Tree Rings: Counting the Years of Global Warming

Worksyn Productions

This video describes the role that dendrochronology plays in understanding climate change, especially changes to high elevation environments at an upper tree line. Dendrochronologists from the Big Sky Institute sample living and dead trees, describe how correlations between trees are made, and explain how tree cores record climate changes.

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Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

This video could be used in a variety of curricula unit of study including climate, plants and forests, forest ecosystems, etc. Because it shows a female lead researcher and male graduate students collecting in the field and bringing the cores back to the lab to analyze them, it allows students to go beyond just looking at paper copies of tree ring patterns. Video can complement other CLEAN selected resources: [http://cleanet.org/clean/educational_resources/index.html?search_text=tree+ring&Search=search]
Research opportunities found in tree rings that link trees in Yellowstone National park to the research community. Global climate change and tree rings, which offer a record that humans are fundamentally changing the Earth system. Comments from Expert Scientist: Tree ring research is low tech and easily approachable by educators and students at middle school through college levels. This well-produced video enhances that approachability by featuring senior scientist Lisa Graumlich, one of the most articulate dendroclimatologists in the world.