Coastal tree-ring records for paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental applications in North America

• Published in: Quaternary science reviews Vol. 265; p. 107044
• Main Authors: Tucker, Clay S., Pearl, Jessie K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-08-2021
• Subjects: Coasts; Geomorphology; Holocene; North America; Paleoclimatology; Paleotempestology; Tree-rings; Paleoclimatology; Coasts; Geomorphology; Tree-rings; Paleotempestology; North America; Holocene
• ISSN: 0277-3791; 1873-457X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107044

For more than a century, tree-ring research has identified relationships between climatic and ecological conditions and tree growth to describe past environments and constrain future ecosystem vulnerabilities. Tree-ring records are frequently used as environmental proxies that extend knowledge of past climate and ecology on millennial scales. Many of the most pressing global change questions facing North America concern the rate of climate change and vulnerability of ecosystems and society along the coast. The opportunities and applications in dendrochronology continue to grow with advancing methodologies, faster computational ability, and the cost-reduction of many chemical and anatomical analyses. Here, we propose that many pressing global change questions that affect coastal communities can be addressed using dendrochronological techniques. We review coastal tree-ring studies that demonstrate the utility and potential for future tree-ring studies in the northeastern, southeastern, northwestern, and southwestern North American coasts. Additionally, we show that tree-ring chronologies along the coast give insight into local and regional climate phenomena that are distinct from nearby, inland tree-ring chronologies of the same species. Lastly, we identify opportunities for coastal dendrochronology and encourage the collection of more tree-ring records that are directly impacted by coastal phenomena.
•Coastal tree-ring chronologies are useful records of late Holocene climate and contextualize recent global change phenomena.•Physical and chemical characteristics of annual growth rings in coastal trees are related to coastal-specific weather events.•Coastal tree growth exhibits stronger correlations to nearby ocean basin dynamics than their inland counterparts.•A dearth of coastal tree-ring records in southwestern North America makes it a frontier for data collection.