amirghajari t1_j5ue578 wrote
Reply to comment by Prof_Fire in I'm Dr. Monica Rother. My research focuses on fire ecology and fire history from tree rings. Ask me anything! by Prof_Fire
But does it mean that you should cut those old trees down to see the rings and check for fire marks?
Prof_Fire OP t1_j5uiy81 wrote
In my own research, I do not sample live trees for fire history. Because fire scars can occur on any side of a tree, we generally need a full cross section (sometimes called a tree cookie) for the fire-history work. We focus on collecting these cross sections from snags (standing dead trees) and stumps. There is a tree-ring method of sampling live trees without them - a pencil thin core is extracted using a tool known as an increment borer. However, this method is not useful for fire history; it’s used in studies that examine things like tree age and climate-growth relationships. You can check out cool photographs of working with stumps and live trees on my research website:
amirghajari t1_j5ujc65 wrote
WoW! It was really cool!
Thanks :D
LowInFat t1_j5uhd49 wrote
You can take small cores from live trees without harming them. They don't need to be cut down. Here in the Pacific Northwest, I've cored a 400 year old Douglas fir.
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