Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Spatial Variation In Distribution And Growth Patterns Of Old Growth Strip-Bark Pines, Andrew Godard Bunn, Rick L. Lawrence, Gabriel J. Bellante, Lindsey A. Waggoner, Lisa Graumlich

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Postindustrial rises in CO₂ have the potential to confound the interpretation of climatically sensitive tree-ring chronologies. Increased growth rates observed during the 20th century in strip-bark trees have been attributed to CO₂ fertilization. Absent in the debate of CO₂ effects on tree growth are spatially explicit analyses that examine the proximate mechanisms that lead to changes in rates of tree growth. Twenty-seven pairs of strip-bark and companion entire-bark trees were analyzed in a spatially explicit framework for abiotic environmental correlates. The strip-bark tree locations were not random but correlated to an abiotic proxy for soil moisture. The …