University of Arizona

Syllabus

 

General Information

Lecture times: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 - 10:45

 

Location: Gould-Simpson 213

Lab times: Tuesday, 1:00 to 4:00 pm, subject to confirmation at first lecture meeting

Location:  Mathematics East, Room 20 (basement level)

Course Instructors:  
Regents' Professor Malcolm K. Hughes

Office: West Stadium Room 293

Phone:  621-6470

Office hours:     Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00-12:30

Email:               mhughes@ltrr.arizona.edu

 

Assistant Professor Valerie Trouet

Office: West Stadium Room 206

Phone:  626-8004

Office hours:     Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00-12:30

Email:              trouet@ltrr.arizona.edu

Laboratory Instructors:
                            Senior Research Specialists Rex Adams & Chris Baisan

Email:                radams@ltrr.arizona.edu    cbaisan@ltrr.arizona.edu

Course Goals

In this course students will learn the scientific basis, techniques, and applications of dendrochronology. We will review the historical development and key discoveries of the field.  We will study the biological basis of tree-ring research and the central principles of dendrochronology. After studying fundamental concepts students will learn about applications of dendrochronology in different disciplines via lectures and discussions with leading dendrochronologists at the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. During intensive, weekly laboratory sessions and a weekend field trip students will learn the practical skills of specimen collection, preparation, observation, and the most important method and principle of dendrochronology -- crossdating.  At the end of the course, students will be able to collect tree-ring samples, prepare and date the samples, and build a local chronology. Finally, students will be able to evaluate dendrochronological analyses, and interpret their own data for specific research issues.

 

Required Readings

There is no required text for the course.

Required readings may be downloaded as Adobe Acrobat pdf files at a password protected site at: http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/introdendro/Readings/

The username and password for this site will be provided by the instructors.

Note that a full listing of the readings is at the bottom of this page. If you are unable to access the readings, tell one of the instructors. 

Readings should be completed before the class on that particular topic. It would also be a good idea for all students to browse the LTRR web site at http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu, and especially the link to online bibliography, software and other dendrochronology information resources at http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/resources.html.

Laboratory

Laboratory meeting times will be arranged on the first day of class. Lab is required for the course and will meet once a week for approximately 3 hours. The Lab constitutes a very important part of the course and of your grade. Topics covered in the lab include the practical aspects of crossdating, sample preparation and mounting, chronology building and interpretation, and the interpretation of different types of dendrochronological samples.

A detailed Lab syllabus is posted here: Lab Schedule 2010

A guide to Lab excercises and sample sets, and a suggested pace of work is posted here: Lab Excercises 2010

Mandatory Field Trip

There will be a mandatory weekend field trip (tentative dates in the schedule are to be confirmed) to conduct dendrochronological sampling and to observe and learn about classic dendrochronology research topics and areas. Additional information about the field trip will be discussed in class. Methods demonstrated on the field trip will include site and tree selection criteria, increment coring techniques, and other field procedures in a problem-oriented context.

Evaluation and Grading

Four homework exercises are required for undergraduate students (see below for topics and due dates), and are designed to require students to read and evaluate relevant literature. There will be two exams, a mid-term and a final exam, covering the lecture materials. There will also be a practical Lab exam covering the information and skills learned in the Lab. The exams will constitute approximately one-fourth to one-third of the student grade. Finally, graduate students are required to (a) submit both electronically and as hard copy one annotated bibliography of the dendrochronological literature that includes at least 50 references-(see schedule for due dates), and (b) conduct and report on a research project specific to their area of interest (see below). The result should be in the form of a publishable paper or section of a thesis, dissertation, or proposal, and is due on the last regular day of class. Topics must be agreed with the instructors prior to submission.

