Dendrochronologia最新文献

{"title":"Resource utilization strategies and longevity of Thuja occidentalis across contrasting substrates: Insights from morphological and physiological traits","authors":"Manon Boche ,&nbsp;Marc-André Lemay ,&nbsp;Samuel Bouchut ,&nbsp;Yves Bergeron ,&nbsp;Christoforos Pappas ,&nbsp;Miguel Montoro Girona ,&nbsp;Valentina Buttò ,&nbsp;Fabio Gennaretti","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126484","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126484","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the interplay between environmental conditions and physiological traits is essential to explain tree longevity in resource-limited environments. We studied old (up to 466 years) <em>Thuja occidentalis</em> trees growing on contrasting rock and gravel substrates to assess how substrate type and age influence hydraulic function, resource use, and survival strategies. Using dendroanatomical and physiological measurements, we compared key functional traits across 25 trees of varying ages and site conditions in Duparquet, Quebec, Canada. Our results show that trees on drier rock substrates exhibit smaller xylem tracheids, reduced theoretical hydraulic conductivity, and lower foliage density, enabling them to resist drought stress at the cost of limited growth. These conservative traits become more pronounced as the trees age and are associated with greater longevity, with the age of trees growing on rock substrates exceeding 300 years, whereas those on gravel substrates reaching up to 200 years. In contrast, trees on gravel demonstrate greater hydraulic efficiency and radial growth potential as a result of fewer resource constraints. These findings align with the hydraulic limitation hypothesis and provide valuable insights into how substrate conditions and age-related functional acclimation shape survival strategies in long-lived trees. Moreover, they highlight the importance of local site conditions in tree resilience and underscore the need for further research into the effects of environmental variability on tree physiology and morphology to better predict tree responses to future environmental changes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 126484"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146147487","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Urban trees exhibit stronger sensitivity to environmental change but larger growth recovery than their rural counterparts","authors":"Jinming Yang ,&nbsp;Zaw Zaw ,&nbsp;Qian Wu ,&nbsp;Peter Groenendijk ,&nbsp;Zexin Fan ,&nbsp;Zongshan Li ,&nbsp;Huicui Lu ,&nbsp;Frank Sterck ,&nbsp;Richard J. Hauer","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126476","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126476","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the acceleration of global climate change and urbanization, environmental differences between urban and rural regions may lead to differential tree growth. In this study, sample plots of black locust (<em>Robinia pseudoacacia</em>) and black pine (<em>Pinus thunbergii</em>) were set up in urban forest parks and rural mountainous areas of a temperate coastal city to investigate these effects. A total of 342 trees (626 tree cores) were collected. Tree-ring width data were analyzed to assess growth sensitivity to climate and air pollution (including CO₂, PM₁₀, NO_x, and SO₂) in the two regions, with a particular focus on growth resilience to extreme drought. The results showed that urban locust growth was primarily driven by climatic factors (with the contribution rate exceeding 93 %), whereas air pollution predominantly influenced rural locust and both urban and rural pine, contributing 62–91 %. Precipitation promoted urban locust growth, while temperature negatively affected both species in two sites. CO₂ enhanced locust growth but suppressed pine. NO_x showed opposing effects: negative for urban locust and positive for pine, while PM₁₀ benefited rural locust and pine. SO₂ consistently inhibited pine growth. The findings indicate that combined climate and air pollution factors heightened the sensitivity of urban trees to urbanization and climate change. Both species showed notable growth decline under extreme drought (resistance &lt; 1) and good recovery (resilience &gt; 1, recovery time &lt; 3 years), with a significantly higher recovery of pine compare with locust, particularly for urban areas. This suggests urban irrigation can alleviate the water stress for both species. Despite drought, both urban and rural trees demonstrated good recovery capacity, suggesting that moderate drought is unlikely to cause immediate decline. Growth resilience to extreme drought in both species was primarily influenced by tree age, basal area, and pre-drought growth. This study provides new insights into the impact of climate change and urbanization on tree growth, aids in the selection of climate-adaptive tree species for urban environments, and offers a scientific basis for urban forest management strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 126476"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146037213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tree-ring based spring sunshine duration reconstruction since AD 1875 in the Nanling Mountains, southeastern China","authors":"Wenhuo Liu ,&nbsp;Yuxia Huo ,&nbsp;Jinbao Li ,&nbsp;Fen Zhang ,&nbsp;Meixue Yang ,&nbsp;Xiaohua Gou","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126477","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126477","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Using tree rings to reconstruct past climate is challenging in southeastern China, partly because the warm and humid climate often results in low relationships of tree growth with temperature and precipitation. Other climate