Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T09:30:02.767Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Global climate analysis of growth rings in woods, and its implications for deep-time paleoclimate studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Howard J. Falcon-Lang
Howard J. Falcon-Lang*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK. E-mail: howard.falcon-lang@bristol.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Quantitative analysis of growth rings in pre-Quaternary fossil woods is commonly used as a paleoclimatic indicator. In this paper, a global analysis of the relationship between climate and growth ring parameters in modern trees is presented that, in part, invalidates the use of fossil woods in this way. Data reprocessed from the International Tree-Ring Data Bank are used to analyze three parameters, mean ring width, mean sensitivity, and percentage latewood, from 727 sites across a global climatic range. Results allow the complex relationship between climate and growth ring parameters to be quantified at the global scale for the first time. They reveal the enormous variability in tree response to climate-forcing, which is influenced by disparate factors such as taxonomy, ontogeny, ecology, and environment. Quantitative analysis of fossil growth ring data in light of the modern results indicates that even the largest and most detailed fossil studies conducted to date are probably inadequate in distinguishing a paleoclimate signal from the background noise of variability. The validity of using quantitative growth ring parameters as indicators of Pre-Quaternary climates is therefore questionable. Only in well-constrained studies where paleoclimatic, ontogenetic, and taxonomic sources of variability can be controlled, and data sets are very large, may fossil growth ring analysis provide useful paleoecological data. The findings of this paper do not invalidate in any way the use of growth rings in fossil woods as qualitative paleoclimatic indicators.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , Summer 2005 , pp. 434 - 444
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Ammons, A., Fritz, W. J., and Ammons, R. B. 1987. Cross-identification of ring signatures in Eocene trees (Sequoia magnifica) from the Specimen Ridge locality of the Yellowstone Fossil Forests. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 60:97–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ash, S. R., and Creber, G. T. 1992. Palaeoclimatic interpretation of the wood structures of the trees in the Chinle Formation (Upper Triassic), Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, USA. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 96:299–317.Google Scholar
Bailey, I. W., and Faull, A. F. 1934. The cambium and its derivative tissues No. IX. Structural variability in the redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, and its significance in the identification of fossil woods. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 15:99–106.Google Scholar
Briffa, K. R. 2000. Annual climate variability in the Holocene: interpreting the message of ancient trees. Quaternary Science Reviews 19:87–105.Google Scholar
Brison, A. L., Philippe, M., and Thevenard, F. 2001. Are Mesozoic wood growth rings climate-induced? Palaeobiology 27:531–538.Google Scholar
Chaloner, W. G., and Creber, G. T. 1973. Growth rings in fossil woods as evidence of past climates. Pp. 425–437in Tarling, D. H. and Runcorn, S. K., eds. Implications of continental drift to the earth sciences. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Chapman, J. L. 1994. Distinguishing internal developmental characteristics from external palaeoenvironmental effects in fossil wood. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 81:19–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creber, G. T. 1977. Tree rings: a natural data-storage system. Biological Reviews 52:349–383.Google Scholar
Creber, G. T., and Chaloner, W. G. 1984a. Influence of environmental factors on the wood structure of living and fossil trees. Botanical Review 50:357–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creber, G. T., and Chaloner, W. G. 1984b. Climatic indications from growth rings in fossil woods. Pp. 49–74in Brenchley, P., ed. Fossils and climate. Wiley, Chichester, U.K.Google Scholar
Creber, G. T. 1985. Tree growth in the Mesozoic and early Tertiary and the reconstruction of palaeoclimates. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 52:35–50.Google Scholar
Creber, G. T., and Francis, J. E. 1999. Fossil tree-analysis: palaeodendrology. Pp. 245–250in Jones, T. P. and Rowe, N. P., eds. Fossil plants and spores: modern techniques. Geological Society, London.Google Scholar
Dean, J. S., Meko, D. M., and Swetnam, T. W. 1996. Tree rings, environment and humanity: proceedings of the international conference, Tucson, Arizona, 17–21 May 1994. Radiocarbon, Tucson.Google Scholar
Eamus, D. 1999. Ecophysiological traits of deciduous and evergreen woody species in the seasonally dry tropics. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 14:11–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Falcon-Lang, H. J. 2000a. A method to distinguish between woods produced by evergreen and deciduous coniferopsids on the basis of growth ring anatomy: a new palaeoecological tool. Palaeontology 43:775–783.Google Scholar
