Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dendrochronological potential of Millettia stuhlmannii in Mozambique

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Trees Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Key message

This study demonstrates that Millettia stuhlmannii produces annual growth rings responsive to seasonal climate and should be useful for dendrochronology.

Abstract

Millettia stuhlmannii is a highly valuable and potentially overexploited timber species indigenous to southeastern Africa. It is of particular economic importance in Mozambique though relatively little is known about its growth rate or response to climate. This study investigates whether M. stuhlmannii is potentially useful for dendrochronology—that is whether this species forms annual growth rings that are responsive to external forcing such as climate. Five methods were used to determine whether M. stuhlmannii growth rings are indeed annual in nature, including analysis of ring anatomy, dating trees of known age, cambial wounding, classical cross-dating, and comparison of annual growth to climate variables. Growth rings of Millettia stuhlmannii are distinct and well formed, young trees from plantations of known age formed an appropriate number of distinct annual rings, trees showed distinct wood reaction to cambial wounding, adding exactly one complete ring in one calendar year, cross-dating within and between trees was somewhat successful, and annual growth is significantly correlated with wet season precipitation. Results of this study indicate that M. stuhlmannii is a potentially useful species for dendrochronology. These findings should allow a better understanding of this species’ growth dynamics and ecology, as well as its response to climate variability in the past and potentially to future climate change.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ali CA, Uetimane E Jr, Lhateand IA, Terziev N (2008) Anatomical characteristics, properties and use of traditionally used and lesser-known wood species from Mozambique: a literature review. Wood Sci Technol 42:453–472

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Belingard C, Tessier L, de Namur C, Schwartz D (1996) Dendrochronological approach to the radial growth of okoume (Congo). Plant Biol Pathol 319:523–527

    Google Scholar 

  • Borchert R, Rivera G (2001) Photoperiodic control of seasonal development and dormancy in tropical stem-succulent trees. Tree Physiol 21:201–212

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brienen RJW, Zuidema PA (2005) Relating tree growth to rainfall in Bolivian rain forest: a test for six species using tree ring analysis. Oecologia 146:1–12. doi:10.1007/s00442-005-0160-y

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bunn AG (2008) A dendrochronology program library in R (dplR). Dendrochronologia 26(2):115–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bunn AG (2010) Statistical and visual crossdating in R using the dplR library. Dendrochronologia 28(4):251–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlquist S (2001) Comparative wood anatomy: systematic, ecological, and evolutionary aspects of dicotyledon wood. Springer, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Coates-Palgrave M (2002) Keith coates-palgrave trees of southern Africa, 3rd edn, 2nd imp. Struik Publishers

  • Coates-Palgrave MC, Van Wyk AE, Jordaan M, White JA, Sweet P (2007) A reconnaissance survey of the woody flora and vegetation of the Catapú logging concession, Cheringoma District, Mozambique. Bothalia 37(1):57–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Detienne P (1989) Appearance and periodicity of growth rings in some tropical woods. IAWA Bull 10:123–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglass AE (1941) Crossdating in dendrochronology. J Forest 39(10):825–831

    Google Scholar 

  • Fichtler E, Trouet V, Beeckman H, Coppin P, Worbes M (2004) Climatic signals in tree rings of Burkea africana and Pterocarpus angolensis from semiarid forests in Namibia. Trees 18:442–451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groenendijk P, Sass-Klaassen U, Bongers F, Zuidema PA (2014) Potential of tree-ring analysis in a wet tropical forest: a case study on 22 commercial tree species in Central Africa. For Ecol Manage 323:65–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harley GL, Grissino-Mayer HD, Franklin JA, Anderson C, Kose N (2012) Cambial activity of Pinus elliottii var. densa reveals influence of seasonal insolation on growth dynamics in the Florida Keys. Trees 26:1449–1459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassan Khamisi Z (2014) A tree-ring based assessment of climate–growth relationships in the Miombo region in Tanzania. MS Thesis. University of Arizona, Tucson

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoadley RB (1990) Identifying wood: accurate results with simple tools. Taunton Press, Newtown

    Google Scholar 

  • Hulme M (1992) A 1951–80 global land precipitation climatology for the evaluation of general circulation models. Clim Dyn 7:57–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hulme M (1994) Validation of large-scale precipitation fields in general circulation models. In: Desbois M, Desalmand F (eds) Global precipitations and climate change., NATO ASI SeriesSpringer, Berlin, pp 387–406

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (2012) IUCN red list of threatened species. http://www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed 8 Feb 2013

  • Mackenzie C (2006) Forest Governance in Zambézia, Mozambique: Chinese Takeaway! Final Report for Fongza

  • Mariaux A (1967) Les cernes dans les bois tropicaux africains, nature et periodicite. Bois et Forets des Tropiques No. 113:3–14, No. 114:23–37

