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Author(s):
Barbara McDonald, Jessica Nickelsen, Michelle Andrews, Rachel Small
Year Published:

Cataloging Information

Topic(s):
Fire & Climate

NRFSN number: 8331
FRAMES RCS number: 12463
Record updated:

Sometimes it is hard to study the past. This is especially true if the past you want to study was hundreds or thousands of years ago. It is made more difficult if the past you want to study has no written records. Some scientists, such as archeologists and paleontologists, use items from the past as clues. Archeologists usually use human-made items, and paleontologists usually use natural clues. A dendrochronologist is a scientist who uses the natural clues found in tree rings (figure 1). In this study, the scientists used clues provided by old trees to help them understand the past. The scientists used information from tree rings. As a tree grows, it adds a layer of new growth on its trunk. For trees growing in dry areas, a lot of growth in a wet year shows up as a thick ring. In a dry year, the tree's growth ring is thin. If something happens to the tree during a year, scientists can find clues in the tree's growth ring for that year. For example, if there was a wildland fire and the tree was not burned up or killed, a scar may be evident in that year's growth ring. Clues from a tree's growth rings also help scientists determine the past climate of an area, as well as when and where wildland fires occurred. The scientists contributing to this article are Dr. Thomas Kitzberger, Dr. Emily Hyerdahl, Dr. Peter Brown, and Dr. Thomas Veblen.

Citation

McDonald, Barbara; Nickelsen, Jessica; Andrews, Michelle; Small, Rachel, compilers. 2011. It's a small world - How oceans and the climate can affect wildland fires thousands of miles away. Natural Inquirer, Climate Change Edition. 14(1): 6-19.

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