Course components and points for undergraduates and graduates respectively:

Lecture Schedule*

* go to http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/introdendro/Lectures/

for next day's lecture, when available

Date	Reading	Topic
August 23		Lecture 1: Introduction, Course Structure, Lab Intro
August 25		Lecture 2: What are tree rings? (MKH)
August 30		Lecture 3:History of dendrochronology (VT)
September 1	Bowyer et al., 2007 Chapters 3, 4, 5.	Lecture 4:Biological basis of dendrochronology: wood anatomy, cells and tissues (VT)
September 6	Bowyer et al., 2007, Chapter 6.	Lecture 5: Biological basis of dendrochronology: wood structure and function (VT)
September 8	Bowyer et al., 2007, Chapter 1; Moser et al (2011).	Lecture 6: Biological basis of dendrochronology: annual ring formation (VT)
September 13	Stokes and Smiley, 1968	Lecture 7: Dating (MKH)
September 15	LaMarche and Harlan, 1973	Lecture 8: Dating (MKH)
September 20	Dean 1978; Dean et al, 1996	Lecture 9: Applications: Southwest archeology (Jeff Dean)
September 22	Towner 2002; Towner et al 2009	Lecture 10: Applications: Southwest archeology (Ron Towner)
September 27	Baillie 1995;	Lecture 11: Applications:European dendroarcheology (MKH)
September 29		Lecture 12: Chronology building: Site and tree selection (VT)
October 1-2		Possible dates for Weekend Field Trip
October 4	Shroder 1980; Stoffel and Bollschweiler 2008	Lecture 13: Applications: Dendrogeomorphology (Erica Bigio)
October 6		Review session for midterm
October 11		Mid-Term Exam
October 13	Hughes 2011	Lecture 14: Chronology building: Signal extraction (MKH)
October 18	Kipfmueller and Swetnam 2001; Falk et al 2011	Lecture 15: Applications: Dendroecology: disturbance ecology (Tom Swetnam)
October 20	Hughes et al 2011	Lecture 16: Chronology building: Networks (MKH).
October 25		Lecture 17: Chronology building: What can you measure? (VT)
October 27	Leavitt 2010	Lecture 18: Applications: Isotopes in dendrochronology (Steve Leavitt)
November 1	Rozendaal and Zuidema (2011); Krepowski et al., 2011	Lecture 19: Applications: Tropical dendrochronology (VT)
November 3	Brown and Wu, 2005; Veblen et al 1994	Lecture 20: Applications: Dendroecology - carbon cycle and stand structure (Kit O'Connor)
November 8	Fritts et al 1979; Stahle and Cleaveland 1992	Lecture 21: Applications: Introduction to dendroclimatology (MKH)
November 10	Touchan et al., 2005; Touchan et al., 20111	Lecture 22: Applications:Dendroclimatology in the Mediterranean region (Ramzi Touchan)
November 15	Salzer et al 2009	Lecture 23: Applications: Dendrochronology of bristlecone pine (Matt Salzer)
November 17	Sheppard et al., 2007; Smith and Shortle, 1996	Lecture 24: Applications: Dendrochemistry (Paul Sheppard)
November 22	Meko 2006; Woodhouse, Gray and Meko 2006	Lecture 25: Applications:Dendrohydrology (David Meko)
November 24		no class - Thanksgiving
November 29	Meko and Woodhouse 2011; Rice et al, 2009	Lecture 26: Applications:Dendrohydrology (Connie Woodhouse)
December 1		Graduate students present term paper to whole class.
December 6		Review for final examination and Instructor evaluation

Important Dates

Date	Event
September 15	Homework #1 due (Undergrad students)
Spetember 29	Homework #2 due (Undergrad students)
October 6	Grad paper provisional topic due
October 11	Mid-Term Exam
October 27	Annotated Bibliography due (Grad students)
October 27	Homework #3 due (Undergrad students)
November 3	Graduate Paper outline due
December 1	Homework #4 due (Undergrad students)
December 1	Grad Student paper due
December 6, 1-4PM	Lab Practical Final Exam
December 15, 10:30am - 12:30.	Final Exam

Undergraduate Homework Assignments

These assignments consist of a 1-page summary of an article (not a web page!) pertaining to dendrochronology. The summary should include (a) the full reference of the article (i.e. how & where do I find it), (b) a summary of the main points of the work, and (c) a critical evaluation of the work (i.e. is it worth reading, and why?). The assignments must be submitted electronically to Professor Hughes at:  mhughes@ltrr.arizona.edu and must have the word "Assignment" as the first word in the subject field.

Keep in mind that the quality and clarity of your writing, and spelling, punctuation, and grammar count!  Spell-check, grammar-check, and proof-read your summaries before submitting them.

Homework #1. Find, summarize and evaluate a paper or part of a book describing the scientific contributions of either Andrew E. Douglass, Bruno Huber or Ed Schulman. 25 points.

