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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Environmental Monitoring

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Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

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2014

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Climate Response In Near-Treeline Bristlecone Pine, Matthew W. Salzer, Evan R. Larson, Andrew Godard Bunn, Malcolm Kenneth Hughes Nov 2014

Climate Response In Near-Treeline Bristlecone Pine, Matthew W. Salzer, Evan R. Larson, Andrew Godard Bunn, Malcolm Kenneth Hughes

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

In the White Mountains of California, eight bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) tree-ring width chronologies were developed from trees at upper treeline and just below upper treeline along North- and South-facing elevational transects from treeline to ~90 m below. There is evidence for a climate-response threshold between approximately 60–80 vertical m below treeline, above which trees have shown a positive growth-response to temperature and below which they do not. Chronologies from 80 m or more below treeline show a change in climate response and do not correlate strongly with temperature-sensitive chronologies developed from trees growing at upper treeline. Rather, they more …


Five Millennia Of Paleotemperature From Tree-Rings In The Great Basin, Usa, Matthew W. Salzer, Andrew Godard Bunn, Nicholas E. (Nicholas Earl) Graham, Malcolm Kenneth Hughes Jan 2014

Five Millennia Of Paleotemperature From Tree-Rings In The Great Basin, Usa, Matthew W. Salzer, Andrew Godard Bunn, Nicholas E. (Nicholas Earl) Graham, Malcolm Kenneth Hughes

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The instrumental temperature record is of insufficient length to fully express the natural variability of past temperature. High elevation tree-ring widths from Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) are a particularly useful proxy to infer temperatures prior to the instrumental record in that the tree-rings are annually dated and extend for millennia. From ring-width measurements integrated with past treeline elevation data we infer decadal- to millennial-scale temperature variability over the past 4,500 years for the Great Basin, USA. We find that twentieth century treeline advances are greater than in at least 4,000 years. There is also evidence for …