Dendrochronological Results Research Articles

DENDROCHRONOLOGICAL METHODS IN THE STUDY OF GEOMORPHOLOGICAL NATURAL HAZARDS IN THE CARPATHIANS

The specifics of dendrochronological methods in the study of the most common hazardous slope processes are examined: snow avalanches, landslides, rockfalls and debris flows. The dendrogeomorphological methods mainly refer to the study and dating of tree rings of coniferous species (Larix decidua, Picea abies, Pinus cembra, Pinus mugo) and less deciduous species (Fagus sylavatica). In this way, they aim to interpret past events recorded in the structure of the tree rings in terms of their deformations and damage. The most typical signs of response to geomorphological natural hazards are mechanical disturbances including injures, scars and raising ducts on trees, inclination of tree stems, broken brunches and crowns and denudations of roots. Dendrogeomorphological methods are valuable tools for reconstructing hazardous geomorphological processes under conditions of an insufficient stationary monitoring network for natural hazards. Moreover, such methods allow not only dating and thus determining the recurrence of natural hazards, but also spatially determining the coverage of the territory by hazardous geomorphological processes. This function is particularly important This characteristic is particularly important for the assessment of remote regions with complex topography, especially mountainous regions. A retrospective analysis of earlier developments in this field shows the suitability of such methods for the reconstruction of hazardous geomorphological processes in mountainous regions.
 The application of dendrogeomorphological methods in the reconstruction of hazardous geomorphological processes was introduced in geomorphological studies in the 1970s. Most dendrogeomorphological studies on mountain regions are currently being carried out in Switzerland, the Czech Republic, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Romania and the USA. Dendrogeomorphological methods are among the most important absolute methods for the identification and reconstruction of landslides, especially those that have occurred in recent centuries. Landslides, like other hazardous geomorphological processes, particularly affect the growth of trees, which is reflected in their impaired growth. Dendrogeomorphological methods are also considered reliable to reconstruct, predict and mitigate the consequences of mudflows.
 Czech, Polish and Romanian Carpathians are the common objects of the dendrogeomorphological studies in the Carpathians. Here, the reconstruction of snow avalanches is one of the most common dendrogeomorphological research in the Carpathians. At the same time, while in the parts of the Carpathians located in the other countries, such studies are active, in the Ukrainian Carpathians, still with insufficient possibilities for automated monitoring, such studies are scarce. The authors have already successfully tested such methods for the reconstruction of snow avalanches in the Ukrainian Carpathians (Chornohora and Borzhava massifs) while learning from Romanian experience in the Rodna and Maramuresh massifs of Eastern Carpathians. The dendrochronological results are congruent to stationary snow avalanche observations, evidence of residents and relevant services. The perspective of the authors’ studies in the field is related to the further testing of dendrochronological methods in the reconstruction of other dangerous geomorphological processes (landslides, rockfalls, mudslides) in the Eastern Carpathians on the example of the Chornohora and Poloninsky massifs using samples of damaged tree-rings of Picea abies, Abies alba, and Fagus sylvatica.
 Key words: dendrogeomorhological methods, geomorphological natural hazards, Carpathians, snow avalanches, tree rings.

Dendrochronological Studies of an Alpine Village (Courbons, Digne-les-Bains, France)

Abstract A dendrochronological study of Courbons, a village in the southern French pre-Alps, was conducted to improve our understanding of its history, strengthen the reference chronologies, and reconstruct the outlines of historical forests. A total of 20 buildings were subjected to dendrochronological sampling. The 145 sampled wood pieces were of nine different species, 44 of which are dated from larch, fir, and deciduous oak. Two main construction phases were identified (from the 13th–16th century CE and from the 18th–20th century CE), separated by a hiatus during the 17th century CE. A scarcity of resources could be the cause of the hiatus. We noticed that oak trees were only used before the 16th century CE and that trees felled after the 17th century CE grew better than those that were felled before this period. Based on historical published data, we assumed that demographic variations, trees reserved for shipbuilding, and pressures from pastoralism could explain the dendrochronological results.

