Helpful Databases for Dendrochronology
The International Tree-Ring Data Bank
One of the premier paleoclimatic databases in the world, the ITRDB contains measurements and tree-ring chronologies from over 1500 sites around the world, from over 100 tree species. This site will allow you to easily access and download one or more of these data sets. You can search by site name, tree species, contributor, chronology type, and geographic coordinates. Information is also provided to help you contribute your own tree-ring data sets, which we strongly encourage!
The Bibliography of Dendrochronology
Containing over 13,300 citations for articles, books, theses, and book chapters relevant to dendrochronology, this database was created by Henri D. Grissino-Mayer of the Department of Geography, University of Tennessee, and placed online by Michele Kaennel Dobbertin of the Forest Ecosystems and Ecological Risks Section, Swiss Federal Institute of Forest, Snow and Landscape Research. You can search by author, keywords, species, site information, and language.
The Plant List
Finally, we have one location to go to to look up Latin binomials of tree species, along with proper authorities, as well as those troublesome synonyms that confuse dendrochronologists. Brought to you by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden, the list contains over 1,000,000 species names! I spend much of my time trying to find the correct species used in a study when someone reports the species incorrectly.
The Dendrochronology Species Database
First published in 1993 by Henri D. Grissino-Mayer in the Tree-Ring Bulletin, this database provides information about key tree and shrub species used in tree-ring research. Common names, Latin names and authority, and synonymy are provided. The searchable database was placed online with the help of Michele Kaennel Dobbertin of the Forest Ecosystems and Ecological Risks Section, Swiss Federal Institute of Forest, Snow and Landscape Research.
Multilingual Glossary of Dendrochronology
Developed by Michèle Kaennel Dobbertin of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL in Birmensdorf, the glossary contains definitions (and much more!) of 351 terms in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. It is adapted from the Multilingual Glossary of Dendrochronology (1995, Haupt Verlag in Berne, Switzerland). Users will most certainly like the scanned images of the 120 original figures.
The International Multiproxy Paleofire Database
The purpose of the IMPD is to "create a broadly-accessible online database of fire history derived from paleoenvironmental proxy data, which will enhance our understanding of the relationships between fire and climate (drought in particular) and provide a basis for long-term fire predictions." Much of the data is derived from fire event series, using fire-scar chronologies from multiple sites in North and South America. Also contained in the IMPD are tree-ring based data sets that provide information on stand development.
Euro Catalog: Database of European Chronologies
This catalog provides information on metadata for important tree-ring data sets that are archived by numerous laboratories throughout Europe. Note that the actual tree-ring data are not provided, but instead you should contact the individuals or laboratories listed and ask them whether you can access their data. You can search for one or more tree species, data held by certain laboratories, or search data by historical periods.
Bibliography of Canadian Tree-Ring Research
This is a searchable bibliography created and archived by Dr. Dan Smith of the University of Victoria Tree-Ring Laboratory for the Canadian Dendrochronology Research Group. You can search by author, year (equals, before, and after), article title, source, and keywords. The results also supply an abstract is one is available. An awesome bibliography and one that is certainly invaluable to our field.
Inside Wood
I believe this could be one of the most useful plant anatomy or wood science web sites for both education and research that has ever been developed. The Inside Wood site will have broad research appeal to scientists (wood anatomists, botanists, and biologists, to name a few), to land resource and conservation managers, to K-12 and university students, and to the general public. The comprehensive inclusion of internationally accepted definitions and criteria for identifying wood samples is extremely helpful and simultaneously educational.
The Gymnosperm Database
Created and developed by Chris J. Earle, this database allow you to choose among the different families, such as Pinaceae, then view the information for each taxon using the numerous descriptive fields, such as common names, description, range, oldest, and dendrochronology.
Online Climate Data from the NCDC
The National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina, provides an immense amount of climate data readily accessible and ready for downloading. Data are provided for individual stations and for broader regions.
European Climate Assessment and Dataset Project
Initiated by the European Climate Support Network and supported by the Network of European Meteorological Services EUMETNET, this extensive database has received data from 54 participants from 53 countries and the ECA dataset contains 10,748 series of observations at 2,896 meteorological stations throughout Europe and the Mediterranean.
The Global Plant Checklist
This plant checklist is my primary database for obtaining information on vascular plants. It contains information for 160,000 plants, including authority, citations, database source, geographic location, and synonymy. The best database I've found for vascular plant names.
Links for Palaeobotanists
These comprehensive web pages were developed by Klaus-Peter Kelber of the Mineralogisches Institut, Universität Würzburg. Well-organized into seven separate pages, this site provides information relevant to dendrochronologists, such as Palaeoclimate, Plant Anatomy, Palynology, Teaching Documents, Permineralized Plants and Petrified Forests, and Systematics, Taxonomy and Cladistics.
