Tree Ring Project. Mari Seltveit Andrea Fjågesund Sebastian Geissler Janne Elisabeth Tvitekkja. Vest-Telemark secondary School

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1 Tree Ring Project Mari Seltveit Andrea Fjågesund Sebastian Geissler Janne Elisabeth Tvitekkja Vest-Telemark secondary School Telemark, Dalen, Norway Teacher: Åse Kiland, Birgit Johanne K. Olsens and Torstein Hetland 05.june 2012

2 Abstract: This project involves finding information using tree rings that we have got from the treeringsamples. When we look at the samples we can see that there are bright rings and dark rings. The bright rings represent the summer season and the dark rings represent the winter season. When we figure out how old the trees are, we count the bright rings. The tree-rings describe the age and growth of the tree. Thick rings are good growth and small rings represent poor growth. In addition to the treering-samples it is important to have some other information. We got climate data; precipitation and temperature. The specific research question is: What can the treerings tell us about how the climate has been (in the trees growth)? Our hypothesis: We can use the width from the samples to read how of the climate has been. Fig. 1: We get some information about the day and the important parts of what we should do.

3 Research Questions and hypothesis: Research question: What can the three rings tell us about how the climate has been (in the trees growth)? Hypothesis: We can use the width from the samples to reading of the climate. A tree ring is simply a layer of wood produced during one three s growing season. Each tree ring marks a line between the dark late wood that grew at the end of the previous year and the relatively pale early wood that grew at the start of this year. One annual ring is composed of a ring of early wood and a ring of late wood. The threes are growing better in the summer when it gets much rain and sun. The summer is the light rings. Temperature and soil water appear to be most highly correlated to change ring widths. In spring, the cambium (the thin, continuous sheath of cells between bark and wood) begins dividing. This creates new tissue and increases the diameter of the tree at two places. In a discouraging year growth is slowed and the tree produces a thin ring. Much of the variation in the tree rings is due to variations year-to-year. Materials and Method: Fig.2 Our location Vest-Telemark Fig. 3 Aerial photo of our site. We measured a sample areal of 10x10 meters and chose out three different sample trees. Fig. 4 Fieldarea

4 We also made a vegetation and soil analyze for our site. There were different types of plants in the area we analyzed. There were dominated of pine-trees while blueberry heather and moss where dominated plants at the ground. The location for our site is on moraine and to study the soil horizons we made a soilprofile. We classified this to be a podzol. Fig. 5 Analyze the vegetation Fig. 6 Podsol The 3 representative trees from the field and all of them had good health. We measured the tree (diameter) and height of the tree. We then took some samples with an increment corer (20 cm). The increment corer is a metal, T-shaped instrument used to drill into the trunk of a tree and extract a tree core. We also find the coordination of the trees and the area. Fig. 7 Mari and Andrea are finding the coordinates to the trees in our area.. Fig. 8: Janne and Sebastian are finding the height of the tree.

5 We were divided into groups, 4 on each group. Each student got a tree ring sample of their own that was sanded down (P120, P180). Then we counted the rings and wrote it into the Skeleton Plot Fig.9: Andrea and Janne are counting the samples. Fig. 10: Skeleton plot Analysis and Results: Three number 1 (111 years old) in 1960: Temperature: normal=5,0 o C Average throughout the year: 4,8 o C Average through May September: 13,12 o C Precipitation: normal=900mm Average throughout the year: 992,2mm (+92,2mm) Average through May September: 89,46mm (the total precipitation in the summer season was 447,3mm) Three number 2 in (65 years old) 1970: Temperature: normal=5,0 o C Average throughout the year: 4,1 o C Average through May September: 13,0 o C Precipitation: normal=900mm Average throughout the year: 852,7mm (-47,3mm) Average through May September: 71,7mm (the total precipitation in the summer season was 358,5mm)

6 Three number 3 (47 years old) in 2008: Temperature: normal=5,0 o C Average throughout the year: Average through May September: Precipitation: normal=900mm Average throughout the year: Average through May September: Data Summary: We compered the rainfall and temperature with the size of the tree ring. Then we could see whether if it was a good or a bad year. Tree number 1 and 3 have similar growth from around 1981 and beyond. There are also many similarities under the whole growth. Tree number 2 differs from the two other trees in period 1974 to Tree number 1 and 2 has some similarities between 1964 and All trees have good growth period before Comparison with the plot from the river: - Growth is more up and down with the river. - It started a bad period of growth after 1990, fairly similar to the samples from the forest. Before 1990, the growth is better. - Both tree number 1 and 2 are the growth better in the period /09

7 Fig. 11 Skeletonplot from our treesamples Fig. 12 Skeleton Plot from the the treesamples by the river

8 Conclusions and discussion: Our hypothesis correlate to the approach to the problem. When we look at the tree rings we can see how the climate has been during the years and was correlated to the climatedata. Several thin tree rings may show that the tree stood close near others, but in our case it isn t so, because our trees were not dense. Right at the head of the oldest our tree, it was difficult to count the rings. We found out that the trees didn t stand close to eachother. The bark fell not off of any of our trees. Measurements could have been better if we had drilled deeper into the trees for being sure where the margin was. The oldest tree had a branch near the margin, so it was difficult to count. References/Bibliography:

9 Apendix: Tre Lengde Breddegr Omkri Omkri Diamet Horison Vink Høg Vink Høg Total Nr. grad (Ø) ad (N) ns ved rota O (cm) ns i brysth øgde er O/3,14 tal avstand til tre A el 1 v1 de 1 h1 A*ta nv1 el 2 v2 de 2 h2 A*ta nv2 høgde h1+h2 O (m) (cm) o 59 o 26, 145cm ,8 cm 20 m 51 o 24,7 4 o 1,4 26,1m 58, cm o o 58, 59 o 26, cm 28,6 cm 18 m 56 o 26,7 10 o 3,2 29,9m cm o o 58, 59 o 26, 87 cm 78 cm 24,8 cm 18 m 58 o 28,8 5 o 1,6 30,4m * o