[en] Growth release analysis on tree rings can be used to validate forest disturbances from the known past or reconstruct those beyond the time line or resolution of documentary evidence. Differences in ring-width measurements may result in incorrect disturbance reconstruction. Yet, little is known about how growth release detection is influenced by the ring-width measurement method. Methodological comparisons mostly do not take into account the ultimate objective of the measurements nor their practicalities, such as time consumption or sample preparation. We assessed differences in ring-width measurements between three methods (Lintab, measuRing, and DHXCT), in a ring-porous (Quercus robur) and diffuse-porous (Fagus sylvatica) species, and evaluated whether detection of growth releases was consistent among methods We also comprehensively compared the methods, including quantitative and qualitative criteria. Growth releases were consistent among methods despite small, but significant differences in ring-width values. The apparent robustness of the methods suggests that they may be substitutable in future growth release studies, although the highlighted drawbacks and necessary improvements may advocate combined approaches. Furthermore, we propose an evaluation framework for quantitative and qualitative methodological decision-making and advocate the need for similar methodological comparisons within other fields of dendrochronology.
Vannoppen, Astrid; University of Leuven, Division Forest, Nature and Landscape, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Leuven, Belgium
Altman, Jan; Institute of Botany of The Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
Van den Bulcke, Jan; UGCT-Woodlab-UGent, Ghent University, Laboratory of Wood Technology, Department of Forest and Water Management, Gent, Belgium
Decocq, Guillaume; Ecologie et Dynamique des Systèmes Anthropisés (EDYSAN, FRE 3498 CNRS—UPJV), Jules Verne University of Picardie, Amiens Cédex, France
De Mil, Tom ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Gestion des ressources forestières ; UGCT-Woodlab-UGent, Ghent University, Laboratory of Wood Technology, Department of Forest and Water Management, Gent, Belgium
Perring, Michael P.; Forest & Nature Lab, Ghent University, Belgium ; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia
Van Acker, Joris; UGCT-Woodlab-UGent, Ghent University, Laboratory of Wood Technology, Department of Forest and Water Management, Gent, Belgium
ERC - European Research Council FWO - Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen
Funding text :
We thank the European Research Council [ERC Consolidator grant no. 614839 : PASTFORWARD] for funding SLM, LD, KV, DL and MP for scientific research and fieldwork involved in this study. AV was supported by FWO [grant no. G.0C96.14N ]. JA was supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic [grants no. 14-12262S and 17-07378S ] and the long-term research development project no. RVO 67985939. TDM was supported by the Special Research Fund [grant no. BOF.DOC.2014.0037.01 ] from the University of Ghent. MV and DL were funded as postdoctoral fellows by FWO-Vlaanderen . We thank Kris and Filip Ceunen, Haben Blondeel and Jorgen Op de Beeck for their support with the fieldwork in Sweden and France. We are also grateful to J\u00F6rg Brunet and Ulf Johansson (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) for their help in site selection, fieldwork and compiling historical information in Sk\u00E5ne and similarly to D\u00E9borah Closset-Kopp, J\u00E9r\u00F4me Buridant and the Office National des For\u00EAts for their help in Lyons-La-For\u00EAt.
Šamonil, P., Kotík, L., Vašíčková, I., Uncertainty in detecting the disturbance history of forest ecosystems using dendrochronology. Dendrochronologia 35 (2015), 51–61.
Altman, J., et al. Tree-rings mirror management legacy: dramatic response of standard oaks to past coppicing in central europe. PLoS One 8:2 (2013), 1–11.
Altman, J., et al. TRADER: a package for tree ring analysis of disturbance events in R. Dendrochronologia 32 (2014), 107–112.
Arenas-Castro, S., Fernandez-Haeger, J., Jordano-Barbudo, D., A method for tree-ring analysis using DIVA-GIS freeware. Tree-Ring Res. 71:2 (2015), 118–129.
Bland, J.M., Altman, D.G., Statistical methods for assessing agreement between two methods of clinical measurement. Lancet 1:1 (1986), 307–310.
Buchanan, M.L., Hart, J.L., A methodological analysis of canopy disturbance reconstructions using Quercus alba. Can. J. For. Res. 41 (2011), 1359–1367.
Buras, A., Wilmking, M., Correcting the calculation of Gleichläufigkeit. Dendrochronologia 34 (2015), 29–30.
Cook, E.R., Kairiukstis, L.A., Methods of Dendrochronology: Applications in the Environmental Science. 1990, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Doredrecht.
