DISTINCT GROWTH RINGS
IN INDOMALAYAN TREES
By Nestor Baguinon
December 28, 2009
The micro-details of a surfaced corewood sample are captured by scanning and then examined through the screen of a personal computer with possible outcomes whether or not a tree species has absent, indistinct or distinct growth rings. |
Dendrochronologists, scientists who study tree rings, can reconstruct past climates by looking at the patterns of tree rings. There was a time when temperate trees were the only ones to have rings. The rings in temperate trees have been useful records of past climates in North America and Europe. Later, few tropical trees were shown to have rings too. In tropical Asia, dendrochronology started with tree species that grow in dry areas, such as pines and teak.
In May 26, 2006 at Kasetsart University Faculty of Forestry (KUFF), Bangkok, Thailand, American dendrochronologist Dr. Brendan M. Buckley and compatriot Dr. William E. Wright called Asian colleagues to search for more Asian tropical trees with distinct growth rings to extend tropical Asian dendrochronology not only in dry areas but in wet areas as well.
Dr. Nestor T. Baguinon of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), Philippines answered this call with a draft proposal for Asia Pacific Network (APN) funding. Fellow Asians, Dr. Khwanchai Duangsathaporn of KUFF Thailand, Dr. Nimal Gunatilleke of University of Peradeniya Sri Lanka (UPSL) and Dr. Hemant Borgaonkar of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) gave their contributions to complete the draft proposal. APN approved the Project, "Collaborative Studies in Tropical Asian Dendrochronology: Addressing Challenges in Climatology and Forest Ecology" through a notification letter dated April 24, 2007.
The main objective of looking for more tropical trees with distinct growth rings was accomplished. Team Philippines found 40 out of 226 species, Team Malaysia 6 out of 13 species, Team Thailand 28 out of 91 species, Team India 12 out of 29, and Team Sri Lanka 16 out of 65 species. The total count of tree species with distinct growth rings found by the Project is one hundred four (104) out of four hundred twenty four (424) tree species investigated. This 104 tree species will be again studied to see if their rings are consistent with one another's ring pattern, in other words if they crossmatch and crossdate. Only those that do will be assets to dendrochronology. They will be used to study/reconstruct past tropical Asian climates and to understand tropical Asian forest dynamics.
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