Journal
DENDROCHRONOLOGIA
Volume 69, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER GMBH
DOI: 10.1016/j.dendro.2021.125879
Keywords
Minimum density (MND); Maximum latewood density (MXD); Maximum latewood blue intensity (MXBI); Stable isotopes; South Africa; Widdringtonia cedarbergensis; X-ray Computed micro tomography (X-ray CT)
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Funding
- King Baudouin Foundation
- Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF)
- National Science Foundation CAREER grant [AGS-1349942]
- College of Science at the University of Arizona
- Ghent University [BOF.EXP.2017.0007]
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The study investigates the climatic signal in various tree-ring parameters of Clanwilliam cedar in South Africa. It found that minimum density was negatively influenced by early spring precipitation, while tree-ring width was positively influenced by spring precipitation. Maximum latewood density and maximum latewood blue intensity were also influenced by different seasons and precipitation levels.
Clanwilliam cedar (Widdringtonia cedarbergensis; WICE), a long-lived conifer with distinct tree rings in Cape Province, South Africa, has potential to provide a unique high-resolution climate proxy for southern Africa. However, the climate signal in WICE tree-ring width (TRW) is weak and the dendroclimatic potential of other WICE tree-ring parameters therefore needs to be explored. Here, we investigate the climatic signal in various tree-ring parameters, including TRW, Minimum Density (MND), Maximum Latewood Density (MXD), Maximum Latewood Blue Intensity (MXBI), and stable carbon and oxygen isotopes (delta O-18 and delta C-13) measured in WICE samples collected in 1978. MND was negatively influenced by early spring (October-November) precipitation whereas TRW was positively influenced by spring November-December precipitation. MXD was negatively influenced by autumn (April-May) temperature whereas MXBI was not influenced by temperature. Both MXD and MXBI were negatively influenced by January-March and January-May precipitation respectively. We did not find a significant climate signal in either of the stable isotope time series, which were measured on a limited number of samples. WICE can live to be at least 356 years old and the current TRW chronology extends back to 1564 CE. The development of full-length chronologies of alternative tree-ring parameters, particularly MND, would allow for an annually resolved, multi-century spring precipitation reconstruction for this region in southern Africa, where vulnerability to future climate change is high.
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