Probing (into) the memory of trees with dendrochronology

Communicating with trees through dendrochronology involve developing observational skills that goes beyond the usual year-to-year changes in ring width. Developing excellent observational skills is at the core of crossdating and dendrochronology. Understanding how tree-rings are affected by environmental factors also allows their use in reconstructing conditions prior to the onset of instrumental records. In this talk, I will briefly cover a few research projects being pursued at the University of Winnipeg DendroEcology Laboratory (UWDEL). First I will introduce “white earlywood rings”, a tree-ring anomaly that occurs in numerous coniferous species in central Canada. The focus will be on black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) trees. Second I will introduce a study involving one of the oldest living tree species from eastern Canada, eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana L.). At last I will talk for a split second on some of the research avenues we are pursuing at the UWDEL.