Homework #2. Find, summarize and evaluate a paper or part of a book containing information on annual rings in trees from the Tropics. 25 points.

Homework #3. Find, summarize and evaluate a paper, or part of a book containing information on tree rings in roots, branches and other woody structures than the stem, or in shrubs or bushes. 25 points.

Homework #4. Find, summarize and evaluate a paper or part of a book containing information on an application of dendrochronology to some field of science such as archeology, geomorphology, hydrology, climatology or ecology. 25 points.

The format is:

Nesvetajlo, V.D., Consequences of the Tunguska catastrophe: dendrochronoindication inference Planet. Space Sci., 1998, 46 (2/3): 155-161.

    An explosion or impact by an unknown, large body occurred at about 6 to 8 km. elevation above the region of Tunguska in east-central Siberia on June 30, 1908. This resulted in damage for 60-80 km around an epicenter, with many millions of trees being blown down. The author visited the epicenter in 1990 and took increment cores from some of the trees left standing at the epicenter. He reports an attempt to infer details of the event from the nature of the rings formed in these trees in 1908 and subsequent years. His main findings were???. The data provided only partially support these conclusions because?.. The importance of these results is?.. The study could be extended and improved if the following were done??.. This is an informative and readable paper, based on careful work, although I found the author's interpretation of his observations to be somewhat unconvincing. Even so, he has laid the groundwork for future studies that could be informative.

Graduate Student Annotated Biblography

Graduate students are required to prepare an annotated bibliography of scientific literature relating to dendrochronology. These may be themetic reviews of the literature, involving one or a few related topics, or they may be more general, crosscutting multiple aspects of the field. At least 10 separate papers, book chapters, reports, monographs, etc. must be included. The required class readings can be included in this bibliography, but they do not count toward the minimum 10 papers. In addition to a full citation for the work, a succint summary of the most important points of the paper should be provided, along with your own assessment and judgement of the findings and values of the paper. These summary statements should not simply be condensed versions of the paper's abstract, but should clearly show your own evaluation of the paper.

Graduate Student Papers

The Graduate Student Paper should be a 15-20 page report (minimum type size 11 point, double spaced, 1 inch margins) on some original research, a pertinent literature review, or a proposal soliciting funding for a specific project. Depending on the type of project you choose, your paper should include (at a minimum) introduction, background research/discussion of the problem, field and lab methods, results, discussion, conclusion, and references cited sections. (A literature review is somewhat different--see me if you have questions).

The paper should be formatted in the style used by the major journal in your field (i.e. American Antiquity for archaeologists, The Holocene or International Journal of Climatology for paleoclimatologists, etc.). References, figures, and tables are included in the 15-20 page limit. Figures and tables should be legible, but I do not require that they be publication quality. The paper will be assessed both in terms of its content and in terms of the quality of the writing and presentation. Grammar, spelling, punctuation, style, and layout all count!

I encourage you to write something that fits precisely the requirements of this class, but that also serves some other purpose, for example a chapter of your thesis or dissertation, a paper for publication, or a proposal. This economy of effort, however, does not extend to using the same paper for two or more classes!

Attendance and Rules of Conduct

• Students are expected to adhere to the ABOR code of conduct and the UA Code of Academic Integrity and the UA Student Code of Conduct.  (Click on highlighted text to see further information on these rules and policies.) 

• Attendance at all lectures and lab sessions is important and is expected, but is not included in grade calculation. All holidays or special events observed by organized religions will be honored for those students who show affiliation with that particular religion.
• Absences pre-approved by the UA Dean of Students (or Dean's designee) will be honored. Excessive absences may be grounds for dropping a student from the course. It is, however, the student's responsibility to drop the course officially; failure to do so will result in a grade of E or I, at the instructor's discretion.

• If you must arrive late or leave early (something not encouraged), please do so quietly; noisy entrants will be required to leave immediately.
  
