2016AFA
Teachers Conservation Tour
Tree CookiesReading Increment cores
Tamara Walkingstick AFRCCaroll Guffey AFRC
Move over, Methuselah! There’s a new girl in town!
What is Dendrochronology?
Dendrochronology is the dating and study of annual rings in trees.The word comes from these roots: ology = the study of chronos = time; more specifically, events and
processes in the past dendros = using trees; more specifically, the
growth rings of trees
Besides the age of the tree, we can use them to: Put the present in proper historical context Better understand current environmental
processes and conditions Improve understanding of possible future
environmental issues
What Do Tree Rings Tell Us?
Historical Events
Past & Present conditions
Project the Future & Climate
Cookie Parts
Increment Borers
Reading a Tree Core Sample
What story does your cookie tell? How old was your tree? What type of drought conditions
did it face when it was 5 years old? What type of conditions did it face
when YOU were 5 years old? How many “bad” years has it had? When was the latest good year of
growth?
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