Initial Examination of Growth Rings and Fire Scars in Cross-Sections of Caribbean Pine from the Turks & Caicos Islands

Keywords: Dendrochronology, Pinus caribaea, fire, tropical cyclones, false rings
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 28

Abstract

Trees from tropical regions are less often used for tree-ring reconstructions than those from temperate and boreal reasons because trees growing in areas with low annual temperature variation form xylem throughout the year and tend to produce indistinct annual ring boundaries. Seasonal precipitation may drive anatomical tree-ring growth, leading to the formation of frequent intra-annual density fluctuations (IADFs), or false rings. Pinus caribaea var. bahamensis (Caribbean pine) is a tropical evergreen conifer known for yielding multiple IADFs per ring in both the earlywood and latewood. Research at some sites in the circum-Caribbean region has shown successful crossdating if IADFs can be properly detected. This research focuses on cross-sections of Caribbean pine samples from the Turks and Caicos Islands, where the species has not been previously examined. We explore whether there are wood anatomical characteristics that can help differentiate between true rings and false rings in the samples, and the morphology of fire scars. We also report an unsuccessful experiment using an autofluorescence method, and discuss why this method may not be applicable for conifers. Ultimately, greater knowledge from fire scars in these samples will hopefully contribute to restoration management practices being implemented by the Caicos Pine Recovery Project. Additionally, the Turks and Caicos Islands are known to be impacted by hurricanes, and historic records indicate high-severity wildfires following some hurricane landfalls. Our Caribbean pine chronology and reconstructed fire record could lead to a better understanding of hurricane-fire interactions in tropical ecosystems.