δ18O in the tropical conifer Agathis robusta records ENSO-related precipitation variations

Autor: Patrick J. Baker, Michael N. Evans, Bjorn M. M. Boysen
Rok vydání: 2014
Předmět:
Atmospheric Science
Composite Particles
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Rain
lcsh:Medicine
Oxygen Isotopes
010502 geochemistry & geophysics
Atmospheric sciences
01 natural sciences
Trees
Agathis robusta
Isotopes
Tropical climate
lcsh:Science
El Nino-Southern Oscillation
Climatology
Multidisciplinary
Geography
Ecology
Physics
Temperature
Plants
Chronology as Topic
Physical Sciences
Seasons
Research Article
Computer Modeling
Wet season
Computer and Information Sciences
Atoms
δ18O
Gymnosperms
Biology
Paleoclimatology
Dendrochronology
Hydrosphere
Precipitation
Cellulose
Particle Physics
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Tropical Climate
Atmosphere
lcsh:R
Australia
Organisms
Tropics
Biology and Life Sciences
Paleontology
15. Life on land
biology.organism_classification
Physical Geography
Earth Sciences
lcsh:Q
Zdroj: PLoS ONE
PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 7, p e102336 (2014)
ISSN: 1932-6203
Popis: Long-lived trees from tropical Australasia are a potential source of information about internal variability of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), because they occur in a region where precipitation variability is closely associated with ENSO activity. We measured tree-ring width and oxygen isotopic composition (δ18O) of α-cellulose from Agathis robusta (Queensland Kauri) samples collected in the Atherton Tablelands, Queensland, Australia. Standard ring-width chronologies yielded low internal consistency due to the frequent presence of false ring-like anatomical features. However, in a detailed examination of the most recent 15 years of growth (1995-2010), we found significant correlation between δ18O and local precipitation, the latter associated with ENSO activity. The results are consistent with process-based forward modeling of the oxygen isotopic composition of α-cellulose. The δ18O record also enabled us to confirm the presence of a false growth ring in one of the three samples in the composite record, and to determine that it occurred as a consequence of anomalously low rainfall in the middle of the 2004/5 rainy season. The combination of incremental growth and isotopic measures may be a powerful approach to development of long-term (150+ year) ENSO reconstructions from the terrestrial tropics of Australasia.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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