Using Dendroclimatology in a Student-Directed Research Project

Abstract

An upper-level paleoclimatology class undertook a student-directed dendroclimatology research project using college climate records, and cores and cross sections from trees on campus. The class measured the annual variation in width of the tree rings, constructed plots of annual ring-width variation, and standardized these plots to account for the initial rapid growth that occurs in all trees. The class then developed three hypotheses based on climate parameters to explain the observed variation in annual growth ring width and tested these hypotheses with linear-regression analyses using temperature and precipitation data from the Amherst College climate record. The analyses indicated that only precipitation affected tree-ring width, but that it accounted for only a small proportion of the variation observed. Students concluded that the climate specific to New England did not produce strong stresses on tree growth, and that other, local, environmental factors actually had a greater impact on ring-width variation. A student-directed research project of this kind gives students valuable first-hand experience of the process of scientific research.