On July 12 and 13, participants from the UPV, AGRESTA and Aragón General Council team extracted 24 tree cores from one of the demonstration stands to implement ecohydrological -based silvicultural models (action C3 of the LIFE Adpat-aleppo project ) . in Sierra de Luna (Zaragoza), for its subsequent dendrochronological analysis.
Dendrochronology, or tree ring dating, is a scientific method based on the analysis of the growth pattern of tree rings. These reflect the history of the growth of the plant, in such a way that they record any climatic, mechanical or anthropic event that alters this growth.
In order to visualize the arrangement of the rings without having to cut the tree, a core is extracted through a Pressler auger . In said core, the complete record of tree rings can be observed.
With these studies, the development of the trees will be reviewed before carrying out the silvicultural treatments. In this way it will be observed, in comparison with future analyses, if the forest treatments have affected and to what extent the treated areas. Treated areas are expected to have wider rings than untreated ones, since the wider the rings, it means that the tree has been subjected to more favorable environmental conditions.
Witnesses // Log and witness. The dark rings form in winter, it is a denser and more compact wood that serves the tree to “defend” itself from the cold, while the light rings form in summer, thus generating a less compact wood.