Dendrochronology - New science subject

Dendrochronology not only studies the history of climate and the life of all plants. It also has a fundamental meaning in dating archaeological values, as well as other objects originating from the past plant world. It may even tell us what will happen in the future: what if the fate of the forests will be affected by acid rain?

The female assistant pulled out a dark object from the plastic wrap. " They are stored in a specially insulated plastic bag to retain moisture, " she explained. A wooden object. " This is a piece of wood 4 years ago, " she said. " We base on the ring of wood grain. Counting the wood grain is a new science, named Dendrochronology in ancient Greek: dendro - wood and chronos - time ".

" Dendrochronology not only studies the history of climate and the life of all plants " - Dr. Leone Fazani, one of the leading scientists in this new science, said - " It still has The basic meaning in dating archaeological values, as well as other objects originating from the past plant world, can even tell us what will happen in the future. hybrids: such as the fate of the forests will be like acid rain will be like? . In Italy this work is done by a group of leading scientists under the Museum of Natural History in Verona - The headquarters of the National Dendrochronology Institute ".

Trees while growing in height, at the same time developing the thickness of the branches. This development widens between the old body layer and the shell. On the other hand, trees grow irregularly all year round: in spring and summer they often grow faster; in the fall and winter they grow very little or almost no development. Because of this, based on the development of a species we can see in the cold years, the thickness of the grain is smaller and vice versa.

In the same way, plants tell us about their "genealogy" from the time of germination until being cut down and then becoming common wood. Of course, counting - counting trees around the tree is not an easy thing, always asking for patience with microscopy and above all, the intellectual knowledge of the plant world, by each Different species of plants have a unique characteristic not the same. Pointy tree species such as cypress, pine, pine . are easier to " count " than the species of poplar .

With electronic memory does not allow confusion, has contributed effectively to help scientists count and calculate the age of trees. Finally, they get the result: the dendrochronology ring, or the age chart of the tree studied. The round of dendrochronology is shorter or longer depending on the age of the plant: from 200-300 years of pine, over 1,000 years of oak . In the United States, there are Sequoia species and some old-age pine species. . 9 thousand years!

In the Museum of Natural History in New York (USA), there are displays of a circle of perennials, on grain rings showing the different stages that this tree once witnessed as the discovery of Europe. America, or the North-South civil war in the history of the United States, etc.

" When we have a model of the tree, which is unknown for its life - Professor, Dr. Alexandra Aspes, Director of the Dendrochronology Institute said - We can apply the comparison method: put it on a round dendrochronolgogy is the norm for that tree and will be accurate, and by the same time Saint Peter's wooden throne - according to innocent believers - dates back to the first century BC (BC), in fact new. from the 9th century AD - by the dendrochronology method, when Karl brought to Rome to Pope Ioan VIII, or according to some oak sections, clearly explained - also through the dendrochronology method, that the Great Seminary Montalchino's reputation was built in 1050, not before many centuries as it was thought .

Comparison of grain rings helps determine "plant stress".

The study of the grain was taken care of by predecessor scientists, such as the famous American astronomer Andriw Eelgas, when he studied the effects of the sun on trees, he achieved a link between them. Typical grain of contemporary ancient plants, through the wood grain found in archaeological excavations. In the same way - can be made " standard ": just count the number of grain rings, we know the origin of the age of the furniture we have. The labor effort of dendrochronology students helped greatly in determining archeology in Central Europe - until 4,000 BC, sometimes up to 8,000 years BC as in some coastal areas of the Mediterranean.

What about the present?"We now intend to focus on the deaths of plants due to the downpour of acid rain - Dr. Roberto Fazani, Deputy Director of Experimental Research at the National Dendrochronology Institute, said: We want to clarify. Many of the specific reasons that science is still unclear, according to the latest figures, the acid rain is the only cause for trees to lose their leaves, and their destruction, for other reasons such as being pollution of nitrate gas, too large ozone gas, or even due to changes in the electromagnetic field on the ground and even under the soil layers . ".

Scientists around the world believe that our civilization is facing a thorny problem - a complex phenomenon, " stress of plants ". Due to many different causes, stress has reduced the resistance of plants to external influences, affecting them.