Lecture 11: Dendrochemistry & Isotopes

Dendrochemistry Can be used to examine the chemical concentration in rings Air Pollution Groundwater Contamination Bioremediation

Problems With Dendrochemistry Translocation Easy to Contaminate Have to sample and prepare in a clean environment Time Consuming Can be Expensive

Isotope Analysis Used to study the isotopic concentration in rings Determine water or carbon source Examine tree source area

Isotope Analysis

Fractionation Controls Example 18O/16O in Precipitation Rain-out Temperature Amount Source Area (Anderson et al. 2003 after Siegenthaler, 1979)

Controls on the isotopic signature in plants Oxygen Precipitation Temp. humidity transpiration source water Carbon CO2 source water stress Temp. humidity transpiration limitation (Anderson et al. 2003)

Stomata - Picea abies (Anderson et al. 2003)

Stomata guard cells - Picea abies (Anderson et al. 2003)

Time series data - Vortex lat., Spring Avg. temp., and tree ring cellulose d18O (Anderson et al. 2003)