Publication details
The dendroclimatic value of oak stable isotopes
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Dendrochronologia |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2020.125804 |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2020.125804 |
| Keywords | Central Europe; Climate change; Dendroclimatology; Forestry; Ecological variation; Oxygen and carbon isotopes; Quercus spp. |
| Description | Tree-ring stable oxygen and carbon isotope ratios (?18O and ?13C) are an important archive for climate reconstructions. However, it remains unclear whether the polyvinyl acetate emulsion, often used for the preservation and fixation of wood samples, influences ?18O and ?13C signals. Further uncertainties are associated with the possible effects of geographical origin and cambial age of historical samples. Here, we present annually-resolved and absolutely-dated ?18O and ?13C measurements of 21 living oaks (Quercus robur and Q. petraea) from the Czech Republic. We find that the ?18O and ?13C signals in the extracted alpha-cellulose are not affected by polyvinyl acetate treatment. Covering the entire 20th century and reaching until 2018 CE, our dataset reveals spatial and temporal coherency within and between the individual ?18O and ?13C chronologies of different oak species, sample locations, and tree ages. Highly significant (p < 0.01) Pearson’s correlation coefficients of the site-specific ?13C and ?18O chronologies range from 0.48–0.77 and 0.36–0.56, respectively. The isotopic inter-series correlations of Q. robur and Q. petraea from the same site are 0.75 and 0.43 for the mean ?13C and ?18O values, respectively. Significant (p < 0.01) correlations of 0.49 and 0.84 are found for ?13C and ?18O, respectively, when all measurements from all sampling locations and tree ages are included. Our study shows that non-pooled oak ?18O and ?13C measurements from both species, different locations, and diverse tree ages can be combined into robust isotopic chronologies for climate reconstructions. |