Copenheaver, C.A., et al. Identifying dendroecological growth releases in American beech, jack pine, and white oak: within-tree sampling strategy. For. Ecol. Manage. 257:11 (2009), 2235–2240.
Cybis Elektronik, CDendro and CooRecorder. 2010 http://www.cybis.se/forfun/dendro/index.htm.
De Mil, T., et al. A field-to-desktop toolchain for X-ray CT densitometry enables tree ring analysis. Ann. Bot. 117:7 (2016), 1187–1196.
Dierick, M., et al. Nuclear instruments and methods in physics research B recent micro-CT scanner developments at UGCT. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B 324 (2014), 35–40.
Fraver, S., White, A.S., Identifying growth releases in dendrochronological studies of forest disturbance. Can. J. For. Res. 35:7 (2005), 1648–1656.
Fritts, H.C., 1976. Tree rings and climate, London.
Gärtner, H., Nievergelt, D., The core-microtome: a new tool for surface preparation on cores and time series analysis of varying cell parameters. Dendrochronologia 28:2 (2010), 85–92.
Giavarina, D., Understanding Bland Altman analysis. Biochem. Med. 25:2 (2015), 141–151.
Grabner, M., Salaberger, D., Okochi, T., The need of high resolution & X-ray CT in dendrochronology and in wood identification. 2009 Proceedings of 6th International Symposium on Image and Signal Processing and Analysis, 2009, 349–352.
Koga, S., Zhang, S.Y., Inter-tree and intra-tree variations in ring width and wood density components in balsam fir [Abies balsamea]. Wood Sci. Technol. 38:2 (2004), 149–162.
Lara, W., Bravo, F., Sierra, C. a, measuRing: an R package to measure tree-ring widths from scanned images. Dendrochronologia 34 (2015), 43–50.
Latte, N., et al. A novel procedure to measure shrinkage-free tree-rings from very large wood samples combining photogrammetry, high-resolution image processing and GIS tools. Dendrochronologia 34 (2015), 24–28.
Levanič, T., Research report atrics – a new system for image acquisition. Tree-Ring Res. 63:2 (2007), 117–122.
Müllerová, J., et al. Detecting coppice legacies from tree growth. PLoS One 11:1 (2016), 1–14.
Masschaele, B., et al. HECTOR: a 240 kV micro-CT setup optimized for research. J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., 463(1), 2013, 12012.
Maxwell, R.S., Wixom, J.a., Hessl, A.E., A comparison of two techniques for measuring and crossdating tree rings. Dendrochronologia 29:4 (2011), 237–243.
Nowacki, G.J., Abrams, M.D., Radial-growth averaging criteria for reconstructing disturbance histories from presettlement-origin oaks. Ecol. Monogr. 67:2 (1997), 225–249.
Nutto, L., et al. Comparação de Metodologias para Medição de Anéis de Crescimento de Mimosa scabrella e Pinus taeda. Sci. For./For. Sci. 40:94 (2012), 135–144.
Okochi, T., et al. Nondestructive tree-ring measurements for Japanese oak and Japanese beech using micro-focus X-ray computed tomography. Dendrochronologia 24:2–3 (2007), 155–164.
Oliver, C.D., Larson, B.C., Forest Stand Dynamics. 1990, John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY, US.
Park, E., Cho, M., Ki, C.S., Correct use of repeated measures analysis of variance. Korean J. Lab. Med. 29:1 (2009), 1–9.
R Development Core Team, R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Version 3.3.1. 2016, R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.
Rubino, D.L., McCarthy, B.C., Comparative analysis of dendroecological methods used to assess disturbance events. Dendrochronologia 21:3 (2004), 97–115.
Schindelin, J., et al. The ImageJ ecosystem: an open platform for biomedical image analysis. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 82:7–8 (2015), 518–529.
Speer, J.H., Fundamentals of Tree-Ring Research. 2010, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.
Stokes, M.A., Smiley, T.L., An Introduction to Tree-ring Dating. 1996, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.
Van den Bulcke, J., et al. 3D tree-ring analysis using helical X-ray tomography. Dendrochronologia 32:1 (2014), 39–46.
Vannoppen, A., et al. Using X-ray CT based tree-ring width data for tree growth trend analysis. Dendrochronologia 44 (2017), 66–75.
Woodall, C.W., Research Report: when is one core per tree sufficient to characterize stand attributes? Results of a Pinus ponderosa case study. Tree-Ring Res. 64:1 (2008), 55–60.
WorldClim, WorldClim. 2016 (Available at: http://www.worldclim.org/ [Accessed April 21 2016]).
