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The dendrochronological potential oflime (Tilia spp) from trees at HamptonCourt Palace UKAndy K Moir a b amp Suzanne AG Leroy ba Tree-Ring Services Hungerford Berkshire UKb Institute for the Environment Brunel University UxbridgeLondon UKPublished online 13 Apr 2013
To cite this article Andy K Moir amp Suzanne AG Leroy (2013) The dendrochronologicalpotential of lime (Tilia spp) from trees at Hampton Court Palace UK Arboricultural Journal TheInternational Journal of Urban Forestry DOI101080030713752013783173
To link to this article httpdxdoiorg101080030713752013783173
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The dendrochronological potential of lime (Tilia spp) from treesat Hampton Court Palace UK
Andy K Moirab and Suzanne AG Leroyb
aTree-Ring Services Hungerford Berkshire UK bInstitute for the Environment Brunel UniversityUxbridge London UK
Common lime (Tilia pound europaea L) and large-leaved lime (Tilia platyphyllos Scop)are dendrochronologically and dendroclimatologically analysed for the first time Limeis thought to be sensitive to climate change Once a dominant species in Europe it hasbeen in general decline from 3100 BC but recently it has been found to be increasingthe northern limits of its range Twenty-five trees from Hampton Court Palace (UK) arecross-matched to form a 138-year chronology spanning from AD 1866 to AD 2003The relationships with climate were investigated using monthly instrumental records ofprecipitation and temperature from Kew between AD 1872 and AD 1997 The age ofthe lime trees was found to correlate well with girth (r frac14 087) The annual resolutionof the chronology is robustly supported by regional cross-dating against established oakand yew chronologies Summer precipitation (May June and August) was shown to bea time-stable determinant of annual variation in radial growth Problems of indistinctboundaries and missing rings which become more prevalent in trees over 100 years ofage may limit the dendrochronological potential of lime
Keywords climate change dendrochronology dendroclimatology lime trees TiliaHampton Court
Introduction
In arboriculture and urban forestry the determination of tree age is useful to identify the
chronology of parks and gardens to forecast future tree size and threats associated with
increasing age and to identify individuals of particular conservation value Dendroclima-
tology one of the sub-disciplines of dendrochronology enables the identification of both
tree age and relationships between ring width and climatic variables In areas where a
particular tree species is suitably responsive and long-lived andor where past wood is
recoverable the discipline may enable climate records to be reconstructed at annual
resolution centuries before instrumental data are available In the British Isles the climatic
relationships of few tree species other than oak (Kelly Leuschner Briffa amp Harris 2002)
Scots Pine (Briffa et al 2001 Moir Leroy amp Helama 2011) yew (Moir 1999) and elm
(Brett 1978) have been examined All these genera have well-defined rings suitable for
tree-ring analysis Lime (Tilia spp) has not been previously dendroclimatologically
analysed This is possibly because it is only rarely found in old buildings and it has a
tendency to decay rapidly if damp Furthermore lime trees over 350ndash400 years of age are
typically hollow (Pigott 1989)
At the northern limits of its range in theLakeDistrict ofEngland limehasbeenconsidered
a relict species due to its limited production of fertile seeds and pollen evidence of decline
after 3100 year BC (Pigott ampHuntley 1980) The small-leaved lime (Tilia cordataMill) and
q 2013 Taylor amp Francis and Aboricultural Association
Corresponding author Email akmoirtree-ringcouk
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 2013
httpdxdoiorg101080030713752013783173
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large-leaved lime (Tilia platyphyllos Scop) species are both native to the UK but are near the
northern limits of their European ranges Small-leaved lime is essentially a continental species
known to require summer temperatures$208C at flowering for several consecutive days to
produce viable seed (Pigott amp Huntley 1981) It has had difficulty growing from seed in the
UK under contemporary climatic conditions but suitable conditions to permit fertilization
may have been more prevalent during the medieval warm period (Pigott 1989) Recently
Gray andGrist (2000) reported the natural regeneration of lime as far north as Perth Scotland
Large-leaved lime is nationally a scarce tree (Newlands 1999)Where both small- and large-
leaved limes occur they can hybridise resulting in common lime (Tilia pound europaeaL)which
is also a widely planted ornamental tree
Limes (Tilia spp) are one of the tallest broad-leaved trees inmost areas of Great Britain
They can achieve a height of 35ndash40m a diameter of 100ndash300 cm and live up to 1000 years
(Mayer 1977) Multi-stemmed self-coppicing limes can live much longer (Pigott 1993)
Lime trees have played a major role as an architectural element in gardens in many
European countries since the late seventeenth century Owing to their aesthetic value lime
trees have become increasingly important in urban and open landscape in recent decades
The avenues of a double row of lime trees on both sides of the Long Water at Hampton
Court Palace UK form the central feature of a great baroque patte drsquooie layout (Figures 1
and 2) This was originally commissioned by King Charles II soon after his restoration in
AD1660 It is the finest surviving example of its kind inGreat Britain The following history
of the lime trees at Hampton Court is summarised from a report by Gough (2000) Adrian
