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Tree ring studies in the tropics and subtropics

Article  in  Erdkunde · March 2017

DOI: 10.3112/erdkunde.2017.01.06

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2017 Vol. 71 · No. 1 · 1–4

TREE RING STUDIES IN THE TROPICS AND SUBTROPICS

Dieter A nhuf and Gerhard H. Schleser

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on nologies of tropical tree ensembles are anything but
Climate Change the global surface temperature has numerous and chronologies, e.g. regarding stable iso-
continuously risen since 1861. Increasing tempera- topes are almost non-existent.
tures combined with changing precipitation patterns Up to now, not many tree-ring chronologies
are strong indications for a more active and more in- from the tropics and subtropics exist, although in-
tense hydrological cycle in the coming decades. In this vestigations in these areas have recently increased
respect, it is undisputed that the tropical regions are (Rozendaal and Zuidema 2011). For such investiga-
important for the global climate system. The reaction tions chronologies of high time resolution are needed.
of tropical forests to enhanced atmospheric CO2 con- They are, however, rare because for many of the tree
centrations plays a pivotal role for the land carbon and species tree-rings are difficult to classify as annual
the land water cycle. Currently our understanding of rings (Biondi et al. 1999; Lisi et al. 2008). Therefore,
the physiological reactions such as growth response it is often complicated to use tropical and subtropical
of tropical trees to rising atmospheric CO2 concentra- trees for highly resolved ecophysiological or climato-
tion, partly related to water-use-efficiency ( WUE) and logical studies. On the other hand, Schöngart et al.
climate change is still rather poor and controversially (2007) demonstrated that the application of classical
discussed (Frank et al. 2015). Modifications in their dendrochronology can provide climate information
carbon uptake and transpiration rate have inevita- using tree rings from topical floodplain trees.
bly global consequences. It is still unclear if tropical Growth limiting factors which in many cases
trees assimilate more CO2 with constant or slightly show up in tree-rings as particular proxies do vary,
reduced water losses in a CO2 richer world or if the depending on the area in which the trees develop.
carbon gain remains almost unchanged with reduced Precipitation is certainly the dominant growth limit-
transpiration. ing factor for tropical areas. Within the State of São
Tree-rings are well suited for environmental inves- Paulo, a subtropical area, temperature may vary by as
tigations with much potential for verifications of their much as 10 °C, thus, indicating that even temperature
well-being. Tree rings are mostly annually resolved, must be considered in some tropical areas (Silva et al.
contain environmental information, are easily sam- 2009). An important additional factor for tree growth
pled and as such valuable archives. Growth limiting is presumably the steadily increasing atmospheric CO2
factors control the development of trees allowing the concentration
derivation of transfer functions that relate tree growth The examination and description of naturally
to tree physiological quantities as well as climatic pa- growing trees in their habitat and the patterns they
rameters (Cook and K airiukstis 1992; Fritts 1976). develop is an important topic of dendrochronological
Up to now hemispheric investigations using tree research within the tropics and in many subtropical
rings are mainly based on data sets of mid and high regions. The unusually large diversity of tropical but
latitude sites or Nordic tree-line sites. Investigations partly also subtropical tree species requires numerous
based on trees of tropical or subtropical regions are in­vestigations (e. g. Buckley et al. 1995 and Jalil et
comparatively rare. This has several causes. One rea- al. 1998). Delimitation of tree-ring boundaries, i.e. the
son is the difficulty to identify tree-rings or growth determination of interannual increments, is challeng-
increments of annual resolution. Consequently, it is ing even for a number of tree species from subtropical
often demanding to construct reliable data sets, i.e. regions (Lisi et al. 2008). In this respect isotope analy-
chronologies of annual time resolution, for extracting ses, may ease the problem of determining tree-ring
climatic signals and/or tree physiological parameters. boundaries of trees having problematic or indistinct
Therefore, tropical or subtropical trees have only just tree rings (Pons and Helle 2011). This is based on
recently come into focus of environmentalists and the fact, that in cases of ambiguous tree-rings isotopes
climatologists. Subsequently tree-ring widths chro- of the corresponding wood sections, subdivided into

https://doi.org/10.3112/erdkunde.2017.01.06  ISSN 0014-0015 http://www.erdkunde.uni-bonn.de

