Abstract
Statistical comparisons between tree-ring width sequences and climatic records provide a means of identifying climatic limitations on tree growth and allow the reconstruction of past climates. This information is especially important in the North American sub-Arctic where climate–growth relationships are poorly understood and instrumental weather records are very short, typically less than 75 yr. Dendroclimatic reconstructions before 1900 are essential for estimating a realistic range of high latitude climatic variation, because twentieth century climate is now thought to be somewhat anomalous1. While some dendroclimatic studies have been carried out in the sub-Arctic2–8, none has made full use of current multivariate statistical techniques. This study, as part of a multidisciplinary investigation of treeline fluctuations in the Brooks Range of Alaska, uses ring-width sequences of white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) to define climatic limitations on radial growth at treeline and to reconstruct past climatic variables for Fairbanks, Alaska. Multiple regression techniques were used to analyse climate–growth relationships and the results suggest important modifications to the theory that growth at treeline is limited primarily by summer temperature2,8,9 . For example, we have found that radial growth is directly related to summer and autumn temperature and precipitation during certain months, but is inversely related to winter–spring temperature. The same ring-width sequences were used to reconstruct average May–July temperature at Fairbanks, Alaska, for the period 1829–1930. This reconstruction, which more than doubles the length of the existing climatic record, was verified by statistically comparing it to independent instrumental data. It indicates that the Fairbanks area has been warmer in the twentieth century than in the nineteenth century during these months. As the longest annual record of temperature from northern Alaska, this reconstruction provides quantitative evidence for a climatic warming similar to that occurring throughout large portions of the Northern Hemisphere during the past 100 yr (refs 10–12).
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bryson, R. A. & Hare, F. K. in Climates of North America Vol. II (ed. Landsberg, H. E.) (Elsevier, New York, 1974).
Giddings, J. L. Jr Dendrochronology in Northern Alaska (University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1941).
Giddings, J. L. Jr Tree Ring Bull. 9, 26–32 (1943).
Haugen, R. K. Science 158, 773–775 (1967).
Haugen, R. K. & Brown, J. E. Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. on Permafrost, 393–398 (1978).
Stockton, C. W. & Fritts, H. C. Wat. Res. Bull. 9, 1006–1027 (1973).
Blasing, T. J. & Fritts, H. C. in Climate of the Arctic (eds Weller, G. & Bowling, S. A.) 45–58 (University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks, 1975).
Kay, P. A. Arctic Alp. Res. 10, 133–138 (1978).
Mikola, P. in Tree Growth (ed. Kozlowski, T. T.) (Ronald, New York, 1962).
Mitchell, J. M. Jr Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 95, 235–50 (1961).
Lamb, H. H. Climate: Present, Past and Future (Methuen, London, 1972).
LeRoy, L. E. Times of Feast, Times of Famine (Doubleday, New York, 1971).
Stokes, M. A. & Smiley, T. L. An Introduction to Tree-Ring Dating (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1968).
Fritts, H. C., Mosimann, J. E. & Bottorff, C. P. Tree-Ring Bull. 29, 15–20 (1969).
Fritts, H. C. Tree Rings and Climate (Academic, London, 1976).
US Environmental Data Service. Climatological Data: Alaska (1977).
Fritts, H. C., Biasing, T. J., Hayden, B. P. & Kutzbach, J. E. J. appl. Met. 10, 845–864 (1971).
Bamberg, S., Schwarz, W. & Tranquillini, W. Ecology 48, 264–269 (1967).
Billings, W. D. & Mooney, H. A. Biol. Rev. 43, 481–529 (1968).
Sakai, A. Ecology 51, 657–664 (1970).
Tranquillini, W. in The Water Relations of Plants (eds Rutter, A. J. & Whithead, F. H.) 153–167 (Blackwell, London, 1963).
Tranquillini, W. in Water and Plant Life: Problems and Modern Approaches (eds Lange, O. S., Kappen, L. & Schulze, E. D.) 473–491 (Springer, Berlin, 1976).
Levitt, J. Responses of Plants to Environmental Stresses (Academic, New York, 1972).
Fritts, H. C., Lofgren, G. R. & Gordon, G. A. Quat. Res. 12, 18–46 (1979).
Griggs, R. F. Science 85, 251–255 (1937).
Haugen, R. K. Abstr. Int. Ass. Quat. Res. VII, 197 (1965).
Hustich, I. Fennia 82, 1–25 (1958).
Dawdy, D. R. & Matalas, N. C. in Handbook of Applied Hydrology (ed. Chow, V. T.) 87 (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1964).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Garfinkel, H., Brubaker, L. Modern climate–tree-growth relationships and climatic reconstruction in sub-Arctic Alaska. Nature 286, 872–874 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/286872a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/286872a0
This article is cited by
-
Does overshoot in leaf development of ponderosa pine in wet years leads to bark beetle outbreaks on fine-textured soils in drier years?
Forest Ecosystems (2014)
-
Spring-summer temperatures since AD 1780 reconstructed from stable oxygen isotope ratios in white spruce tree-rings from the Mackenzie Delta, northwestern Canada
Climate Dynamics (2014)
-
Reduced growth of Alaskan white spruce in the twentieth century from temperature-induced drought stress
Nature (2000)
-
Secular trends in high northern latitude temperature reconstructions based on tree rings
Climatic Change (1993)
-
A 1,400-year tree-ring record of summer temperatures in Fennoscandia
Nature (1990)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.