia where our study site is located.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth rings of Brazil nut trees (Bertholletia excelsa) as a living record of historical human disturbance in Central Amazonia

et al. 2019

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The Brazil nut tree ( Bertholletia excelsa ) is an iconic and economically valuable species that dominates vast swathes of the Amazon Basin. This species seems to have been an important part of human subsistence strategies in the region from at least the Early Holocene, and its current distribution may be a legacy of past human settlement. Because B . excelsa is a long-lived pioneer tree it requires natural or human disturbances to increase light availability in the understory for a successful establishment. However, it remains unclear how the long-term population dynamics of this species have been shaped by pre-colonial and post-colonial human practices. Here, we use tree-ring analyses to look at changes in growing conditions over the past 400 years in a Brazil nut tree population in Central Amazonia. We identify changes in tree recruitment and growth rates associated not only with regional climatic variability, but also major political and socio-economic activities recorded by historical documents in the vicinity of Manaus. We demonstrate that the expansion of a post-colonial political center (Manaus) from the middle of the 18 th century onwards coincided with a reduction in recruitment of B . excelsa . We argue that this hiatus suggests the interruption of indigenous management practices, probably due to the collapse of pre-Columbian societies. A second recruitment pulse, and unprecedented cycles of growth release and suppression, aligns with a shift to modern exploitation of the forest into the 20 th century. Our findings shed light on how past histories of human-forest interactions can be revealed by the growth rings of trees in Amazonia. Future interdisciplinary analysis of these trees should enable more detailed investigation of how human forest management has changed in this part of the world, through pre-colonial, colonial, and industrial periods of human activity, with potential implications for conservation.

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Tree rings and rainfall in the equatorial Amazon

Cited by 40 publications

References 45 publications

Multidecadal Changes in Wet Season Precipitation Totals Over the Eastern Amazon

Multidecadal Changes in Wet Season Precipitation Totals Over the Eastern Amazon

Growth and establishment of monodominant stands affected by ENSO and flooding in the Pantanal

Growth rings of Brazil nut trees (Bertholletia excelsa) as a living record of historical human disturbance in Central Amazonia

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