2 Vol. 71· No. 1

thin sections of sometimes down to roughly 20 μm al- Due to the rising atmospheric CO2 concentration
low the determination of boundaries (e.g. Verheyden many ecophysiological studies concentrate on the as-
et al. 2004; Schleser et al. 2015). Stable carbon and sumed CO2 -fertilization effect especially with respect
oxygen isotopes of thin section investigations can also to the water and carbon balance of trees. Water use
provide short term environmental signals since they efficiency ( WUE) is a suitable quantity to describe this
may resolve intra-annual events (Poussart et al. 2004; process. In a broader sense the WUE reflects the carbon
Helle and Schleser 2004). Based on the carbon and and water economics of a tree. WUE is normally ex-
oxygen isotopes of intra-annual tree-ring series e.g. pressed as intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE) which
Verheyden et al (2004) were able to trace the El Niño is proportional to the existing and known leaf external
event of 1997, whereas neither the tree ring width of to leaf internal CO2 concentration difference (Ca – Ci).
1997 nor the tree-ring width of 1998 registered this Contrary to WUE which additionally considers the ac-
event. tual water consumption, iWUE can be regarded as a
Besides the usage of tree-ring widths, tree-ring key measure of the water costs to maintain a fixed rate
density (Schweingruber et al. 1978), vessel area and of carbon assimilation. Knowledge of Ci from stable
stable isotopes, especially δ13C und δ18O have been carbon isotopes of tree-rings and the time series of Ca
established as valuable proxies for ecophysiological (e.g. from ice cores or meteorological measurements),
studies (Gagen et al. 2011). Notably stable isotopes are the decisive elements to develop water use efficien-
have lately shown a very promising potential for the cy scenarios. While some studies for temperate regions
reconstruction of tree behaviour in relation to past en- have lately been published showing water use efficien-
vironmental variations (e.g. Volland et al 2016). cy (iWUE) and transpiration e.g. for European forests
The currently available studies on tropical wood (Frank et al. 2015), similar studies for tropical regions
samples indicate that isotope signals can either be used to predict sequences of transpiration events are still
to detect tree-ring boundaries and/or derive highly missing. In view of the importance of tropical forests
resolved environmental and tree physiological proper- for the global climate system this should certainly be
ties. Thus, isotopes may serve two purposes: on the a venture for the future. Annually resolved long-term
one hand, they allow a proper determination of tree- carbon isotope tree-ring measurements across a tropi-
rings using thin section isotope samples by applying cal forest network, e.g. the Amazon region, could be
laser microdissection techniques (if necessary) and on used to reconstruct the physiologically driven response
the other hand they allow statements about environ- of intercellular CO2 due to the increasing atmospheric
mental and/or climate changes within their habitat. CO2 concentration.
The reaction of tropical forests to the rising at- During the last years improvements in sample
mospheric CO2 concentration plays a pivotal role for preparation and advances in mass spectrometry have
the land carbon and water cycles (Huntingford et al. paved the way for generating isotope ratios from wood
2011). Stomata are the interface at which plants opti- samples much easier and faster. Although meteorologi-
mize their performance by maximizing carbon gain cal quantities cannot directly be related to isotope ra-
and minimizing water loss. Their responsiveness is tios of tree-rings they are well suited as proxies for en-
a key in controlling the two cycles. Tropical forests vironmental studies. Depending on the sites in which
represent a huge carbon sink and generate nearly half trees grow they may provide surrogates for tempera-
of the global precipitation amount (R aupach and ture, precipitation or other environmental parameters.
Canadell 2010). Up to now our understanding of the At this point it should be stressed that isotope ratios do
physiological reactions of tropical trees to rising at- not, however, replace tree-ring widths and vessel area
mospheric CO2 concentrations and climate change is information. Isotope ratios and anatomical features
very poor and is discussed controversially (Cernusak (tree-ring-widths, vessel areas) can complement one
et al. 2011). It is unclear if tropical trees assimilate another to gain more information about the environ-
more CO2 with constant water losses or the carbon mental conditions under which trees grow (Sidarova
gain remains unchanged with reduced transpiration. et al. 2011; McCaroll et al. 2011).
Theoretically this could imply that the land water cy- The current volume of “Erdkunde” is dedicated
cle is slowing down and carbon sequestration is rising to modern research in the field of dendrochronology
(Holtum and Winter 2010). The ratio between as- in the tropics and subtropics. It should, however, be
similated CO2 and transpired H2O is the main deter- stressed that such a topic is too broad to be treated
minant for the cycling of water on land and, therefore, in a comprehensive way in one volume. Five different
the precipitation above continental areas (Sheil and papers have been selected. The first treatise (Fichtler
Murdiyarso 2009). 2017) is a review on the use of tropical tree species in
2017 D. Anhuf and G. H. Schleser: Tree ring studies in the tropics and subtropics 3

