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X-ray microdensitometry applied to subfossil tree-rings: growth characteristics of ancient pines from the southern boreal forest zone in Finland at intra-annual to centennial time-scales

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Abstract

A collection of subfossil wood of Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine) was exposed to X-ray densitometry. The collection of 64 samples from the southern boreal forest zone was dendrochronologically cross-dated to a.d. 673-1788. Growth characteristics were determined by performing density profiles including the following parameters: minimum density, earlywood and latewood boundary density, maximum density, earlywood width, earlywood density, latewood width, latewood density, annual ring width and annual ring density. Seven out of the nine parameters were found to contain non-climatic growth trends and six were found to be heteroscedastic in their variance. Tree-specific records were indexed, to remove the non-climatic growth trends and stabilize the variance, and combined into nine parameter-specific tree-ring chronologies. Growth characteristics of the pines changed in parallel with the generally agreed climatic cooling from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age: pine tree-rings showed decreasing maximum densities from the period a.d. 975-1150 to a.d. 1450–1625. A concomitant change in the intra-annual growth characteristics was detected between these periods. The findings indicate that not only the trees growing near the species’ distributional limits are sensitive to large-scale climatic variations but also the trees growing in habitats remote from the timberline have noticeably responded to past climate changes.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the anonymous referees for comments that considerably improved this manuscript. Mr. David Gritten is acknowledged for the language revision. The work of S. Helama was made possible by a postdoctoral scholarship from the Foundation of Koneen Säätiö.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Samuli Helama

  2. SAIMA Unit of Savonlinna Department of Teacher Education, University of Joensuu, P.O. Box 86, 57101, Savonlinna, Finland

    Matti Vartiainen & Jouko Meriläinen

  3. Mekrijärvi Research Station, University of Joensuu, Yliopistontie 4, 82900, Ilomantsi, Finland

    Taneli Kolström

  4. Faculty of Forest Sciences, University of Joensuu, P.O. Box 111, 80101, Joensuu, Finland

    Heli Peltola

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  1. Samuli Helama
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  4. Heli Peltola
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  5. Jouko Meriläinen
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Correspondence to Samuli Helama.

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Communicated by F. Bittmann.

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Helama, S., Vartiainen, M., Kolström, T. et al. X-ray microdensitometry applied to subfossil tree-rings: growth characteristics of ancient pines from the southern boreal forest zone in Finland at intra-annual to centennial time-scales. Veget Hist Archaeobot 17, 675–686 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-008-0147-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-008-0147-9

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