TROPICAL TREE-RING NETWORK

News and Events

Here we provide a list of news and events about the Network

31/07/2025 – New publication!
Zuidema et al. Pantropical tree rings show small effects of drought on stem growth (2025). Science https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adq6607

In this paper we show that tropical trees have been surprisingly resilient to drought over the past century. Using 483 tree-ring chronologies from across the tropics, we found that stem growth declined by only ~2.5% during the driest years since 1930. Growth reductions were stronger in hotter, drier sites and in gymnosperms, but generally did not persist beyond drought years and were partly offset by enhanced growth in wet years. This resilience may weaken as droughts become more frequent and severe.

01/02/2025 – New publication!
Groenendijk et al. The importance of tropical tree-ring chronologies for global change research. (2025). Quaternary Science Reviews https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109233

Tropical tree-ring research is rapidly expanding and offers major potential for global change studies. By compiling 492 tropical ring-width chronologies and known annual-ring-forming species, we show that tropical dendrochronology can help reconstruct past climate variability, quantify tree-growth sensitivity to climate, and benchmark vegetation models. However, current records remain biased toward cooler, high-elevation sites, with major gaps in warm, wet forests, Africa, and angiosperms. We identified priority regions and species to strategically expand tropical tree-ring research.

18/04/2022 – Announcemet of tree-ring training
THE 2022 TRAINING IN TREE-RING SCIENCE AND ITS APPLICATIONS
24th July – 6th August, 2022
Kitwe, Zambia.

A dendrochronological training on the techniques and applications of tree-ring science to understand various environmental problems affecting natural resources. More information can be found here.

30/03/2022 – First publication of the Network
We are very happy to announce the first publication arising from our network.
Zuidema, Babts, Groenendijk, Trouet et al. Tropical tree growth driven by dry-season climate variability (2022). Nature Geoscience https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00911-8

Based on the data from our network and after analysis over 14,000 tree-ring data series from 350 locations across the tropics, we found that stem growth of tropical trees is reduced in years when the dry season is warmer and drier than normal. The effect of drier and hotter years is larger in more arid and/or in warmer regions. This suggests that climate change may increase the sensitivity of tropical trees to climatic fluctuations.