Preliminary Analysis of Wood Characters in a Tropical Area and Applications to Climate Reconstruction

热带气候的冰期-间冰期历史是有争议的。热带海洋沉积物的记录表明，这些地区的大气温度几乎没有变化。另一方面，热带高地的气候记录表明，在最后一次冰期期间，雪线、冰川和树木线都处于较低的海拔。这些海拔变化意味着冰川热带地区的地表温度降低了5到6度。这种差异可以用更好的热带低地古气候代用物来解决。不幸的是，很难对热带样本进行研究，因为一些传统的古气候指数，如树木年轮，与热带气候的关系并不简单。这一建议提出了另一种方法，可以在木材解剖的基础上提供古气候记录。该方法的基础是木材孔隙率会随着气候的变化而变化。该提案要求支持在哥斯达黎加西海岸的一个研究区域测试该理论。虽然这是一个高风险的建议，但它很重要，因为它可能为重建热带地区的气候提供一种新的、可靠的方法。

The glacial-interglacial history of tropical climate is controversial. The record from marine sediments in the tropics suggests that there has been little change in atmospheric temperature in these regions. On the other hand the climate record from tropical highlands documents that snowlines, glaciers and treelines were all at lower elevation during the last glaciation. These elevation changes translate into 5 to 6 degree lower surface temperatures in the glacial tropics. The discrepancies may be resolved with better paleoclimate proxies for lowland tropical locations. Unfortunately it is difficult to work on tropical samples because some traditional paleoclimate indices, like tree rings, are not related to tropical climate in a simple way. This proposal suggests an alternative methodology which may provide paleoclimate records on the basis of wood anatomy. The basis for the methodology is that wood porosity will vary as a function of climate. The proposal requests support to test the theory in a study area along the western coast of Costa Rica. Although it is a high risk proposal, it is important because it may provide a new, reliable method for reconstructing climate in tropical locales.