Stand dynamics and structure of old-growth Fraxinus nigra stands in northern Minnesota, USA

Black ash ( Fraxinus nigra Marsh.) forests of north-central North America are currently threatened by the non-native emerald ash borer ( Agrilus planipennis, EAB). Despite the wide distribution of F. nigra ecosystems, and the concern over EAB impact, little is known about their structure and natural stand dynamics. We sampled six old-growth F. nigra stands to assess structure, composition, tree recruitment, and past disturbance. Dendrochronological results revealed that disturbance rates fluctuated markedly over the past 200 years or more, but remained relatively low, suggesting small- to moderate-scale disturbances. Recruitment age structures revealed that ( i) F. nigra is able to maintain long-term dominance through extended longevity as a canopy tree, and ( ii) these systems have fairly continuous recruitment over time, with most sites showing F. nigra recruitment in every decade in the chronology. We speculate that recruitment is coupled with water table fluctuations, in addition to canopy disturbance, as these stands are subject to both frequent flooding and effective soil drought (given the shallow root systems). The low rates of past canopy disturbance and associated gap-phase replacement by F. nigra highlight the potential for dramatic shifts in these systems following emerald ash borer invasion and subsequent canopy tree mortality.

The art trade between Flanders and Madeira Island in the 15th and 16th centuries – The contribution of dendrochronology to the history of Portuguese heritage

Flemish paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries, now preserved in public and private collections on Madeira Island, provide unequivocal witness to the trade link that existed between Flanders and this Portuguese territory. This article focuses on a dendrochronological approach to date fifteen paintings from thirteen artworks ascribed to several Flemish artists working in the 15th and 16th century and currently exhibited in the Museum of Sacred Art of Funchal (Madeira Island). The dendrochronological results consolidate the historical and iconographic dates reported in the museum catalogue for fourteen paintings, also allowing a more precise dating of one of the studied artworks assigned to Joos van Cleeve's workshop. Furthermore, new knowledge has been added to the panel attributed to Marinus van Reymerswaelle, indicating that it was painted after the historical dating, in the painter's late years. This study has resulted in the construction of a new historical oak chronology for the Baltic region, covering the period 1157–1599 and based on chronological series acquired from several research studies of Portuguese and Flemish paintings carried out over the previous decades. The new chronology can be considered as a valuable new tool for future research into Portuguese and Flemish paintings, sculptures, and furniture from Portuguese cultural heritage collections.

How Cultural Heritage Studies Based on Dendrochronology Can Be Improved through Two-Way Communication

A significant part of our cultural heritage consists of wood. Research on historical wooden structures and artefacts thereby provides knowledge of people’s daily lives and the society in which they lived. Dendrochronology is a well-established dating method of wood that can also provide valuable knowledge about climate dynamics, environmental changes, silviculture, and cultural transformations. However, dendrochronology comes with some limitations that end users in cultural heritage sciences must be aware of, otherwise their surveys may not be ultimately performed. We have drawn attention to studies in which dendrochronological results have been misinterpreted, over-interpreted, or not fully utilized. On the other hand, a rigorous dendrochronological survey may not respond to the request of information in practice. To bridge this rigour-relevance gap, this article has considered and reviewed both the dendrochronology’s science-perspective and the practitioner’s and end user’s call for context appropriate studies. The material for this study consists of (i) interviews with researchers in dendrochronology and end users represented by cultural heritage researchers with focus on building conservation and building history in Sweden, and (ii) a review of dendrochronological reports and the literature where results from the reports have been interpreted. From these sources we can conclude that a continuous two-way communication between the dendrochronologists and end users often would have resulted in improved cultural heritage studies. The communication can take place in several steps. Firstly, the design of a sampling plan, which according to the current standard for sampling of cultural materials often is required, is an excellent common starting point for communication. Secondly, the survey reports could be developed with a more extensive general outline of the method and guidance in how to interpret the results. Thirdly, the potential contribution from dendrochronology is often underused, foreseeing historical information on local climate, silviculture, and choice of quality of the wooden resource, as the focus most often is the chronological dating. Finally, the interpretation of the results should consider all the available sources where dendrochronology is one stake for a conciliant conclusion.

