The importance of tropical tree-ring chronologies for global change research

Tropical forests and woodlands are key components of the global carbon and water cycles. Yet, how climate change affects these biogeochemical cycles is poorly understood because of scarce long-term observations of tropical tree growth. The recent rise in tropical tree-ring studies may help to fill this gap, but a large-scale quantitative analysis of their potential in global change research is missing. We compiled a list of all tropical tree species known to form annual tree rings and built a network encompassing 492 tropical ring-width chronologies to evaluate the potential to generate insights on climate sensitivity of woody productivity and to build centuries-long reconstructions of climate variability. We assess chronology quality, length, and climatic representativeness and explore how these change along climatic gradients. Finally, we applied species-distribution modeling to identify regions with potential for tree-ring studies in ecological and climatic studies. The number of tropical chronologies has rapidly increased, with ∼400 added over the past two decades. Yet, tree-ring studies are biased towards high-elevation locations, with gaps in warmer and wetter climates, on the African continent, and for angiosperm species. The longest chronologies with strongest climate signals (i.e., synchronous growth variations among trees) are from cool regions. In wet regions, climate signals and precipitation sensitivity decrease. Most tropical regions harbor 5–15 (and up to 80) species with proven potential to generate chronologies. The potential for long climate reconstructions is particularly high in drier high elevation sites. Our findings support strategies to effectively expand tree-ring research in the tropics, by targeting specific species and regions. Tropical dendrochronology can importantly contribute to global change research by generating historical context of climate extremes, quantifying climate sensitivity of woody productivity and benchmarking vegetation models.

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Publication Details

Journal
Quaternary Science Reviews
Published
2025-03-06
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109233
Citations
17
Primary Topic
Tree-ring climate responses
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
22.11

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The importance of tropical tree-ring chronologies for global change research

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article en
17 citations

Abstract

Tropical forests and woodlands are key components of the global carbon and water cycles. Yet, how climate change affects these biogeochemical cycles is poorly understood because of scarce long-term observations of tropical tree growth. The recent rise in tropical tree-ring studies may help to fill this gap, but a large-scale quantitative analysis of their potential in global change research is missing. We compiled a list of all tropical tree species known to form annual tree rings and built a network encompassing 492 tropical ring-width chronologies to evaluate the potential to generate insights on climate sensitivity of woody productivity and to build centuries-long reconstructions of climate variability. We assess chronology quality, length, and climatic representativeness and explore how these change along climatic gradients. Finally, we applied species-distribution modeling to identify regions with potential for tree-ring studies in ecological and climatic studies. The number of tropical chronologies has rapidly increased, with ∼400 added over the past two decades. Yet, tree-ring studies are biased towards high-elevation locations, with gaps in warmer and wetter climates, on the African continent, and for angiosperm species. The longest chronologies with strongest climate signals (i.e., synchronous growth variations among trees) are from cool regions. In wet regions, climate signals and precipitation sensitivity decrease. Most tropical regions harbor 5–15 (and up to 80) species with proven potential to generate chronologies. The potential for long climate reconstructions is particularly high in drier high elevation sites. Our findings support strategies to effectively expand tree-ring research in the tropics, by targeting specific species and regions. Tropical dendrochronology can importantly contribute to global change research by generating historical context of climate extremes, quantifying climate sensitivity of woody productivity and benchmarking vegetation models.

Quaternary Science ReviewsVol. 355
Canadian Forest Service (CA), Natural Resources Canada (CA), Universidade Federal de Lavras (BR), University of Arizona (US), Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (US), Universidade de São Paulo (BR), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (DE), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) (BR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Universidade Federal do Ceará (BR), Mahidol University (TH), Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (CN), Universidade Regional de Blumenau (BR), Forest Science and Research Institute (BR), Belgian Road Research Centre (BE), University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" (IT), Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas (BR), Department of Forestry (MW), Institute of Botany (AM), World Agroforestry Centre (KE), Autonomous University of Tamaulipas (MX), Wilfrid Laurier University (CA), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX)
National Science Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, United States Agency for International Development, World Wildlife Fund, Schlumberger Foundation, National Geographic Society, Fundación BBVA, Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (COLCIENCIAS), UK Research and Innovation, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, International Tropical Timber Organization, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Chulalongkorn University, Mahidol University, National Research Council of Thailand, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Mato Grosso, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação do Estado de Santa Catarina, Fundação de Desenvolvimento de Tecnópolis, Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco, Copperbelt University, Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro, Xunta de Galicia, Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, Thailand Science Research and Innovation, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Natural Environment Research Council, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo, Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology
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