  • Marzolli A (2007) Inventario Florestal Nacional: Avaliação integrada das florestas de Moçambique. Direcção Nacional de Terra e Florestas, Ministerio da Agricultura, Maputo

    Google Scholar 

  • Mozambique National Directorate of Geology (2006) Geological Map of Gorongosa, Mozambique. Scale 1:250 000

  • Pearce RB (1996) Tansley Review No. 87: antimicrobial defenses in the wood of living trees. New Phytol 132:203–233

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Remane I (2013) Analysis of Annual Growth Patterns of Millettia stuhlmannii, in Mozambique. MS Thesis. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

    Google Scholar 

  • Richter HG, Dallwitz MJ (2000) Commercial timbers: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. In English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Version: 25th June 2009. http://delta-intkey.com/wood/

  • Rozendaal DMA, Zuidema PA (2011) Dendroecology in the tropics: a review. Trees 25:3–16. doi:10.1007/s00468-010-0480-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schöngart J, Orthmann B, Hennenberg KJ, Porembski S, Worbes M (2006) Climate–growth relationships of tropical tree species in West Africa and their potential for climate reconstruction. Glob Change Biol 12:1139–1150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schulman E (1956) Dendroclimatic changes in semiarid America. University of Arizona Press

  • Schweingruber FH (1996) Tree rings and environment—dendroecology. Haupt

  • Schweingruber FH (2007) Wood structure and environment. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Seo JW, Eckstein D, Schmitt U (2007) The pinning method: from pinning to data preparation. Dendrochronologia 25:79–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stahle DW (1999) Useful strategies for the development of tropical tree-ring chronologies. IAWA J 20(3):249–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stokes MA, Smiley TL (1968) An introduction to tree-ring dating. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Therrell MD, Stahle DW, Ries LP, Shugart HH (2006) Tree ring reconstructed rainfall variability in Zimbabwe. Clim Dyn 26:677–678. doi:10.1007/s00382-005-0108-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trouet V, Haneca K, Coppin P, Beeckman H (2001) Tree ring analysis of Brachystegia spiciformis and Isoberlinia tomentosa: evaluation of the ENSO-signal in the Miombo Woodland of eastern Africa. IAWA J 22(4):385–399

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trouet V, Coppin P, Beeckman H (2006) Annual growth ring patterns in Brachystegia spiciformis reveals influence of precipitation on tree growth. Biotropica 38(3):375–382

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trouet V, Esper J, Beeckman H (2010) Climate/growth relationship of Brachystegia spiciformis from the miombo woodland in south central Africa. Dendrochronologia. doi:10.1016/j.dendro.10.002

    Google Scholar 

  • Trouet V, Mukelabai M, Verheyden A, Beeckman H (2012) Cambial growth season of brevi-deciduous Brachystegia spiciformis trees from south central Africa restricted to less than four months. PLoS ONE 7(10):e47364. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0047364

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tshisikhawe MP, Siaga NM, Bhat RB (2011) Population dynamics of Millettia stuhlmannii Taub. in Ha-Makhuvha, Vhembe district of Limpopo Province, South Africa. ϕYTON ISSN 0031 9457, 80:127–132

  • Worbes M (1995) How to measure growth dynamics in tropical trees: a review. IAWA J 16(4):337–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worbes M (2002) One hundred years of tree-ring research in the tropics: a brief history and an outlook to future challenges. Dendrochronologia 20:217–231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worbes M, Junk WJ (1999) How old are tropical trees? The persistence of a myth. IAWA J 20(3):255–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zang C, Biondi F (2012) Dendroclimatic calibration in R: the bootRes package for response and correlation function analysis. Dendrochronologia. doi:10.1016/j.dendro.2012.08.001

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author contribution statement

I. Remane collected field samples, prepared and analyzed samples and data and wrote manuscript. M. Therrell collected field samples assisted with analysis and edited manuscript.

Acknowledgments

We thank TCT Dalmann LTD, J. White, R. Swap, M. Coates-Palgrave, M. Trotter, N. Ribeiro, and Eduardo Mondlane University. This research was supported by The University of Virginia Center for Regional Environmental Studies and the U.S. National Science Foundation Office of International Science and Engineering (award #1160874), and the P2C2 Program (award #s 1003699, 1362823).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Engineering, Faculty of Agronomy and Forest Engineering, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Av. Julius Nyerere/Campus 3453, P.O. Box 257, Maputo, Mozambique

    Ivan A. D. Remane

  2. Department of Geography, University of Alabama, Box 870322, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487-870322, USA

    Matthew D. Therrell

Authors
  1. Ivan A. D. Remane
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Matthew D. Therrell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew D. Therrell.

Additional information

Communicated by S. Leavitt.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Remane, I.A.D., Therrell, M.D. Dendrochronological potential of Millettia stuhlmannii in Mozambique. Trees 29, 729–736 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-014-1150-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-014-1150-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation