TREE-RINGRESEARCH, Vol.74(1),2018,pp.120–131
DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.3959/1536-1098-74.1.120
SOUTH AMERICAN DENDROECOLOGICAL FIELDWEEK 2016:
EXPLORING DENDROCHRONOLOGICAL RESEARCH
IN NORTHERN PATAGONIA
MARIANOM.AMOROSO1,2*,JAMESH.SPEER3,LORID.DANIELS4, RICARDOVILLALBA5,
EDWARDCOOK6, DAVIDSTAHLE7,AN ASR UR5, JACQUESTARDIF8, FRANCECONCIATORI8,
EUGENIAACIAR5,JULIETAARCO5,ANABELABONADA5,BETHANYCOULTHARD9, JENNIFERHANEY10,
MIRIAMISAAC-RENTON11, JULIANAMAGALHÃES12,EUGENIAMARCOTTI5, PABLOMEGLIOLI5,MARÍA
SOLMONTEPELUSO5,ROSEOELKERS6,JESSIEPEARL9, MARINPOMPAGARCIA13, JOHANNAROBSON14,
MILAGROSRODRIGUEZCATÓN5,PAMELASOTO15,andAMANDAYOUNG16
1ConsejoNacionaldeInvestigacionesCientíficasyTécnicas,CCTPatagoniaNorte,Av.deLosPioneros2350,S.C.de
Bariloche,CP8400,RíoNegro,Argentina
2InstitutodeInvestigacionesen RecursosNaturales,AgroecologíayDesarrolloRural,SedeAndina,UniversidadNacional
de RíoNegro,Onelli3076,ElBolsón,CP8430,RíoNegro,Argentina
3Departmentof EarthandEnvironmentalSystems,IndianaStateUniversity,600ChestnutStreet,Terre Haute,IN,47809,
USA
4Departmentof ForestandConservationSciences,Facultyof Forestry,2424MainMall,Vancouver,BritishColumbia,
V7K2X4,Canada
5InstitutoArgentinodeNivología,GlaciologíayCienciasAmbientales(IANIGLA),CONICET,C.C.330,5500Mendoza,
Argentina
6Tree-RingLaboratory,Lamont-DohertyEarthObservatory,Palisades,NY,10964,USA
7Departmentof Geosciences,Universityof Arkansas,Fayetteville,AR,72701,USA
8CentreforForestInterdisciplinaryResearch(C-FIR),TheUniversityof Winnipeg,515AvenuePortage,Winnipeg,
Manitoba,R3B2E9,Canada
9Laboratoryof Tree RingResearch,Universityof Arizona,1215E.LowellStreet,Tucson,AZ,85721,USA
10Departmentof Anthropology,Collegeof LiberalArts,ThePennsylvaniaStateUniversity,312CarpenterBuilding,
UniversityPark,PA,16802-3404,USA
11Departmentof RenewableResources,Universityof Alberta,751GeneralServicesBuilding,Edmonton,Alberta,T6G
2H1,Canada
12Departmentof ForestResourcesManagement,Universityof BritishColumbia,2424MainMall,Vancouver,Canada
13Facultyof ForestrySciences,JuárezUniversityof theStateof Durango,Av.PapaloapanyBlvd.Durango.Durango,CP.
34120,Mexico
14CentreforForestInterdisciplinaryResearch,Universityof WinnipegDendroecologyLaboratory,Universityof Winnipeg,
515PortageAve.Winnipeg,Manitoba,Canada
15Programade Magisteren CienciasAntárticasySubantárticas,UniversidaddeMagallanes,PuntaArenas,Chile
16PennsylvaniaStateUniversity,Departmentof Geography,302WalkerBuilding,UniversityPark,PA,16802,USA
ABSTRACT
The South American Dendroecological Fieldweek (SADEF) associated with the Third American
Dendrochronology Conference was held in El Bolsón, Argentina, in March 2016. The main objective
of the SADEF was to teach the basics of dendrochronology while applying specific knowledge to se-
lected research questions. The course included participants and instructors from six different countries.
This report describes activities of the course and briefly summarizes exploratory group projects. The
*Correspondingauthor:mariano.amoroso@gmail.com
Copyright C/circlecopyrt2018by TheTree-RingSociety 120 Exploring Dendrochronological Researchin Northern Patagonia 121
IntroductoryGroupdevelopedan Austrocedruschilensis chronologyfrom1629–2015anddocumenteda
persistentdeclineingrowthsince1977whichsupportsthefactthatthecurrentseveredroughtisthemost
severeinthe386-yearrecord.Basedonregional A.chilensis chronologiesfrom32◦to39◦SLatitude,the
StreamFlowReconstructionGroupdevelopedaregional525year-longreconstructionfromRíoChubut
and found the most severe drought episodes from 1490 to the present occurred from 1680–1705, 1813–
1828,1900–1920,1993–2002,andfrom2011tothepresent.TheDroughtReconstructionGroupused A.
chilensisannual tree-ring width chronologies to develop preliminary spatial field reconstructions of the
Palmer Drought Severity Index spanning the Central Andes region. The reconstructions explain up to
81%of the1907–1975PDSIvariance,indicatingthistreespeciesispowerfulforinformingonhistorical
drought especially in very arid domains. The Dendroecology Group documented three spreading fires
sincethe1850switha12-yearreturnintervalbutlackof fireforthelast94years;theyalsodocumented
apersistentdeclineintheirchronologiesinrecent years,datingbackto1965.
Keywords: fieldweek,SouthAmerica,dendroclimatology,dendroecology,dendrochronology.
INTRODUCTION
Tree-ring analyses address many important
scientific questions regarding climate ( Cooket al.
2004;T a r d i f fetal.2006;Villalbaetal.2012), ecol-
ogy (Speeret al. 2001;Daniels and Veblen 2004 ;
Amorosoet al.2012;Sruret al.2013), and hu-
maninteractionswiththeenvironment( Stahleetal.
1998). The dating of tree rings to exact calendar
years is one of the fundamental concepts of den-
drochronologyanditisnecessaryforassessingsuch
researchquestions( Speer2010 ).Toapproachthese
questions, there is a need for highly qualified per-
sonnel trained in dendrochronological skills: it is
critical to be aware of standard and new methods
to understand the most suitable techniques to ap-
ply for any given objective. Training junior scien-
tistsbyofferingintensivecoursesaroundtheworld
isanimportantundertakingforthedendrochrono-
logical community ( Speer 2006 ;Speeret al.2006;
MundoandSuarez2008 ;Touchanetal.2013;Speer
etal.2016). Well-trained scientists produce reliable
data, precise results and accurate interpretation of
natural phenomena. Dendrochronology fieldweeks
also help build the scientific community, stimulate
new research, and potentially build chronologies
that can be contributed to the International Tree-
RingDatabase(ITRDB; Grissino-MayerandFritts
1997).
To address these needs, a new South Amer-
ican Dendroecological Fieldweek (SADEF) was
held in El Bolsón, Argentina, from 18 to 26 March
2016,inconjunctionwiththeThirdAmericanDen-
drochronology Conference - AmeriDendro 2016,
whichwasheldinMendoza( Figure1).TheSADEF
coveredarangeof dendrochronologicalissues,pro-viding an intensive learning experience while ex-
ploring the Patagonian forests. The main goal of
the SADEF was to offer a collaborative group ex-
perienceforearly-careerscientistsinterestedintree-
ring research through a “hands-on” approach to
fieldandlaboratorymethods( e.g.Speer2006 ;Speer
etal.2006;MundoandSuarez2008 ;Touchanetal.
2013;Speeret al.2016). Hands-on research has
been demonstrated to provide the best and deep-
estlearningexperienceforallages( Bransfordetal.
1999;Donovan and Bransford 2005 ;Speeret al.
2006;McAllisterandSpeer 2014 ).
The course was hosted by the Sede Andina of
the Universidad Nacional de Río Negro (El Bol-
són)withtheTree-RingLaboratoryof theInstituto
Figure 1. The fieldweek was in El Bolsón in northern Patago-
nia. The white rectangle is the area of the network of tree-ring
chronologies for the hydrological and dendroclimate reconstruc-
tions, and the imbedded map shows the JEN and Condor Ridge
sites.
