Dendroclimatology: Progress & Prospects

Addresses the question: what has been learned, using tree rings, about natural climate variability and its environmental and social impacts? This book reviews and synthesizes the results of the last 30 years, and identifies the needs and opportunities for future work. It provides an authoritative evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of dendroclimatic approaches to reconstructing past climate.

Chapter 1: High-resolution Paleoclimatology ? R. BradleyWhat is high-resolution paleoclimatology? What are its major achievements? What opportunities and challenges does it now face? What should dendroclimatology?s role be in this?Chapter 2: Dendroclimatology in high-resolution Paleoclimatology ? M. K. Hughes, H. F. Diaz and Th. W. SwetnamAn overview of the development of dendroclimatology and an introduction to the questions posed in this book. Scientific bases of dendroclimatology Chapter 3: How well understood are the processes that create tree-ring records? ? G. Vaganov Starting at the most basic level of the environmental control of tree-ring formation, do we have the necessary biological and ecophysiological understanding of this to support inferences about climate variability from tree rings? What are the weak points of this understanding and how might they be strengthened?Chapter 4: The state of the art of quantitative methods in dendroclimatology ? E. CookHow sound are the quantitative techniques commonly used in dendroclimatology, in chronology building, identification and reconstruction of climate variables and the checking of these reconstructions? Are they appropriate to the material being analyzed and to the climatological problems being addressed? How might they be improved?Chapter 5: Detecting low-frequency change using tree rings ? K. BriffaWhat limits the ability of tree-ring records to faithfully record climate variability at low frequencies (multi-centennial to millennial)? How might those limitations be overcome, if at all? What are the advantages and limitations of older and more novel approaches? What are the implications of these limitations? Reconstruction of climate patterns and values relative to today's climateChapter 6: Dendroclimatology at regional and continental scales ? R. Villalba What have been the major contributions of dendroclimatology to climatology so far? In what regions and for which climate problems is exciting progress now being made? What next?Chapter 7: Dendroclimatology at hemispheric and global scales ? M. K. Hughes and M. MannWhat are the achievements of dendroclimatology as applied at hemispheric and global scales ? climate patterns, circulation indices and large-scale means? What are the limitations of this approach? How might they be overcome? How might dendroclimatology contribute to the study of central pressing problems such as "How big is climate sensitivity?? How has the last century, and especially recent decades, compared with earlier centuries? How faithful a representation of variability in recent centuries does the 20th century instrumental record give? Particular attention will be given to: a) identifying the most robust findings; and b) the most serious limitations.Chapter 8: Dendroclimatology, dendrohydrology and water resources management ? C. Woodhouse and D. MekoHow may dendroclimatology contribute to the study of water resources? How may it be used to inform modern public and decision-maker expectations of climate variability? Chapter 9: Dendroclimatology and the ecosystem impacts of climate ? Th. W. SwetnamHow has dendroclimatology contributed to disturbance ecology? What is the significance of the recent changes in tree-growth-climate relationships observed in some regions, not only for dendroclimatology, but also for the understanding of the impacts of climate variability and change on ecosystems?Chapter 10: Dendroclimatology and the understanding of the interactions between climate variability and ancient human societies ? D. Stahle and J. DeanHow has dendroclimatology contributed to understanding of the relationships between climate variability and societies in ancient times? Chapter 11: Tree rings and climate- sharpening the focus ? M. K. Hughes, H. F. Diaz and Th. W. SwetnamWhat has been learned, using tree rings, about natural climate variability and its environmental and social impacts? What are the most significant strengths and weaknesses of dendroclimatology and the needs of, and opportunities for, future work.