May a royal gardener purchased a consignment of 758 common limes fromHolland which
were planted in AD 1661 The average life expectancy of a European lime tree is 200ndash250
years so the LongWater avenuewas in its prime at the beginning ofQueenVictoriarsquos reign
A policy of gapping up those trees in the avenue which had perished was largely
unsuccessful due to competition with older trees Many trees used in gaps were also a
different species of lime or planted in the wrong positions which resulted in a gap-toothed
canopy The 1987 hurricane in Southern England affected the LongWater avenue badly By
2000 the original population of 544 trees had dwindled to 300 with only 7 original tree
specimens remaining The original trees were also a cause of problems as disease
(particularly several types of bracket fungus) and old age had left them in a dangerous
condition
In 2003 the lime trees of the royal palace park in Hampton Court were felled (Figure 2)
to allow the replanting and restoration of the avenues which presented a useful opportunity
for dendroclimatological and dendrochronological analysis Indeed on one hand lime
should be considered if it has the potential to become a new proxy for estimating global
change on the other hand the dating of old lime trees will contribute to the corpus of
knowledge on gardens of a historically significant place The aims of this research were (1)
to establish the ages of the trees sampled (2) to establish relationships between the radial
growth and meteorological climate records (3) to identify whether lime might be a useful
species in dendrochronology and (4) to interpret the ages of the sampled trees into the
cultural landscape of Hampton Court
Materials and methods
Sampling and chronology building
Full trunk sections were sawn by operators at Hampton Court typically from 20 to 30 cm
above the ground level For practical reasons V-section samples were cut across the widest
diameter to provide two radii for measurement (Figure 3) Standard dendrochronological
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techniques were then utilised for sample preparation measurement cross-matching and
dating (Stokes amp Smiley 1968) Cross-matches are reported using raw ring-width data and
the standard Studentrsquos t-value statistic Those t-values in excess of 35 are accepted as
significant where supported by visual comparison
Growth rates
Tree-ring series commonly contain age trend caused by the general reduction in the ring
width as trees get progressively older and pass through the formative mature and senescent
phases of growth (White 1998) For useful visual comparison between tree growth rates
cumulative plots were produced to help emphasise the underlying biological age growth
trend (Figure 4)
Figure 1 Map of Western Europe showing the location of Hampton Court
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 3
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Dendroclimatic analysis
The series were standardised (a process to remove age trends) using ARSTAN software
(Cook Briffa ShiyatovampMazepa 1990) andwere detrended using a negative exponential
curve or linear regression with power transformation (Cook amp Peters 1997) to reduce
potential end-effect inflation of resultant indices The chronology statistics generated from
the standardised series are described in Table 1 Mean sensitivity is a measure of the mean
relative change between adjacent ring widths (Fritts 1976) Values over 030 are high and
indicate that the tree-ring series are highly responsive to environmental factors while low
Figure 3 A V-section sample cut from a full section
Figure 2 A standing and felled lime tree along the Long Water at Hampton Court Palace UK
4 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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values indicate weak inter-annual variance The expressed population signal (EPS)
(Wigley Briffa amp Jones 1984) measures the degree to which the chronology correlates (or
agrees) with a theoretical population chronology The value of EPS ranges from 0 to 1 with
1 being the best possible value (the hypothetically perfect chronology)
Growthndashclimate relationships were examined using correlation functions as a
statistical model to compute coefficients between tree-ring chronologies and monthly
climatic variables (Blasing Solomon amp Duvick 1984) These coefficients are univariate
estimates of Pearsonrsquos product moment correlation Correlation function analyses and
moving interval correlation function analysis were carried out using DENDROCLIM2002
software (Biondi amp Waikul 2004) which tests significance at the 005 level A 14-
month analysis period extending from September in the year before growth to October of
the year of growth was selected Residual tree-ring chronologies (which have proved to
Figure 4 Cumulative plot tree rings
Table 1 General statistics of lime chronologies from the arstan standard chronology
File name MS AR1 R(bt) SNR EPS
HPLIME 033 029 067 1599 094
Note Common interval frac14 1910ndash1990 MS mean sensitivity AR1 first-order autocorrelation R(bt) betweenseries correlation SNR signal to noise ratio EPS expressed population signal
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yield more climatic information and minimise autocorrelation) were used with monthly
maximum temperature minimum temperature and precipitation as predictors Monthly
temperature and rainfall series for Kew (a meteorological station 95 km south west of
Hampton Court) were used in this analysis (Wales-Smith 1980) Temperature and rainfall
can be intercorrelated causing an apparent negative association between temperature and
ring width when using correlation to examine climatendashgrowth relationships as