parameters should be explored in order to better understand the limits of tree growth and long-term climate change in the region. Here we present a tree-ring width chronology developed from a site of Fujian cypress (<em>Chamaecyparis hodginsii</em>) in the Nanling Mountains, southeastern China. The sampled trees grow under the broadleaf canopy, where the light is dim and may limit tree growth. Correlation analyses showed that the ring-width chronology had low correlations with temperature and precipitation, but was highly correlated with spring (March–May) sunshine duration during the common period of AD 1955–2011, with a correlation of 0.725. We thus used the chronology to reconstruct spring sunshine duration for the period of AD 1875–2011. High sunshine duration periods occurred in the 1870s and 1910s–1960s, whereas low sunshine duration intervals were found in the 1880s–1900s and 1970s–2011. Further analysis showed that the reconstruction exhibited strong interannual periodicities (2.7–3.0 and 6.1–6.2 years) and was highly consistent with the strength of the East Asian summer monsoon.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 126477"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146037215","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tracing the origins of Stradivari’s resonance wood","authors":"Mauro Bernabei ,&nbsp;Ilaria Stefani ,&nbsp;Ulf Büntgen ,&nbsp;Marco Carrer ,&nbsp;Paolo Cherubini ,&nbsp;Katarina Čufar ,&nbsp;Michael Grabner ,&nbsp;Frédéric Guibal ,&nbsp;Nicola La Porta ,&nbsp;Nicoletta Martinelli ,&nbsp;Olivia Pignatelli ,&nbsp;Klaus Pfeifer ,&nbsp;Andrea Seim ,&nbsp;Willy Tegel ,&nbsp;John Carass Topham ,&nbsp;Rob Wilson ,&nbsp;Pietro Franceschi","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126480","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126480","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Stradivari’s violins represent the pinnacle of classical instrument making, yet the origins of the wood used to construct their soundboards have long remained unclear. By analysing 314 tree-ring series from 284 authenticated instruments, we show that the majority of soundboards were crafted from Norway spruce (<em>Picea abies</em>) that grew at very high elevations during the severe climatic conditions of the Maunder Minimum. Our data reveal that Stradivari frequently used wood from the same tree for multiple instruments and that its sources can be traced to the Eastern Alps. Comparison with 197 reference chronologies indicates that Stradivari’s early work drew on diverse and less easily localised sources. During his “golden age” of production from the early eighteenth century onwards, he consistently selected spruce from high-altitude forests in Trentino, Italy, and most likely from the Val di Fiemme in particular. These findings provide the first large-scale dendrochronological evidence for the geographic and environmental origins of Stradivari’s wood and offer new insights into both historical instrument making and the interplay between climate, materials, and musical heritage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 126480"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146187360","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Refining history of the earliest documented Quercus robur L. plantation in the Ukrainian steppe","authors":"Yulia Prokopuk ,&nbsp;Maksym Netsvetov ,&nbsp;Oleksandr Sylenko ,&nbsp;Oleg Skrynyk ,&nbsp;Oleksandr Khodosovtsev","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126466","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126466","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Steppe landscapes, though open, host trees and small forest patches along river corridors and ravines, and people have long established orchards, shelterbelts, and woods. Dating the earliest documented plantations helps conserve historic groves and build dendroarchaeological baseline at the dry forest-steppe margin. We date the <em>Quercus robur</em> ‘Labyrinth’ plantation at Trykraty (southern Ukraine), often cited as the oldest surviving steppe plantation, and compare its growth-climatic sensitivity with two published steppe <em>Q. robur</em> chronologies. From 12 old trees we developed earlywood, latewood, and total ring-width chronologies. Crossdating places the oldest trees at ≤ 1820, likely during a landowner Viktor Skarzhynsky’s early trials, with planting continuing through the 19th century. Tree-ring evidence and contemporary sources indicate a sequence of early steppe afforestation initiatives: Trykraty (≤1820) and Mennonite plantings along the Molochna River (from 1811), followed by private experiments and state programmes from eastern Moldova and southwestern Ukraine eastward to the North Caucasus (Russia). Trykraty is slightly more climate-sensitive, positive to dormant-season warmth and April–June precipitation, while an emergent negative winter–spring temperature response is strongest at the easternmost site. These findings (i) verify an early oak plantation date (&lt;1820) for the region, (ii) show that a planted grove expresses strong, coherent climate signals, and (iii) provide a foundation for a southern-steppe master chronology for dendroclimatology and dendroarchaeology.