DNA of centuries-old timber can reveal its origin

Oak wood was highly appreciated and widely used for construction in past centuries. As population sizes expanded in some regions of Europe, local forests were depleted of high-quality timber. Therefore, regions of soaring economies were importing timber initially from the European market and eventually from other continents. Origin of archaeological or historical timber is usually identified by means of dendroprovenancing, i.e. statistical matching of tree-ring-width (TRW) series of timber of unknown origin with TRW reference datasets. However, this method has pitfalls and limitations and therefore alternative techniques are needed. Here, we used three different DNA analysis methods to investigate the potential of using ancient (a)DNA, extracted from oak timber derived from historical buildings and shipwrecks from a variety of countries. All the material had also been analysed dendrochronologically, so its dating and provenance is demonstrated. We included heartwood samples in this analysis, for which DNA extraction is especially challenging as it contains chemicals that inhibit DNA amplification. We succeeded in amplifying DNA for at least one marker from 56% of samples (including heartwood samples), yielding crucial information that allowed us to identify the potential source area of centuries old timber buildings in Latvia and Denmark and of 750-year-old shipwreck material from Germany. Our results prove the strong potential of DNA analyses for identifying timber origin to the regional scale, but by combining these with the dendrochronological results, we can control the exactitude of the aDNA approach and demonstrate a more nuanced examination of the timber sources for these historic structures.

Multi-century reconstruction suggests complex interactions of climate and human controls of forest fire activity in a Karelian boreal landscape, North-West Russia

Spatially explicit reconstructions of fire activity in European boreal forest are rare, which limits our understanding of factors driving vegetation dynamics in this part of the boreal domain. We have developed a spatially explicit dendrochronological reconstruction of a fire regime in a 25 × 50 km2 area within boreal biome located within the Kalevalsky National Park (Kalevalsky NP), over the 1400–2010 CE period. We dated 184 fire years using 212 fire-scarred living and dead Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees collected on 38 sites.The studied period revealed a pronounced century-long variability in forest fire cycles (FC). The early period (1400–1620 CE) had low fire activity (FC = 178 years), which increased during the 1630–1920 period (FC = 46 years) and then decreased over the 1930–2000 period (FC = 283 years). Dendrochronological results did not provide a conclusive answer on the origins of FC dynamics, although several lines of evidence suggest that climate drove the increase in fire activity in the early 1600s, while human-related factors were largely responsible for its decline in the early 1900s. The current FC in the Kalevalsky NP is close to the estimates reported for the pre-industrial colonisation period in Scandinavia, which suggests that the forests of the area currently maintain their close-to-natural fire regime. Fire has been the pivotal factor of forest dynamics in this biome and forest management should acknowledge that fact in developing conservation strategies in Karelia and other areas of European boreal forest. Introduction of prescribed burns of varying severity could be an important element of such strategies.

Dendrochronology and archival texts: Dating the Ottoman fortress of Seddülbahir on the Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey*

This paper provides the results of the dendrochronological analyses of seven wood samples from the Ottoman fortress of Seddülbahir on the Gallipoli Peninsula or Turkey. It concludes that the trees were cut in the late spring of 1656. The data collected allows the first building phase of the fortress to be securely dated. By bringing together the dendrochronological results with various archival records about the fortress, a more precise building chronology for the fortress can be reconstructed. The probable initial period of construction was between 1656 and 1661.

Dendrochronological evidence for long-distance timber trading in the Roman Empire.

An important question for our understanding of Roman history is how the Empire's economy was structured, and how long-distance trading within and between its provinces was organised and achieved. Moreover, it is still unclear whether large construction timbers, for use in Italy, came from the widespread temperate forests north of the Alps and were then transported to the sparsely-wooded Mediterranean region in the south. Here, we present dendrochronological results from the archaeological excavation of an expensively decorated portico in the centre of Rome. The oak trees (Quercus sp.), providing twenty-four well-preserved planks in waterlogged ground, had been felled between 40 and 60 CE in the Jura Mountains of north-eastern France. It is most likely that the wood was transported to the Eternal City on the Saône and Rhône rivers and then across the Mediterranean Sea. This rare dendrochronological evidence from the capital of the Roman Empire gives fresh impetus to the ongoing debate on the likelihood of transporting timber over long distances within and between Roman provinces. This study reconstructs the administrative and logistic efforts required to transport high-quality construction timber from central Europe to Rome. It also highlights an advanced network of trade, and emphasises the enormous value of oak wood in Roman times.

