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Tree Ring Response of White Oak to Climate and Air Pollution near the Ohio River Valley
Author(s) -
Mc Clenahen J. R.,
Dochinger L. S.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq1985.00472425001400020024x
Subject(s) - dendrochronology , environmental science , air pollution , pollution , physical geography , climate change , dendroclimatology , hydrology (agriculture) , drainage basin , geography , forestry , ecology , archaeology , geology , cartography , oceanography , geotechnical engineering , biology
White oak ( Quercus alba L.) tree ring chronologies were compared among five sites representing an apparent gradient of industrial air pollution emitted from sources in a portion of the Ohio River Valley near the southern Ohio‐northern Kentucky border. Response functions relating standardized ring‐width indices with principal components of climate for sites nearest the industrial area exhibited a strong nonclimatic influence from 1930 to 1978, which did not appear at more remote sites or in the 30 yr before 1930. Response functions for the entire 1900–1978 period declined in reliability to predict indices from climate at sites near the pollution sources, as did the response function derived for the most remote site when used to predict indices at the other four sites. Evidence for nonclimatic influence on indices appeared at all sites between about 1950 and 1966. The altered patterns of tree ring response to climate add to a growing body of evidence for broad‐scale changes in tree growth in the Northeast that may be associated with air pollution.