Collaborative Research: A Geospatial Approach to Dendroclimatology of Multi-Millennial Bristlecone Pine

提供资金将地形纳入树木气候学分析，以更好地说明海拔对树木记录的气候信号的影响。 研究人员将使用美国西南部半干旱地区海拔2800-3600米的狐尾松和其他松树作为这项研究的数据库，因为现有的可复制年表网络已经存在，这些物种是最长寿的树木之一。 具体来说，研究人员将寻找地形修改的树轮响应气候变化沿着海拔横断面和应用基于过程的建模，从生活和残木树轮的形成低于和高于目前的树木生长限制在东部加州，内华达州，和四个角落的国家。 研究的科学目的包括研究不同气候变量对古树生长的影响，并评估研究结果对树木年轮记录作为气候信息天然档案的效用的影响。这项研究的目的是解决有关过去气候变化的基本因素和对理解未来变化的影响的重要问题。 这项研究将研究目前的气候变化（例如，最近的干旱），并为调查极端气候事件的原因提供了一个潜在的重要和独特的工具。 刺果松树轮记录是关于重建近几个世纪以来北方半球温度的科学争议的中心，这项工作应该有助于更好地为这场辩论提供信息。 研究人员计划通过暑期实习计划分拆学生研究项目。 此外，这项研究还将为位于Inyo国家森林的美国林务局游客中心的一个展览提供信息，重点介绍狐尾松的研究。

Funding is provided to integrate topography into dendroclimatological analyses to better account for the effects of elevation on the climate signal recorded in trees. The researchers will use bristlecone, and other pines, from between 2800-3600 meters above sea level in the semi-arid southwest United States as the database for this research because an existing network of well-replicated chronologies already exists and these species are among the longest living trees. Specifically, the researchers will look for topographic modification of tree-ring response to climate variability along elevation transects and apply process-based modeling to the formation of tree rings from living and relict wood below and above the present limit of tree growth in eastern California, Nevada, and the Four-Corners States. The scientific goals of the research include examining the influences of differing climate variables on the growth of the old trees and evaluating the implications of the research results on the utility of tree-ring records as natural archives of climate information. The research aims to address important issues regarding the factors underlying past climate variability and the implications for understanding future variability. The research will examine present climate variability (e.g., recent droughts) in a multi-millennial perspective as well as providing a potentially important and unique tool for investigating the causes of extreme climate events. The bristlecone tree-ring records are at the center of the scientific controversy concerning the reconstruction of Northern Hemispheric temperature from recent centuries and the work should help better inform this debate. The researchers plan to spin off student research projects through a summer internship program. In addition, the research will provide information for an exhibit, highlighting bristlecone pine research, at the US Forest Service Visitor Center in the Inyo National Forest.