Frontal fault location and most recent earthquake timing for the Alpine Fault at Whataroa, Westland, New Zealand

ABSTRACTActive traces of the reverse dextral Alpine Fault were poorly located on the true left (southwest) side of the Whataroa River. Mapping using airborne LiDAR-derived high resolution topographic data has identified a 300 m wide zone of partitioned faulting including the northeast-striking frontal trace of the Alpine Fault, c. 1.3 km northwest of the DFDP-2 drillsite. Excavation into a 1.2 m high, northeast-trending scarp exposed sheared gravels draped by folded fine-grained alluvial deposits relating to only the most recent faulting event. Sheared gravels within the trench exposure have fault fabrics dipping in the range of c. 45–65° to the southeast. Radiocarbon dates used in an OxCal model that incorporates dendrochronological results from trees that colonised the river floodplain following migration of the river constrain the timing of this faulting event to c. AD 1706–1823. Thus, faulting that formed this single-event scarp has been correlated to the well-known AD 1717 earthquake. The faulted terrace (tw4) was formerly the active floodplain of the Whataroa River, which reworked the surface post-AD 1717 before incising to its current bed level. The preferred fault dip from this frontal trace to the Alpine Fault target depth beneath the DFDP-2 drillsite is c. 46° to the southeast, which is consistent with the range of dips observed in the trench.

The demographics and regeneration dynamic of hickory in second-growth temperate forest

Hickory (Carya spp.) is an economically and ecologically important genus to the eastern deciduous forest of North America. Yet, much of our knowledge about the genus comes from observational and anecdotal studies that examine the genus as a whole, or from research that examines only one species, in only one part of its range. Here, we use data sets from three different spatial scales to determine the demographics and regeneration patterns of the four most abundant hickory species in the Northeastern United States. These species were the shagbark (C. ovata), pignut (C. glabra), mockernut (C. tomentosa), and bitternut (C. cordiformis) hickories. We examine trends in hickory demographics, age class and structure at the regional scale (New England and New York), the landscape scale (a 3000 ha forest in northwestern Connecticut) and at the stand scale (0.25–5 ha). Our analysis at all three scales show that individual hickory species are site specific with clumped distribution patterns associated with climate and geology at regional scales; and with soil moisture and fertility at landscape scales. Although hickory represents a fairly small percent of the total basal area (2.5%) across a forest landscape, upland oak-hickory stands can have a much higher basal area of hickory (49%), especially in the larger height and diameter classes. Additionally, dendrochronological results show that hickory trees in mature, second growth forests originated or were released over a half-century long period of stand development; but patterns in seedling recruitment in the understory is continuous and builds up as advance regeneration over decades, with some surviving in a suppressed state for over forty years. This contrasts with oak where recruitment of regeneration is strongly pulsed in association with mast years.

Stories about building history told by wooden elements – case studies from Eastern Austria

ABSTRACTThe intention of this article is to show the benefit of an interdisciplinary approach within the various disciplines of building research (architectural archeology, art history, archive research, dendrochronology, etc.).The exact determination of the age of historical timber is undoubtedly the most important contribution of dendrochronology to building research. The significance of dendrochronological dates is discussed in detail—problems of reuse, repair, drying time, and differences between felling and building dates are demonstrated. Several case studies in Eastern Austria showed a difference of two to four years between felling and building.To answer questions of where the timber came from, dendroprovenancing was introduced to Eastern Austria. First results showed that it will be possible to differentiate the origin of timber between Eastern Austria and regions where rafts started towards Vienna, via the river Danube. The results showed that it is important to combine building archaeology and archival analyses with the dendrochronological results.

Successor Eponyms, Debt Notes, Intercalation, and the Old Assyrian Calendar during Kültepe Level II: A Critical Reappraisal

The appearance of an annual chronology from Old Assyrian records in the form of eponym lists, more than a decade ago, has had a significant impact on the quest to anchor early second millennium chronology. Old Assyrian specialists have produced a series of refinements to the list of eponyms (year names).1 The editors of the Revised Eponym List (REL) support a chronology of the early second millennium Bc that is close (or identical) to the Middle Chronology, and militates against the high, low, and ultra-low chronologies, based on the relation between archaeological stratigraphy, texts, and dendrochronological results from the Warsama palace at Kultepe.2 Since its appearance, a number of authors have proposed minor (but