dendroclimatology, followed by an article that is con- Fichtler, E. (2017): Dendroclimatology using tropical broad-
centrating on African Baobabs from Botswana (Slotta leaved tree species – a review. In: Erdkunde 71 (1), this vol-
et al. 2017). Missing and false tree rings, often a prob- ume, 5–22. https://doi.org/10.3112/erdkunde.2017.01.01
lem with tropical tree species, are the topic of this ar- Fritts, H. C. (1976): Tree rings and climate. London.
ticle. It demonstrates that these problems can possibly Frank, D. C.; Poulter, B.; Saurer, M.; Esper, J.; Huntingford,
be circumvented due to strong relationships between C.; Helle, G.; Treydte, K.; Zimmermann, N. E.; Schleser,
tree-ring width and annual precipitation amount, al- G. H.; Ahlström, A.; Ciais, P.; Friedlingstein, P.; Levis,
lowing in the actual case the development of a prelimi- S.; Lomas, M.; Sitch, S.; Viovy, N.; Andreu-Hayles, L.;
nary chronology. Subsequently, significant correlations Bednarz, Z.; Berninger, F.; Boettger, T.; D‘Alessandro,
of the carbon discrimination (Δ13C) and the oxygen C. M.; Daux, V.; Filot, M.; Grabner, M.; Gutierrez, E.;
isotopes of tree rings with climate data are reported. Haupt, M.; Hilasvuori, E.; Jungner, H.; Kalela-Brundin,
The third paper (Locosselli et al. 2017), is somewhat M.; Krapiec, M.; Leuenberger, M.; Loader, N. J.; Marah,
more specific and deals with the age trends and radial H.; Masson-Delmotte, V.; Pazdur, A.; Pawelczyk, S.;
growth rates of three Hymenaea species inhabiting four Pierre, M.; Planells, O.; Pukiene, R.; Reynolds-Henne,
of the six biomes found in Brazil. The article of Pitsch C. E.; Rinne, K. T.; Saracino, A.; Sonninen, E.; Stieve-
et al. (2017) addresses the suitability of Cariniana estrel- nard, M.; Switsur, V. R.; Szczepanek, M.; Szychowska-
lensis for dendrochronological and dendroecological in- Krapiec, E.; Todaro, L.; Waterhouse J. S. and Weigl, M.
vestigations. The last paper (Ben et al. 2017) presents (2015): Water-use efficiency and transpiration across Euro-
for the first time a study on growth periodicity and pean forests during the Anthropocene. In: Nature Climate
stable carbon isotope ratios based on tree ring cellulose Change 5, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2614
of a tree species with C4 photosynthesis. These results Holtum, J. and Winter, K. (2010): Elevated [CO2] and for-
are compared with the corresponding data of a C3 tree est vegetation: more a water issue than a carbon issue?
species from the same habitat in Hawaii. In: Functional Plant Biology 37, 694–702. https://doi.
org/10.1071/FP10001
Gagen, M.; McCarroll, D.; Loader, N. and Robertson, I.
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geo.2015.02.014 Authors
Schöngart, J.; Wittmann, F.; Worbes, M.; Piedade, M. T.
F.; Krambeck, H-J. and Junk, W. (2007): Management Prof. Dr. Dieter Anhuf
criteria for Ficus insipida Willd. (Moraceae) in Amazonian University of Passau
white-water floodplain forests defined by tree-ring analy- Department of Physical Geography
sis. In: Annals of Forest Science 64 (6), 657–664. https:// Innstr. 40
doi.org/10.1051/forest:2007044 94032 Passau
Schweingruber, F. H.; Fritts, H. C.; Bräker, O. U.; Drew, L. Germany
G. and Schär, E. (1978): The X-ray technique as applied to anhuf@uni-passau.de
dendroclimatology. In: Tree-Ring Bulletin 38, 61–91.
Sheil, D. and Murdiyarso, D. (2009): How forests attract rain: Prof. Dr. Gerhard H. Schleser
an examination of a new hypothesis. In: Bioscience 59, FZJ Research Center Jülich
341–347. https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2009.59.4.12 Institute of Bio- and Geosciences IBG-3
Sidorova, O. V.; Saurer, M.; Myglan, V. S.; Eichler, A.; 52428 Jülich
Schwikowski, M.; Kirdyanov, A. V.; Bryukhanova, Germany
M. V.; Gerasimova,O. V.; Kalugin, I. A.; Daryin, A. V. g.schleser@fz-juelich.de

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