March 2016

Shipwrecks and tree ring evidence: fewer hurricanes when the sun was less active

Valerie Trouet of the LTRR and her colleagues use shipwrecks and tree rings to trace the history of hurricanes, finding fewer during a period of low solar activity.

LTRR researchers mapping the history of Medirerranean drought

LTRR researchers Kevin Anchukaitis, Ramzi Touchan and David Meko are co-authors on a paper mapping drought in the Mediterranean over the past 900 years.

Drought, heat and cold stress...and bugs: the Mediterranean joy of tree life

Mediterranean forests provide multiple challenges and opportunities to dendroecology. I will cover some of these questions by presenting three examples we have studied. These study cases include different stressors such as drought-induced dieback affecting silver fir forests, winter drought involving Scots pine stands, and defoliations caused by the pine processionary moth. Tree rings allow addressing these disturbance factors following a retrospective approach. However, I will emphasize that such observational studies must be complemented by other sources of information (e.g.