Disclosing biome sensitivity to atmospheric changes: Stable C isotope ecophysiological dependences during photosynthetic CO2 uptake in Maritime pine and Scots pine ecosystems from southwestern Europe

Abstract Background: The late XX century showed a sharp atmospheric δ 13 CO 2 decline mainly ascribed to increased emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) resulting from fossil fuel combustion. Thus, in the current global-warming scenario, a deep knowledge of biosphere–atmosphere interactions became especially relevant to adopt appropriate guidelines for climate change management. Objective: Although tree-rings can attest long-term atmospheric composition trends, C isotopic variability among individual trees often disturbs the accurate interpretation of 13 C atmospheric changes from tree-rings at different timescales. Therefore, the aim of this research is to overcome this intertree variability by applying an isotopic approach that can practically absorb high-frequency climatic irregularities and genetic variabilities from dendrochronological series, hence allowing the accurate deconvolution of past atmospheric composition to improve current models. Methods: This research is based on original isotopic dendrochronological results obtained by performing tree-by-tree differential studies with intra-tree δ 13 C shifts to allow interspecies data standardization. Results: The isotopic composition of dendrochronological series collected from northwestern Spanish coniferous ecosystems clearly reflected the corresponding atmospheric 13 C changes but the stringency of the match also depended on some silvicultural parameters, tree-ring isotopic composition being able to exhibit either a magnification or attenuation of atmospheric changes according to specific metabolic differences that modulate photosynthetic 13 C discrimination in each ecological context. Conclusion: Relative isotopic changes revealed from our 25-year-long dendrological research, which properly mirrored the contemporary atmospheric 13 CO 2 composition (1978–2002), also showed the biome sensitivity to atmospheric changes, pointing towards a notable aptitude to respond to even incipient mitigation strategies and a significant resilience capacity of the Earth system.

Swedish oak, planks and panels: dendroarchaeological investigations on the 16th century Evangelistas altarpiece at Seville Cathedral (Spain)

The results of the dendroarchaeological research carried out on the 16th century altarpiece from the Evangelistas chapel at Seville Cathedral (Spain) are presented. The altarpiece consists of nine panels and was commissioned from the Flemish artist Hernando de Esturmio in AD 1553, who signed the completed work in AD 1555. The research aimed at i) registering information about the processing of the wood and panel making, ii) verifying the AD 1555 construction date, and iii) finding out the provenance of the wood.Five panels were selected for this research. The observed technological features allowed the reconstruction of the production process from borne (oak wainscots) to the final product and, based on that, two types of panels were described. Dendrochronological results showed that the wood employed in both types of panels represents a rather homogeneous group, implying that the raw material was probably transported to Seville in the same batch, and was prepared and assembled using slightly different methods to meet the requirements stipulated by the contract. Sapwood was identified in 12 of the 33 researched planks. The most recent tree-ring dates in AD 1549. Using a Bayesian approach, we obtained the combined felling date range AD 1549 to 1554 for six of the trees with a 99.7% confidence level. This would allow for a seasoning time of a couple of weeks up to four years, although we cannot discard that some of the other trees were cut earlier and had longer seasoning periods. Interestingly, our research provides evidence that the wood originated from the southwest of Sweden, representing an alternative source to the south-eastern Baltic oak commonly used for panel paintings in northern Europe in the 16th century. This is the first time that such procurement source is reported by dendrochronology in an altarpiece. Wood technological features of the planks and panels are compared to those of Baltic oak wainscots and to contemporary altarpieces in Spain and Portugal. Possible reasons for the use of this alternative procurement source are discussed.

Palaeoecological evidence for Mesolithic to Medieval climatic change and anthropogenic impact on the Alpine flora and vegetation of the Silvretta Massif (Switzerland/Austria)