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 126466"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145884305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Paleoenvironmental perspective of subfossil oaks from the Zapadnaya Dvina River","authors":"Bulat F. Khasanov ,&nbsp;Maxim Yermokhin ,&nbsp;Vitali Lukin ,&nbsp;Natallia Knysh ,&nbsp;Toshio Nakamura ,&nbsp;Mitsuru Okuno ,&nbsp;Oleg L. Petrov ,&nbsp;Arkady B. Savinetsky","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126463","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126463","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although subfossil oaks preserved in alluvial deposits represent an invaluable archive of dendrochronological information, Eastern Europe has remained largely unexplored in this regard. In this study, we investigated subfossil oak remains from the Zapadnaya Dvina (Daugava, Dzvina) River, flowing through Russia, Belarus, and Latvia. Subfossil oak trunks were collected from two sites located in the upper (near the town of Zapadnaya Dvina, Russia) and middle (the Luchosa River, Belarus) reaches of the Zapadnaya Dvina River, comprising 545 and 68 specimens, respectively. A total of 61 radiocarbon dates were obtained from both sites. The earliest subfossil oak was deposited 5800 ± 80C years BP, while the most recent samples dates to the 20th century. Four absolutely dated tree-ring chronologies spanning 250–1762 AD were developed through dendrochronological analysis and cross-dating with oak chronologies from neighboring regions. These chronologies were further validated by wiggle-matching radiocarbon measurements of individual tree rings. In addition, six floating tree-ring chronologies covering the 2nd and 1st millennia BC were constructed and radiocarbon dated. Together, these chronologies encompass nearly the last 4000 years, with only short gaps of up to 300 years. Continued sampling of subfossil oaks from riverine deposits in the region is expected to bridge these intervals, ultimately enabling the construction of an absolutely dated multi-millennial oak tree-ring chronology for Eastern Europe.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 126463"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145737503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Regional NDVI reconstruction over the last 600 years in Northwestern Patagonia reveals a rapid decline","authors":"Verónica B. Gallardo ,&nbsp;Fidel A. Roig ,&nbsp;Álvaro González-Reyes ,&nbsp;Feng Chen ,&nbsp;Martín A. Hadad","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126475","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126475","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the long-term variability of forest productivity is crucial in the context of climate change. While remote sensing data provide valuable information on vegetation dynamics, their temporal coverage is often limited. Tree-ring width, however, serves as a reliable proxy for reconstructing past forest productivity and extending NDVI records. In this study, we reconstructed the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for <em>Austrocedrus chilensis</em> forests in northwestern Argentine Patagonia using multi-centennial tree-ring chronologies. A total of 162 wood samples from living trees and 65 from dead trees were used to develop the regional chronology, which exhibited a significant and positive correlation with NDVI from January to March over the period 1981–2019. Based on this relationship, a linear regression model was applied to reconstruct NDVI for these months extending back to 1405. The reconstruction explained 44 % of the total NDVI variance and showed significant positive associations with the Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI), the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), and the Southern Annular Mode (SAM). Long-term cycles in vegetation productivity were detected, potentially linked to solar activity and other low-frequency climate forcings. The results indicate secular changes in forest productivity dynamics, reflecting the influence of ongoing climate change. By providing a multi-century perspective on NDVI variability, this reconstruction offers critical insights into past forest dynamics and establishes a robust baseline for understanding contemporary ecosystem functioning. Moreover, these findings provide a valuable framework for predictive modeling of future productivity responses under changing climatic conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 126475"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146037214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From forests to early medieval fortress: Dendroarchaeological discoveries at the 10th-century Menka Hillfort, Belarus","authors":"Maxim Yermokhin ,&nbsp;Vitaliy Motsny ,&nbsp;Vitaliy Lukin ,&nbsp;Aliaksandr Puhacheuski ,&nbsp;Andrej Vojtsekhovich","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126473","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126473","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The hillfort on the Menka River marks the beginning of the history of Minsk (formerly Mensk), the capital of Belarus, although its exact date of origin had long remained unknown. During the 2023–2024 archaeological excavations, the ramparts surrounding the hillfort were investigated, and at their base, a massive wooden structure was uncovered. This structure, built primarily from oak (<em>Quercus</em> sp.) and consisting of a continuous row of double square log frames, represents the original defensive wall that enclosed the Menka Hillfort in the 10th–11th centuries. Dendrochronological analysis was conducted on 96 oak wood samples, of which 45 were successfully cross-dated. These samples enabled the construction of an early medieval oak tree-ring chronology MNK01 spanning 170 years. This chronology was absolutely dated by comparison with subfossil oak chronologies from neighbouring regions and covers the period from 828 to 997 AD. The trees used in the structure were felled between the second half of 997 and early spring of 998 AD. A moving <em>rBar</em> analysis revealed a prolonged period of reduced growth synchrony among the trees, lasting from approximately 910 to the 980 s AD. The presence of asynchronous abrupt growth changes and wounds occurring in different trees at various times within this interval suggests the impact of human activity on the forest. These patterns may indicate that settlement on the Menka River began to develop in the first decade of the 10th century.