Stable carbon isotope and wood component concentration data for riparian cottonwood tree rings, Little Missouri River, North Dakota

Publication Date

2019-03-18

Start Date

1791

End Date

2010

Stricker, C.A., and Friedman, J.M., 2019, Stable carbon isotope and wood component concentration data for riparian cottonwood tree rings, Little Missouri River, North Dakota: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9CGDPYP.

Type: Publication that references this resource

Because of the relationship between the carbon isotope ratio of annual tree rings and water availability, it can serve as an additional proxy for river flow reconstruction in riparian tree species. Isotopic measurements have been made on whole wood and purified cellulose for a broad array of species, yet it is not known how the δ13C of cellulose and whole wood vary with tree age, nor how the concentrations of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin vary with tree age, particularly for cottonwoods. The purpose of this study was to explore these questions for cottonwoods and to evaluate the strength of correlations between the annual series of δ13C and flow, precipitation and temperature, and how these relationships compare to those for ring width for the Little Missouri River riparia. Results indicated that i) δ13C of cellulose in annual rings of Populus is independent of age, ii) δ13C of whole wood decreases from pith to bark as the proportion of cellulose declines, and iii) multi-century records of past drought can be reconstructed from δ13C of Populus cellulose.

• Fort Collins Science Center (FORT)
• USGS Data Release Products