• Cell phone usage, web browsing or reading of materials unrelated to the lecture or lab (e.g., newspapers, magazines, etc.) are disruptive, and are prohinited in class. Students who exhibit disruptive behavior may be administratively dropped from the course at the Instructor's discretion.
• Discrimination on the basis or race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, physical disability is prohibited by UA and other policies.  Violence will not be tolerated in the classroom. This prohibition includes, but is not limited to, verbal, written, or internet activities. Anyone observed using any racist or derogatory language, writing offensive materials, or downloading pornography or other objectionable materials will be required to leave the class and may be administratively dropped from the course at the Instructor's discretion.
• Cheating will not be tolerated and is grounds for expulsion from the course; cheating includes, but is not limited to: copying work of others during exams or homework; turning in any work of others as your own, including work of students from past semesters; plagiarism on papers. Click here for definitions and discussion of plagiarism.
  
• Students found cheating on any assigned work will receive a score of 0 for that assignment and will be reported to the Dean of Students. A second violation is grounds for expulsion from the course.
  
  Special Provisions
• In compliance with Title III of the Americans With Disabilities Act (1990), students who require special assistance will be suitably accommodated. Students must be registered with the University and a minimum of 5 days notice for such accommodations is requested.
• If the schedule conflicts with major religious observances, please let the professor know.
• If English is not your native language and you believe that you must use a translation dictionary during exams, please contact the professor.
• Students requiring accommodation in testing or note taking: Please notify the professor and provide the Disability Resource Center letter within the first few days of the course.
• Student athletes and others who need signatures periodically: Please notify the professor that you'll be needing signatures generally, and please alert the professor before a particular signing period is due so that your most up-to-date grade can be calculated.
• Honors College students: An Honors Contract is allowable. See the instructor to arrange those details
  

Readings List

Baillie, M.G.L. (1995) A Slice Through Time: Dendrochronology and Precision Dating. Batsford, London, Pages 16 - 31.

Bowyer, J.L., Shmulsky, R. and Haygreen, J.G. (2007) Forest Products and Wood Science: An Introduction. See schedule for details.

Brown, P.M. and Wu, R. (2005) Climate and disturbance forcing of episodic tree recruitment in a southwestern ponderosa pine landscape. Ecology 86: 3030-3038

Dean, J.S. (1978). Independent dating in Archeological analysis. Advances in archaeological method and theory 1, 223 - 255.

Dean, J.S., M.C. Slaughter and D.O. Bowden (1996). Desert dendrochronology: tree-ring dating prehistoric sites in the Tucson Basin. Kiva 62, 7 - 26.Dietz H & Ullmann I. 1997. Age-determination of dicotyledonous herbaceous perennials by means of annual rings: Exception or rule? Annals of Botany 80: 377-379.

Fritts, H.C. (1976). Tree Rings and Climate. Academic Press, London. Pages 55 - 68.

Fritts, H.C., G.R. Lofgren and G.A. Gordon (1979) Variations in climate since 1602 as reconstructed from tree rings. Quaternary Research 12, 18 - 46.

Fritts, H.F., D.G. Smith, J.W. Cardis and C.A. Budelsky (1965). Tree-ring characteristics along a vegetation gradient in Northern Arizona. Ecology 46, 393-401.3.

Haury, E. (1962) HH-39. Tree-Ring Bulletin

Hughes, M.K. (2011) Dendroclimatology in high-resolution paleoclimatology. IN M.K. Hughes et al. (eds.), Dendroclimatology, Progress and Prospects. Springer, Berlin, pp. 17 - 34.

Jacoby, G.C., P.R. Sheppard and K.E. Sieh. Irregular recurrence of large earthquakes along the San Adreas Fault: Evidence from trees. Science (1988) Science 241:196-199.

Kipfmueller, K. F. and T. W. Swetnam (2001) Using dendrochronology to reconstruct the history of ecosystems. Chapter 8, pages 199-228, In D. Egan and E. A. Howell eds., Techniques for Discovering Historic Ecosystems. Island Press, Washington.

Krepkowski, J., Brauening, A., Gebrekirstos, A. and Strobl, S. (2011) Cambial growth dynamics and climatic control of different tree life forms in tropical mountain forest in Ethiopia. Trees 25: 59-70.

LaMarche, Jr., V.C., and T.P. Harlan (1973). Accuracy of tree-ring dating of bristlecone pine for calibration of the radiocarbon time scale. Journal of Geophysical Research 78, 8849 - 8857.

Leavitt, S.W. (2010). Tree-ring C-H-O isotope variability and sampling. Science of the Total Environment in press

McCarroll, D, and N.J. Loader. (2004) Stable isotopes in tree rings. Quaternary Science Reviews 23:771-801.

