Summer researchers working in the Tree Ring Lab returned to Stebbin’s Gulch in late May to collect more chestnut oak samples. This increased replication helps us to strengthen our various hypotheses made from the interpretation of our findings.
Our views of the canopy.Team members recording measurements and extracting a core from this living chestnut oak.Kendra and Victoria looking at a giant burl on one of the sampled trees.Team members coring an old chestnut oak along the gulch reaching high into the canopy.
This information is useful in mapping out land use changes in Northeast Ohio. The team identified an abrupt increase in ring width around 1840. They attributed this rise to decreased competition from logging which coincides with the time of most significant settlement in the area.
Read more about their conclusions in the official dendroclimatological report here.
Brown’s Lake Bog, located near Shreve in Wayne County, Ohio, is a nature preserve and National Natural Landmark that was established in the 1960’s. College of Wooster students have been involved in several past projects at Browns Lake Bog including sediment coring and ice drilling. Last week, the 2018 AMRE students ventured to this local spot to collect tree cores from some red and white oaks in order to perform some climate analysis for the Nature Conservancy and the Friends of Brown’s Lake Bog.
Brown’s Lake Bog is one of a few remaining peatland sites across Ohio that contains an open kettle lake surrounded by a floating sphagnum moss mat. These features are glacial relicts and the knolls surrounding the bog are glacially-formed hills called kames.
This field site is known for its diverse and rare plant community which thrives in the bog’s special acidic and nutrient-poor environment. More than twenty rare plant species can be found here. The carnivorous Northern Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea) is one of the rare species that attracts bog visitors.
After checking out the kettle lake, the tree ring lab group hiked the short trail to reach the trees sitting on top of the kames. The AMRE students sampled 6 of the oldest white and red oak trees.
AMRE students with a sampled tree (Left to right: Alexis Lanier ’20, Juwan Shabazz ’19, and Kendra Devereux ’21)The carnivorous Northern Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea) receives nutrients by trapping insects in its fluid-filled cavities.The AMRE students getting coring tips from Nick.Extracting a fresh oak core on top of the kame at Brown’s Lake Bog.Juwan, Kendra, and Arrow sitting on a fallen oak.
Upon returning to the lab, the group mounted up the fresh cores and prepared them for counting and measuring ring widths. This week, Kendra and Alexis are working to update the local chronology and perform various correlations with the data. The final product will be an official climate analysis report.
The map below displays a positive correlation between ring width and precipitation during the months of June and July in the local Wooster area. These months displayed the highest p values and correlations (as shown in the bar graph), which is why these months were selected while creating the map using Climate Explorer. A positive correlation suggests that the more it rained, the better the trees grew (this is expressed in wider ring widths).
Stay tuned for more of their results!
Correlation between ring width at Brown’s Lake Bog and precipitation records.
One of Kendra’s initial correlation maps created with Climate Explorer.
The high rainfall and high coastal ranges nourish the icefields of southern Alaska along and with the extensive carbon-rich forests and ecosystems of the Northern Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest (PCTR).
Chris surveys the North Pacific noting the extensive moisture source and ocean pasture that is just offshore of the terrestrial ecosystems we are studying.
Malisse sits atop a shore pine, another slow growing coastal species that is experiencing potential decline.
Kerensa sites atop an obducted ophiolite – we were 71% sure that there were pillows in the basalt.
Josh cores another Alaska Yellow cedar – we were able to sample three sites in the Juneau area. These cedars are in decline due to warming and loss of snowpack, which makes their fine roots vulnerable to frost. Our objective is to work up the tree-ring record of the sites to contribute to our understanding of the decline.
Alora takes a break from taking notes and GPS coordinates for each tree.
Ice caves fund to explore and act as a conduit to meltwater and warm air accelerating the melt.
Blue the dog – takes a break from pursuing porcupines in the muskeg.
Nick of the Ophiolite.
Kerensa wades through the deep texture of coastal carbon.
Buried forests emerge from the wasting margin of……..
Learning about environmental change from tree rings
Weblog authors are solely responsible for the content and accuracy of their weblogs, including opinions they express, and the College of Wooster disclaims any and all liability for that content, its accuracy, and opinions it may contain. Content is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License unless specified otherwise. Privacy Statement
