How to Measure Growth Dynamics in Tropical Trees a Review
TL;DR: Dendrochronological methods applied to carefully prepared samples can serve as proof of the annual periodicity of growth zones and the analysis of stable isotopes in rings of tropical trees promise to provide interesting climatological information.
Abstract: Cambial dormancy and annual rings in tropical trees are induced by annually occurring dry periods or flooding. Growth periodicity is indicated by the leaf fall behaviour and is connected with an annual periodicity of shoot elongation. Changes in stem diameter are measured with a dendrometer or by measurable differences in the electrical resistance of the cambium. Dendrochronological methods applied to carefully prepared samples can serve as proof of the annual periodicity of growth zones. For this purpose the following methods have been used: cambial wounding, radiocarbon dating, pointer year detection and regression analyses of ring width and climate data. Although X-ray densitometry and the analysis of stable isotopes in rings of tropical trees promise to provide interesting climatological information, the use of these methods remains difficult.
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University of East Anglia1, Australian Institute of Marine Science2, Cooperative Research Centre3, University of Copenhagen4, University of Bern5, Alfred University6, Environment Canada7, Pennsylvania State University8, Goddard Institute for Space Studies9, National Center for Atmospheric Research10, Columbia University11, Georgia Institute of Technology12, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research13, Université catholique de Louvain14, Hydrologic Research Center15, University of Bergen16, Ohio State University17, University of Arizona18, University of Bremen19, University of Edinburgh20, British Antarctic Survey21
TL;DR: A review of late-Holocene palaeoclimaoclimatology represents the results from a PAGES/CLIVAR Intersection Panel meeting that took place in June 2006 as mentioned in this paper, emphasizing current issues in their use for climate reconstruction; various approaches that have been adopted to combine multiple climate proxy records to provide estimates of past annual-to-decadal timescale Northern Hemisphere surface temperatures and other climate variables, such as large-scale circulation indices; and the forcing histories used in climate model simulations of the past millennium.
Abstract: This review of late-Holocene palaeoclimatology represents the results from a PAGES/CLIVAR Intersection Panel meeting that took place in June 2006. The review is in three parts: the principal high-resolution proxy disciplines (trees, corals, ice cores and documentary evidence), emphasizing current issues in their use for climate reconstruction; the various approaches that have been adopted to combine multiple climate proxy records to provide estimates of past annual-to-decadal timescale Northern Hemisphere surface temperatures and other climate variables, such as large-scale circulation indices; and the forcing histories used in climate model simulations of the past millennium. We discuss the need to develop a framework through which current and new approaches to interpreting these proxy data may be rigorously assessed using pseudo-proxies derived from climate model runs, where the `answer' is known. The article concludes with a list of recommendations. First, more raw proxy data are required from the diverse disciplines and from more locations, as well as replication, for all proxy sources, of the basic raw measurements to improve absolute dating, and to better distinguish the proxy climate signal from noise. Second, more effort is required to improve the understanding of what individual proxies respond to, supported by more site measurements and process studies. These activities should also be mindful of the correlation structure of instrumental data, indicating which adjacent proxy records ought to be in agreement and which not. Third, large-scale climate reconstructions should be attempted using a wide variety of techniques, emphasizing those for which quantified errors can be estimated at specified timescales. Fourth, a greater use of climate model simulations is needed to guide the choice of reconstruction techniques (the pseudo-proxy concept) and possibly help determine where, given limited resources, future sampling should be concentrated.
639 citations
Cites background from "How to Measure Growth Dynamics in T..."
...Tropical dendrochronology was long considered impractical because the growth periodicity of most tropical tree species is seldom clearly and unambiguously defined (eg, Jacoby, 1989; Gourlay, 1995; Vetter andWimmer, 1999; Worbes, 1995)....
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...Networks of climatically sensitive tree-ring chronologies have long been used to reconstruct detailed spatial patterns of interannual climate variability on regional and near-hemispheric scales, typically extending observed climate records by several centuries (Fritts, 1991; Schweingruber et al.,…...
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TL;DR: An interpretation of anomalies found in the wood structure and, more generally, of cambial activity in such environments are presented and a classification of tree‐ring formation in mediterranean environments is proposed.
Abstract: We review the literature dealing with mediterranean climate, vegetation, phenology and ecophysiology relevant to the understanding of tree-ring formation in mediterranean regions. Tree rings have been used extensively in temperate regions to reconstruct responses of forests to past environmental changes. In mediterranean regions, studies of tree rings are scarce, despite their potential for understanding and predicting the effects of global change on important ecological processes such as desertification. In mediterranean regions, due to the great spatio-temporal variability of mediterranean environmental conditions, tree rings are sometimes not formed. Often, clear seasonality is lacking, and vegetation activity is not always associated with regular dormancy periods. We present examples of tree-ring morphology of five species (Arbutus unedo, Fraxinus ornus, Quercus cerris, Q. ilex, Q. pubescens) sampled in Tuscany, Italy, focusing on the difficulties we encountered during the dating. We present an interpretation of anomalies found in the wood structure and, more generally, of cambial activity in such environments. Furthermore, we propose a classification of tree-ring formation in mediterranean environments. Mediterranean tree rings can be dated and used for dendrochronological purposes, but great care should be taken in selecting sampling sites, species and sample trees.
394 citations
Additional excerpts
...W, M. (1995)....
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...P, J. S. & C, M. M. (1995)....
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TL;DR: In more than 20 tropical countries and numerous tree species, the existence of annual tree-rings is doubtless proven as mentioned in this paper, but the influence of the photoperiod is questionable, since the growth is induced by short drought periods or long lasting inundation.