Falcon-Lang, H. J. 2000b. The relationship between leaf longevity and growth ring markedness in modern conifer woods and its implications for palaeoclimatic studies. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 160:317–328.Google Scholar
Falcon-Lang, H. J. 2003. Growth interruptions in conifer woods from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Two Medicine Formation, Montana, USA: implications for palaeoclimate and dinosaur ecology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 199:299–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falcon-Lang, H. J. 2005. Intra-tree variability in wood anatomy and its implications for fossil wood systematics and palaeoclimatic studies. Palaeontology 48:171–183.Google Scholar
Falcon-Lang, H. J., and Cantrill, D. J. 2000. Cretaceous (late Albian) conifers of Alexander Island, Antarctica. 1. Wood taxonomy, a quantitative approach. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 111:1–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Falcon-Lang, H. J., and Cantrill, D. J. 2001. Leaf phenology of some mid-Cretaceous polar forests, Alexander Island, Antarctica. Geological Magazine 138:39–52.Google Scholar
Falcon-Lang, H. J. 2002. Terrestrial ecology of an Early Cretaceous high-latitude, volcanic archipelago, Byers Peninsula and President Head, South Shetlands, Antarctica. Palaios 17:535–549.Google Scholar
Falcon-Lang, H. J., Cantrill, D. J., and Nichols, G. J. 2001. Biodiversity and terrestrial ecology of a mid-Cretaceous, high-latitude floodplain, Alexander Island, Antarctica. Journal of the Geological Society, London 158:709–725.Google Scholar
Falcon-Lang, H. J., MacRae, R. A., and Csank, A. Z. 2004. Palaeoecology of Late Cretaceous polar vegetation preserved in the Hansen Point Volcanics, NW Ellesmere Island, Canada. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 212:45–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, J. E. 1984. The seasonal environment of the Purbeck (Upper Jurassic) fossil forests. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 48:285–307.Google Scholar
Francis, J. E. 1986. Growth rings in Cretaceous and Tertiary wood from Antarctica and their palaeoclimatic implications. Palaeontology 29:665–684.Google Scholar
Francis, J. E., and Hill, R. S. 1996. Fossil plants from the Pliocene Sirius Group, Transantarctic Mountains: evidence for climate from growth rings and fossil leaves. Palaios 11:389–396.Google Scholar
Francis, J. E., and Poole, I. 2002. Cretaceous and early Tertiary climates of Antarctica: evidence from fossil wood. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 182:47–64.Google Scholar
Fritts, H. C. 1976. Tree rings and climate. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Greguss, P. 1972. Xylotomy of the living conifers. Akademia Kiado, Budapest.Google Scholar
Jefferson, T. H. 1982. Fossil forests from the Lower Cretaceous of Alexander Island, Antarctica. Palaeontology 25:681–708.Google Scholar
Keller, A. M., and Hendrix, M. S. 1997. Paleoclimatological analysis of a Late Jurassic petrified forest, Southeastern Mongolia. Palaios 12:282–291.Google Scholar
Kumagai, H., Sweda, T., Hayashi, K., Satoru, K., Basinger, J. F., Shibuya, M., and Fukaoa, Y. 1995. Growth-ring analysis of Early Tertiary conifer woods from the Canadian High Arctic and its palaeoclimatic implications. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 116:247–262.Google Scholar
Larson, R. R. 1967. Silvicultural control on the characteristics of wood used for furniture. Pp. 143–150in Proceedings of the 4th TAPPI forest biology conference. Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada, Quebec.Google Scholar
Martens, D. M. 1993. Hydrologic inferences from tree-ring studies on the Hawkesbury River, Sydney, Australia. Geomorphology 8:147–164.Google Scholar
Miina, J. 2000. Dependence of tree-ring, earlywood and latewood indices of Scots pine and Norway spruce on climatic factors in eastern Finland. Ecological Modelling 132:259–273.Google Scholar
Miller, H. 1858. The Cruise of the Betsey; or a summer ramble among the fossiliferous deposits of the Hebrides. William P. Nimmo, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Morgans, H. S., Hesselbo, S. P., and Spicer, R. A. 1999. Seasonal climate of the Early-Middle Jurassic, Cleveland Basin, England. Palaios 14:261–272.Google Scholar
Nichols, G. J., and Cantrill, D. J. 2002. Tectonic and climatic controls on a Mesozoic forearc basin succession, Alexander Island, Antarctica. Geological Magazine 139:313–330.Google Scholar
Parrish, J. T., and Spicer, R. A. 1988. Middle Cretaceous wood from the Nanushuk Group, Central North Slope, Alaska. Palaeontology 31:19–34.Google Scholar
Phillips, E. W. J. 1948. Identification of softwoods by their microscopic structure. Forest Research Bulletin 46:1–56.Google Scholar
Poole, I. 2000. Variation: Nature's spanner or an unrecognized tool? Palaios 15:371–372.Google Scholar
Seward, A. C. 1892. Fossil plants as tests of climate, Chapter V (pp. 77–89). C. J. Clay, London.Google Scholar
Spicer, R. A., and Parrish, J. T. 1990. Latest Cretaceous woods of the central North Slope, Alaska. Palaeontology 33:225–242.Google Scholar
Witham, H. 1831. Observations on fossil vegetables, accompanied by representations of their internal structure, as seen through the microscope. William Blackwood, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Young, P. J., Megonigal, J. P., Sharitz, R. R., and Dat, F. P. 1993. False ring formation in Baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) saplings under two flood regimes. Wetlands 13:293–298.Google Scholar