PALEOECOLOGY 442
A long-term perspective on ecology and environmental issues
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Tree Rings | Lake Sediments | Ancient Environments | Mass Extinctions 

Annual growth rings in tree trunks can tell a lot about past environmental conditions. Growth ring thickness may vary with changing temperature, precipitation, or other factors, depending on the kind of tree and its surroundings. Density and isotope content are also commonly studied. Not much of this kind of work has been done yet in the Adirondacks, but tree ring records reach back more than 10,000 years in the American Southwest and elsewhere.

Click here for larger view of the picture Dr. Brendan Buckley, of Columbia University, took the Spring 2000 Paleo class out to Cascade Notch to study ancient white-cedar trees growing on the cliffs. Here he shows student John Myers a core that he bored out of the trunk of a fallen tree. Click here for larger view of the picture Cross-sections of dead white-cedar stems collected at the base of a cliff in Cascade Notch. Extremely slow growth left only microscopic rings; these bush-like trees were nearly 300 years old! Such stunted cliff cedar communities are among the oldest virgin forest stands in the Adirondacks.

Tree Rings | Lake Sediments | Ancient Environments | Mass Extinctions 

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