Weather Cycles in the Growth of Big Trees

Douglass, A. E.

doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1909)37[225d:wcitgo]2.0.co;2

Cited by 58 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…Ulric Rudenschöld (1704-1765) compared pine trees in northern and southern Finland finding both differences and similarities, which he attributed to regional climate and soil conditions (Rudenschöld, 1899). Although dendroclimatology has strong traditions in the Nordic countries, it was the American astronomer Andrew Ellicott Douglass (1867Douglass ( -1962, who in the beginning of the 20th century established a statistically valid relationship between climate and tree-ring widths (Douglass, 1909(Douglass, , 1919. He set out to investigate the influence of sunspots on precipitation in America and chose tree-rings as a suitable drought indicator.…”

Section: Early Studies Of Dendroclimatology In Fennoscandiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Dendroclimatology in Fennoscandia – from past accomplishments to future potential

et al. 2010

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Abstract. Fennoscandia has a strong tradition in dendrochronology, and its large tracts of boreal forest make the region well suited for the development of tree-ring chronologies that extend back several thousands of years. Two of the world's longest continuous (most tree-ring chronologies are annually resolved) tree-ring width chronologies are found in northern Fennoscandia, with records from Torneträsk and Finnish Lapland covering the last ca. 7500 yr. In addition, several chronologies between coastal Norway and the interior of Finland extend back several centuries. Tree-ring data from Fennoscandia have provided important information on regional climate variability during the mid to late Holocene and have played major roles in the reconstruction of hemispheric and global temperatures. Tree-ring data from the region have also been used to reconstruct large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns, regional precipitation and drought. Such information is imperative when trying to reach better understanding of natural climate change and variability and its forcing mechanisms, and placing recent climate change within a long-term context.

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Section: Early Studies Of Dendroclimatology In Fennoscandiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Dendroclimatology in Fennoscandia – from past accomplishments to future potential

et al. 2010

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“…Wide rings generally grow during years of optimal climatic conditions and narrow rings occur in response to poor conditions (Babbage 1838;Douglass 1909;Fritts 1976;Hughes et al 2009). Wide rings generally grow during years of optimal climatic conditions and narrow rings occur in response to poor conditions (Babbage 1838;Douglass 1909;Fritts 1976;Hughes et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Tree Rings to Predict the Response of Tree Growth to Climate Change in the Continental United States during the Twenty-First Century

et al. 2010

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In the early 1900s, tree-ring scientists began analyzing the relative widths of annual growth rings preserved in the cross sections of trees to infer past climate variations. Now, many ring-width index (RWI) chronologies, each representing a specific site and species, are archived online within the International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB). Comparing annual tree-ringwidth data from 1097 sites in the continental United States to climate data, the authors quantitatively evaluated how trees at each site have historically responded to interannual climate variations. For each site, they developed a climate-driven statistical growth equation that uses regional climate variables to model RWI values. The authors applied these growth models to predict how tree growth will respond to twenty-first-century climate change, considering four climate projections. Although caution should be taken when extrapolating past relationships with climate into the future, the authors observed several clear and interesting patterns in the growth projections that seem likely if warming continues. Most notably, the models project that productivity of dominant tree species in the southwestern United States will decrease substantially during this century, especially in warmer and drier areas. In the northwest, nonlinear growth relationships with temperature may lead to warming-induced declines in growth for many trees that historically responded positively to warmer temperatures. This work takes advantage of the unmatched temporal length and spatial breath of annual growth data available within the ITRDB and exemplifies the potential of this ever-growing archive of tree-ring data to serve in meta-analyses of large-scale forest ecology.

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“…It assumes primarily that the annually changing weather conditions cause the variation in the width of the annual wood increments (Douglas 1909;Fritts 1976;Schweingruber 1983). The study of the relationships between the tree-ring width and the meteorological conditions during the tree's lifetime allows the climatic conditioning of tree growth to be determined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dendroclimatological regions of Douglas fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii Franco) in western Poland

Feliksik

Wilczynski

2004

European Journal of Forest Research

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Six Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii Franco) stands were selected in both the Sudety Mountains and the Great Poland Lowland. These two regions are distinctly different with regard to thermal and pluvial conditions. In each stand, two increment cores per tree were extracted from 20 approximately 100-year-old trees and the tree-ring widths measured. It is clear from the different growth reactions of the study trees to the climatic conditions that the Sudety Mountains and the Great Poland Lowland are two dendrochronologically separate regions. The tree-ring width chronologies form homogeneous groups for each region. The tree ring-climate models for Douglas fir in both regions indicate similarities and differences. The similarities among chronologies are attributed to winter temperature. The differences are attributed to rainfall (which changes with longitude and altitude of sites) during the vegetation season.

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Weather Cycles in the Growth of Big Trees

Cited by 58 publications

References 0 publications

Dendroclimatology in Fennoscandia – from past accomplishments to future potential

Dendroclimatology in Fennoscandia – from past accomplishments to future potential

Using Tree Rings to Predict the Response of Tree Growth to Climate Change in the Continental United States during the Twenty-First Century

Dendroclimatological regions of Douglas fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii Franco) in western Poland

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