Meko, D.M. (2006) Tree ring inferences on water-level fluctuations of Lake Athabasca. Canadian Water Resources Journal 31(4):1-20.

Meko, D.M. and Woodhouse, C. (2011) Application of streamflow reconstruction to water resources management. IN M.K. Hughes et al. (eds.), Dendroclimatology, Progress and Prospects. Springer, Berlin, pp. 231 - 261.

Moser, L. et al., (2009) Timing and duration of European larch growing season along altitudinal gradients in the Swiss Alps. Tree Physiology 30: 225-233.

Rayback, S.A. & Henry, G.H.R. 2006. Reconstruction of Summer Temperature for a Canadian High Arctic Site from Retrospective Analysis of the Dwarf Shrub, Cassiope tetragona. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 38(2): 228 – 238.

Rice, J.L. et al. (2009) Science and decision making: water management and tree-ring data in the Western United States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 45: 1248-1259.

Rozendaal, D.M.A. and Zuidema, P.A. (2011) Dendroecology in the tropics: a review. Trees 25: 3-16.

Salzer, M.W., Hughes, M.K., Bunn, A.G. and Kipfmueller, K.F. (2009) Recent unprecedented tree-ring growth in bristleone pine at the highest elevations and possible causes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106: 20348- 20353.

Sheppard., P.R. et al. (2007) Temporal Variability of tungsten and cobalt in Fallon, Nevada. Environmental Health Perspectives 115: 715 - 719

Shroder, J.F. (1980) Dendrogeomorphology: review and new techniques of tree-ring dating. Progress in Physical Geography 4, 161 - 188.

Smith, K.C. and W.C. Shortle (1996). Tree biology and dendrochemistry. In: Dean et al. (eds), Tree Rings, Environment and Humanity. Radiocarbon, 629-635.

Stahle, D. W. and M.K. Cleaveland (1992) Reconstruction and analysis of spring rainfall over the southeastern U.S. for the past 1000 years. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 73, 1947 - 1961.

Stoffel M. and Bollschweiler, M. (2008) Tree-Ring analysis in natural hazards research - an overview. Natual Hazards in Earth System Science 8; 187 - 202.

Stokes, M.A., and T. L. Smiley (1968). An Introduction to Tree-Ring Dating, University of Arizona Press, Tucson. (Reprinted 1995).Pages xi - xiii, xv - xvii, 3 - 20.

Swetnam, T. W. and J. L. Betancourt (1998) Mesoscale disturbance and ecological response to decadal climatic variability in the American Southwest. Journal of Climate 11:3128-3147.

Touchan, R. et al., (2005) Reconstructions of spring/summer precipitation for the Eastern Mediterranean from tree-ring widths and its connection to large-scale atmospheric circulation. Climate Dynamics DOI 10.1007/s00382-005-0016-5.

Touchan, R. et al. (2011) Spatiotemporal drought variability in northwestern Africa over the last nine centuries. Climate Dynamics 37: 237 - 252.

Towner, R.H. (2002) Archeological Dendrochronology in the Southwestern United States. Evolutionary Anthropology 11: 68-84.

Towner, R.H. et al., (2009) Assessing the importance of past human behavior in dednroarcheological research: Examples from Range Creek Canyon, Utah, U.S.A. Tree-Ring Research 65: 117-127.

Veblen, TT, Hadley, K.S., Nel, E..N., Kitzberger, T., Reid, M., Villalba, R. (1994) Disturbance regime and disturbance interactions in a Rocky Mountain subalpine forest. Journal of Ecology 82: 125-135.

Woodhouse, C.A. and J.J Lukas (2006) Drought, tree rings and water management in Colorado. Canadian Water Resources Journal 31(4):297-310.

Woodhouse, C.A., S.T. Gray, and D.M. Meko (2006) Updated streamflow reconstructions for the Colorado River. Water Resources Research 42, W05415, doi:10.1029/2005WR004455.

Yamaguchi, D. K. and D.B. Lawrence (1993) Tree-ring evidence for 1842 - 1843 eruptive activity at the Goat Rocks dome, Mount St. Helens, Washington. Bulletin of Volcanology 55, 264 - 272.

Important Note:

Information contained in this course syllabus, other than the grade, absence and other UA policies, may be subject to change with reasonable advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.