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 126473"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145977088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Radial growth resilience of temperate deciduous oaks to drought events across aridity gradients in the southern Loess Plateau, China","authors":"Xiaoqi Chen ,&nbsp;Xiaomin Zeng ,&nbsp;Xiaohong Liu ,&nbsp;Huiyue Yan ,&nbsp;Quanxi Li ,&nbsp;Mao Wei","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126468","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126468","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding how tree growth resilience responds to drought along aridity gradients is critical for conserving temperate forests in semi-arid regions under ongoing climate change, yet such assessments remain limited in northern China. Here, we investigated growth–climate relationships and drought resilience of two dominant oak species (<em>Quercus liaotungensis</em> and <em>Quercus variabilis</em>) across an aridity gradient in the southern Loess Plateau using tree-ring chronologies. Oak radial growth became progressively more dependent on water availability with increasing aridity, whereas temperature sensitivity remained consistently weak across sites, indicating a dominant control of moisture on growth. Along this gradient, oaks at drier sites exhibited lower resistance during drought but higher post-drought recovery, while trees at more humid sites showed the opposite pattern, revealing a clear resistance–recovery trade-off. Notably, compensatory growth following drought was observed at all sites, suggesting a common but context-dependent adaptive response to water stress. At relatively arid sites, the resistance–recovery relationship approached the theoretical “line of full resilience,” indicating a greater capacity to offset drought-induced growth losses through recovery-oriented strategies. Further analyses revealed that drought resilience was jointly regulated by baseline growth conditions, drought severity, and site-specific climatic sensitivity. Higher pre-drought growth potential constrained short-term recovery but enhanced long-term resilience, highlighting the dual role of baseline growth in shaping drought responses. Together, these findings demonstrate that oak populations in the southern Loess Plateau adopt distinct yet complementary resilience strategies along aridity gradients, shifting from resistance-dominated growth in humid environments to recovery and compensation-oriented strategies under increasing water limitation. This strategy differentiation provides new mechanistic insights into how oak forests persist under recurrent drought and offers a scientific basis for developing site-specific management strategies in the region.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 126468"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145924916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Herbchronology of woody underground organs in the Brazilian tropical grassy ecosystems: Age estimates and dendrochronological potential","authors":"Claudia Fontana ,&nbsp;Gabriel Assis-Pereira ,&nbsp;Lidio López ,&nbsp;Tiago Marcilio Gomes-Pinto ,&nbsp;Cecília Leite Lemes ,&nbsp;Davi Neves de Lemos ,&nbsp;Maycon da Silva Teixeira ,&nbsp;Bruna Helena Campos ,&nbsp;Lucas Nogueira Gonçalves ,&nbsp;Natashi Pilon ,&nbsp;Mario Tomazello-Filho ,&nbsp;Giselda Durigan","doi":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126472","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126472","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Herbchronology, a branch of dendrochronology, is dedicated to understanding the age structure and ecology of small plants, including perennial forbs, dwarf shrubs, and shrubs. In tropical grassy ecosystems, fire, frost or large herbivores can recurrently suppress the above-ground biomass of small plants, hindering age determination from the stems. Their underground organs, however, remain protected below the soil surface, allowing resprouting. Therefore, these organs attain greater longevity than the aboveground plant parts, likely corresponding to the true age of these plants. This exploratory study aimed at and (i) analyzing the growth layers to verify their distinctiveness and potential for herbchronological studies, and (ii) estimating the age of woody underground organs across various small plant species from different types of old-growth grasslands. Randomly collected samples from 204 plants were analyzed, encompassing 28 families and 107 species across three different grassland types within the Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado regions (Brazil). From all samples, 55 % exhibited distinct growth layers, highlighting the potential for centennial chronologies, despite limitations in species with low longevity and indistinct rings. Most samples were less than 10-year-old, but we found six individuals beyond 100-year-old. Higher ages were more frequent in Cerrado grasslands under long dry season, and no plants beyond 10-year-old were found in highland grasslands under the humid climate of the Atlantic Forest region. By validating a method to determine the age of small plants, our study provides the foundation for future research and, especially, allows to estimate the age of grassy ecosystems and thus strengthen the arguments in favor of their conservation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50595,"journal":{"name":"Dendrochronologia","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 126472"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145977086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}