Speaker
When
Where
The integration of daily climate data in tree-ring research offers significant advantages in deciphering the complex interactions between climatic variability and tree growth. Compared to monthly resolution, correlations derived from daily aggregated climate data are, on average, stronger by 0.060 for temperature, 0.076 for precipitation, and 0.075 for the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). This enhanced precision allows for a more accurate identification of the specific seasons or critical time windows that exert the strongest influence on tree growth. Furthermore, retrospective analyses reveal shifting seasonal influences over time, providing valuable insights into climate-growth dynamics under global warming. By leveraging freely available tree-ring data from the International Tree-Ring Data Bank, we uncover distinct temporal trends in climate-growth relationships across different climatic zones. Cold-limited sites, where tree growth is positively correlated with temperature, exhibit earlier seasonal effects within the calendar year, whereas heat-limited (negative temperature correlations) and water-limited (positive precipitation correlations) sites display delayed growth responses. These findings significantly enhance our understanding of how climate change affects tree growth and have critical implications for improving tree-growth modelling, refining climate reconstruction techniques, and strengthening the use of tree rings as high-resolution climate proxies.
Can't make it in person? Join Virtually