What do thin tree rings indicate

Trees in temperate latitudes have annual spurts of growth in the spring and summer and periods of dormancy in the winter, which creates the distinctive pattern of light and dark bands. Tropical trees grow year-round, and so they do not have the alternating dark and light band pattern of tree rings. At locations where tree growth is limited by water availability, trees will produce wider rings during wet and cool years, than during hot and dry years. Drought or a severe winter can cause narrower rings too.

If the rings are a consistent width throughout the tree, the climate was the same year after year. By counting the rings of a tree, we can pretty accurately determine the age and health of the tree and the growing season of each year.

This scientist is extracting a core from a living tree using an increment borer. This process does not cause long term harm to the tree. Scientists do not typically cut down a tree to analyze its rings. Instead, core samples are extracted using a borer that's screwed into the tree and pulled out, bringing with it a straw-size sample of wood about 4 millimeters in diameter.

It looks a bit like a bullseye. The light and dark rings of a tree. The light-colored rings represent wood that grew in the spring and early summer, while the dark rings represent wood that grew in the late summer and fall. The color and width of tree rings can provide snapshots of past climate conditions. For example, tree rings usually grow wider in warm, wet years and they are thinner in years when it is cold and dry. These growth layers act as a timeline of a detailed report on its growth throughout its time.

Trees learn to survive with the different climate conditions, and the tree rings help us understand how. In the United States, the tree-growing season starts in the spring.

When you look at a tree sample, this season is shown by light-colored, pale wood. Growth slows down at the end of summer, which creates smaller walls and darker colored wood. A one-year cycle is comprised of a light pale wood that grew at the start of the year and a dark wood that grew at the end of the year. When a tree is cut, you will notice alternating light and dark wood rings.

A boring tool is used to get a tree sample to analyze tree rings. It excretes sections of wood by screwing into a tree to get a straight, unbroken sample of the core. It is a T-shaped tool, and the professional tree service company you work with will have these on hand. Your arborist in Portland can take the sample. They will know how to cover up the hole from the sample excretion to keep the tree alive. They will also be able to identify the dead trees to work with and avoid damaging healthy ones.

Count the tree rings, and you will find some trees have up to thousands of rings. Many factors affect the way the tree grows, altering the shape, thickness, color and uniformity of the rings, so tree rings will read differently. Factors like tree species and geographic location can impact the size and growth of tree rings. Long-lived species like oaks will have narrower tree rings, while species like willows and aspen will have wider rings because of their short life cycle.

Read 3 Things You Should Know About Climate Change Many factors affect the way the tree grows, altering the shape, thickness, color and uniformity of the rings, so tree rings will read differently. Share: facebook twitter pinterest googleplus linkedin.