In a high altitude region such as the Silvretta Alps (Switzerland/Austria), past and extant settlement activities are known to have had large influences on the alpine flora and vegetation. The Silvretta Massif harbors more than 230 archaeological sites above 2000 m a.s.l. on a total area of 550 km2, from the Mesolithic period to Modern Times, but received little attention in these matters up to recently. The Fimba Valley within the Silvretta area – with 47 known archaeological sites (6 prehistoric, 21 from the Medieval and/or Modern Times, 20 undated) located over an area of 62 km2 – provides evidence of a broad range of former human presence, as well as peat records allowing the reconstruction of Holocene climatic change and anthropogenic impact on past vegetation. Here, we present a high resolution, multi-proxy study (including pollen, cryptogam spores, and non-pollen palynomorphs) on a 177-cm-long radiocarbon dated peat core from the Las Gondas Bog in the Fimba Valley (2363 m a.s.l.). Palynological evidence adds and confirms previous dendrochronological results, revealing extensive high Pinus cembra (Arolla pine) stands around the bog at 10,400 cal bp and between ca. 8600–6700 cal. bp, more than 300 altitudinal meters above today's timberline, and belonging therefore to the highest population known for Central Europe. In addition, our palaeoecological results correlate well with the archaeologically known human impact during the Neolithic, Iron Age and Medieval periods. The exploitation of alpine landscape resources (cultivation of cereals in the valleys) and livestock grazing (in the subalpine and alpine areas) has therefore a long tradition going back at least for 6200 years in the Silvretta region.

Summed radiocarbon probability density functions cannot prove solar forcing of Central European lake-level changes

It has been argued that Central European lake levels were driven by solar activity. This interpretation rests on the comparison of a score record of radiocarbon dates with the 14C residual curve. This score record is a variant of a cumulative probability density function (CPF). In this paper it is argued that this method is not valid because the shape of the CPF is determined by the calibration curve. This hypothesis is tested by a set of null models. An alternative interpretation is given according to which only few episodes of Holocene lake-level changes were climatically driven, while most of the time non-climatic factors were dominating. On a more general level some methodological issues of CPFs are discussed and exemplified by the comparison of dendrochronological results from archaeological settlements and a CPF created using radiocarbon dates from the same settlements.

Revealing the History Behind the Facade: A Timber-framed Building at No. 302 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh

The property at No. 302 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh, is a rare survival of a ‘timber land’, the timber-framed buildings that were once commonplace along the city's Royal Mile and elsewhere in Scotland in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Two painted panels survive as components of the timber frontage, providing insights into the nature and function of the galleries that projected from these buildings. The building also retains fragments of two richly decorated board-and-beam ceilings, the beams of which have been successfully dated by dendrochronology. One possible interpretation of the dendrochronological results is that multi-storied tenements such as No. 302 may not have been conceived as such but were built upwards in stages, the platform-framing of the box-like construction allowing for storey-by-storey development.

Dendrochronologie et dendroclimatologie du chêne en France. Questions posées par le transfert de données de bois historiques vers la dendroclimatologie

The dating process needs a set of historical, archaeological and mathematical postulations. The accepted error must be adapted to the aim : the way the dates will be used by other specialists, a date being either an accessory in a large speech or an essential node in a demonstration. The error effect is different in a local analyse, i.e. about a building, and in a research concerning thousands of wood pieces of a large area, which in it is necessary to know better the nature of the error. In the aim to rebuild the climate of the last millenary from trees of Northern France and low lands near the frontiers (ESCARSEL program), we are proposing a way to sort dendrochronological results coming from archaeology and history respecting the way they were build.

Dendrochonological Potential of Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii): A Case Study in the Black Rock Forest, New York

The deciduous forests of northeastern United States are currently experiencing an invasion of the exotic plant species Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii). This recent and rapid invasion leads to rising concern about its potential threats to native species as well as natural ecosystems, demanding a better understanding of its invasion mechanisms and potential responses to climate change. Unfortunately, few studies have been conducted to understand the influence of climate on the growth of B. thunbergii, largely because of the absence of long-term growth records. In this study we demonstrate growth rings of B. thunbergii are annually resolved and crossdatable. The first ring-width chronology of B. thunbergii was therefore developed using samples collected from the Black Rock Forest (BRF), New York. Climate-growth relationship analysis indicates the growth of B. thunbergii in the BRF is positively correlated with precipitation in prior October, current February and May–August, but is negatively correlated with current March precipitation. The growth of B. thunbergii is also negatively correlated with temperatures in prior winter (November–January) and current summer (June–July), but is positively correlated with current spring temperature (March–May). These dendrochronological results on B. thunbergii, together with further physiological studies, will improve our understanding on how the growth of this invasive species is affected by local climate dynamics, as well as the long-term invasion potential that is tied to its responses to climate change.