Tree-Ring Talk

Multi-archives reconstruction of past climate in Europe

We present reconstructions of the climate of the last millennium using grape harvest dates, stable isotope composition in human teeth enamel and in tree-rings. We specifically discuss the various proxies (model, database, and transfer function) and their application for reconstructing climate and environmental variables including temperature, drought and isotopic composition of precipitation. We focus on the climate variability of Europe during the Little Ice Age. We also show an application to the reconstruction of human mobility in Northern Europe.

Ashes to Ashes

Ashes to Ashes is a series of drawings depicting recent Arizona wildfires, rendered with charcoal samples personally collected from each fire site. Each drawing is displayed with its corresponding charcoal sample. The collection represents fourteen significant wildfires from 1990 to the present, with archived photographs used as references.

Pacific-Atlantic Ocean influence on wildfires in northeast China (1774 to 2010)

Identification of effects that global climate teleconnection patterns, such as El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), have on regional wildfires is difficult because of short and incomplete records in many areas of the world. We developed the first multi-century wildfire chronologies for China from fire-scarred trees. Wildfires were common from the 1700s to 1949, when national-level fire suppression policies were implemented.

Annually Resolved Forest Biomass Growth in Europe – Observed and Simulated Climate Sensitivity

In light of current and projected increases in global temperatures and atmospheric CO2 concentrations throughout the 21st century, it is crucial to understand the long-term effects of environmental changes and climatic variability on the terrestrial carbon cycle. To complement traditional methods of quantifying carbon cycle dynamics such as forest inventories, eddy-covariance measurements and remote sensing, we established a biomass-oriented tree-ring network along a large climate gradient across Europe.

Coupling radial growth and reproduction in Mediterranean and tropical forests

Negative interannual relationships between tree growth and reproduction may reflect allocation trade-offs or may simply result from dependence on different climatic conditions. Interspecific variation in how tree growth and reproduction respond to interannual climate variation provide insights into how tree species composition may be altered under future climate change. Long-term growth, reproduction and climatic records were used to investigate how climate, tree radial growth and reproduction patterns are related in in two different regions, Mediterranean and tropical.

‘Blue rings’ in multi-century bristlecone pine from near upper tree limit in California and Nevada

Our strongly replicated collections of dendrochronologically dated tree-ring material of bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) from multiple locations in the high mountains of the Great Basin and nearby regions constitute a unique environmental archive. Their tree-ring widths have yielded multi-millennial histories of moisture availability, tree growth, temperature and tree-line elevation as well as of the chronology and influence of climatically effective, explosive volcanic eruptions.
Subscribe to Tree-Ring Talk