Cross-dating of highly sensitive Common beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) tree-ring series with numerous missing rings

Common beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) at the Nature Reserve Tolseboda in Southern Sweden posed a challenge to be cross-dated. A site chronology spanning the period 1736-2006 was built. It was possible to cross-date even suppressed beech trees with extremely narrow and frequently missing tree rings; in one of them approximately 36 rings were missing. The prominent climatic signals were summer temperature (July-August) and precipitation (June-August) of the previous year. The narrowest pointer year was 1916, caused by the dry prior summer. (C) 2008 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.