374 citations
Cites background from "How to Measure Growth Dynamics in T..."
...In general the positive relation between the amount of precipitation and ring-widths is shown for many species in many parts of the tropics (Worbes 1995)....
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...This is reflected e. g. in different conventions on dry periods and the distribution of seasonality in the tropics (comp. Walter, Lieth 1967; Lauer 1989; Worbes 1995)....
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TL;DR: In this article, tree-ring data covering 150 years from tropical forests show that water-use efficiency has increased with CO2 concentrations but tree growth has not, while increasing CO2 concentration is expected to increase plant growth and water efficiency.
Abstract: Increasing CO2 concentrations are expected to increase plant growth and water efficiency. Tree-ring data covering 150 years from tropical forests show that water-use efficiency has increased with CO2 concentrations but tree growth has not.
365 citations
TL;DR: Tree-ring analyses and dendrometer measurements were carried out on 37 tree species in a semi-deciduous forest of the Reserva Forestal de Caparo, Venezuela to show the seasonality of cambial growth, and the connection between precipitation patterns and tree-ring curves.
Abstract: 1 Tree-ring analyses and dendrometer measurements were carried out on 37 tree species in a semi-deciduous forest of the Reserva Forestal de Caparo, Venezuela, where the mean annual rainfall is about 1700 mm and there is a dry season from December to March. The main purposes of the investigation were to show the seasonality of cambial growth, and the connection between precipitation patterns and tree-ring curves. Long-term rates of wood increment were also estimated.
2 Cambial markings in consecutive years showed that annual rings were formed by many species.
3 The distinctiveness of growth zones was usually greater in deciduous species than in evergreen species, although not all deciduous species had distinct rings.
4 Dendrometer measurements showed that the annual growth rhythm was related to precipitation patterns. Evergreen species tended to show only a short interruption of wood growth (during the later part of the dry season), whereas deciduous species stopped growth completely at the end of the rainy season.
5 For deciduous species, regression analyses showed close relations between tree-ring width and the sum of precipitation outside the rainy seasons (i.e. November to April). Evergreen species reacted to the total annual amount of precipitation.
6 Variation in longest available ring chronology (for Terminalia guianensis) showed little correlation with the El Nino–Southern Oscillation effect.
7 On average trees from natural forests showed relatively constant growth over the entire life span. Plantation trees grew fast up to an age of 15–20 years, but annual increments then decreased to values seen in natural forest trees.
361 citations
References
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1,581 citations
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01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: In this paper, tropical rain forests through time: palaecogeography palaeoclimates pleistocene refugia, and species richness and diversity of animals modes of coexistence.
Abstract: Part 1 What are tropical rain forests?: forest maintenance - the growth cycle floristics. Part 2 Plant life: climbers and epiphytes. Part 3 Rain forest animals: richness and diversity of animals modes of co-existence. Part 4 Interconnections between plants and animals - the web of life: animals as pollinators animals as dispersers food webs, mobile links, and keystone species. Part 5 Tropical rain forests through time: palaecogeography palaeoclimates pleistocene refugia. Part 6 Forest dynamics: forest microclimates growth and shade tolerance analysed silviculture forest recovery after human disturbance. Part 7 Nutrients and their cycles: shifting agriculture nutrient pools and cycles in primary rain forest heath forest - a fragile ecosystem the upper montane forest enigma. Part 8 Species richness: historical plant geography. Part 9 Tropical rain forests yesterday, today and tomorrow: indigenous cultures the colonial era genetic resource conservation.(Part contents)
1,087 citations
TL;DR: Despite specific variations in phenology, the community as a whole exhibited regular seasonality, with single annual peaks of flowering and fruiting and a double peak of leaf production.
Abstract: During 1960-69, observations were made of flowering, fruiting and foliar activity of 61 canopy trees (representing 45 species) in a largely undisturbed tract of Hill Dipterocarp Forest. Rainfall was measured by an accumulating gauge and, at a nearby station, the number of rainy days recorded. Annually recurrent floral cycles were displayed by only ten species. In these and in 11 additional species, foliar cycles were also circannual. Gregarious flowering, apparently in response to drought, occurred in many species in 1963 and 1968. In other years, interspecific differences in periodicity maintained a minimal incidence of flowering at 44%, and fruiting at 27% of species in the sample. Despite specific variations in phenology, the community as a whole exhibited regular seasonality, with single annual peaks of flowering and fruiting and a double peak of leaf production.
277 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the distribution of bomb-produced /sup 14/C down to lower latitudes and into the ocean surface was traced using ground level stations. But the results of the measurements were limited to a small number of locations and contamination problems.
Abstract: When the ever greater series of nuclear tests were exposed to the atmosphere at higher northern latitudes during 1961 and 1962, an attempt was made at this laboratory to trace the distribution of bomb-produced /sup 14/C down to lower latitudes and into the ocean surface. Several ground level stations were established for this purpose in the early 1960's, from Spitsbergen (78 /sup 0/N) to Madagascar (21 /sup 0/S). Measurements were also gradually extended to the ocean surface. The tropospheric measurements which partly have been performed during the last 18 years have proved to be important for testing exchange models for industrial CO/sub 2/ in the atmosphere and more generally for studying the carbon cycle in nature. The present paper includes tables of all the atmospheric /sup 14/C data measured at this laboratory during 18 years. Several graphs are also included and a description of sampling locations and contamination problems. The paper is an answer to those who want to use the data in their own modeling research.
277 citations