highlighted by Fritts (1976) To help resolve this problem response function analysis
(which transforms the predictor variables into uncorrelated principal components) was
also carried out using DENDROCLIM2002 However as response coefficients tend to be
lower than correlation coefficients the results are only summarised
Results
Chronology
The results of the cross-matching between 25 samples against both oak and yew reference
chronologies are described below The trees sections were generally quite circular in form
and showed no signs of hollowing Pith was recovered in all cases Twenty-five out of the
30 samples (83) were successfully measured and cross-matched Nineteen series were
from common lime and four from large-leaved lime Two samples were labelled with the
same number and therefore could only be established as Tilia spp The 25 cross-matched
together were used to form a chronology called HPLIME which spans 1866ndash2003 The
annual resolution of this tree-ring series is confirmed by cross-matching against both oak
and yew existing reference chronologies (Table 2) The rings in years 19491950 1964
and 1985 were the narrowest rings and most commonly missing Instances of missing rings
were more frequent in older trees ie after the first 80 years of growth In five series where
the rings to bark could not be reliably measured it was calculated that a missing ring
occurred on average once every 12 years suggesting a 12 underestimation of tree age
from ring counts in lime trees over 50 years of age
Growth rates and age
The ages and girths of the 25 cross-matched trees (Figure 4) together with five ring
counted trees are plotted in Figure 5 and the following regression equation is calculated
as follows
AGE frac14 10577 pound GIRTH ethin mTHORN2 11672 ethStandard error frac14 3125THORN
Prior to c 1898 only common lime hybrids appear to have been planted However
after c 1898 both common limes and large-leaved limes are shown to have been planted
The three oldest trees used in this equation could not be reliably measured but were ring
counted to be 312 269 and 250 years of age The oldest tree is therefore estimated to have
been growing since at least 1691 However assuming that it was one of the original limes
planted in 1661 this suggests an underestimation by ring counting of around 10 adding
further evidence of a 10ndash12 underestimation of age of lime trees from ring counts Plots
of cumulative ring width show no common differences in the radial growth rates of the two
species of lime in this study The mean formative growth rate is 384mmyear21 and
the transition between formative and mature growth occurs after 50 years of growth
(Figure 4) A mature growth rate of 325mmyear21 is applicable to trees between 50 and
100 years of age These results confirm that very few of the trees originally planted in 1661
survived
6 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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Growthndashclimate relationships
The statistical parameters of the standardised chronologies developed are shown in
Table 2 Mean sensitivity the relative change in ring widths from 1 year to the next (high-
frequency signal) is 033 which is high in comparison to values for oak Scots Pine and
yew in the UK First-order autocorrelation a measure of the influence of the previous
yearrsquos growth on the current year (Fritts 1976) is low (029) indicating little persistence
from one yearrsquos growth to the next The EPS value is 094 which is above a 085 value
suggested by Wigley et al (1984) as reasonably strong and suitable for climatic studies
Rainfall in the summer months of May June and August was shown by correlation
analysis to be the strongest determinant of ring width in lime (Figure 6) A positive
relationship between lime growth and rainfall also occurred in winter relating to the
previous November Moving correlation analysis shows that the relationships with
precipitation in May June and the previous November are time stable (Figure 7)
However precipitation in April and July ceased to be a significant factor in growth from
around the 1980s onwards while precipitation in August became significant Correlations
between ring growth and temperature are not time stable (Figure 7)
Discussion
The dendrochronology of lime
This study identifies that lime series cross-matched together and usefully against existing
chronologies of oak and yew It is important not only for estimating the ages of lime trees that
could not successfully be cross-matched but also for estimating the age of standing trees that
Table 2 Cross-matches of HPLIME chronology with oak and yew reference chronologies
File nameStartdate
Enddate t-Value
Overlap(years) Species
Chronology andshort reference
SEYEW11 AD1719 AD2009 702 138 Yew Churchyards of SE England(Moir in preparation)
YATLY-WW AD1829 AD2003 695 138 Oak Wych Wood ndash Yateley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
HPYEW92 AD1690 AD1992 622 127 Yew Hampton Court Palance ndash GTLondon (Moir 1999)
SLG AD1764 AD1993 621 128 Oak Scarles Grove ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
EVSLY-BR AD1815 AD2003 606 138 Oak Brick House ndash Eversley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
SWW AD1806 AD1992 599 127 Oak Southwell Lane ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HERWOR2 AD1729 AD1969 591 104 Oak Hereford and Cumberland (Sie-benlist-Kerner 1978)
BRIT002 AD1754 AD1979 572 114 Oak Bath ndash Avon (Pilcher unpub-lished)
MSC AD1820 AD1995 550 130 Oak Mendhams Corner ndash ScotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HVYEW00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Yew Happy Valley ndash Coulsdon ndashLondon (North 2000)
HVOAK00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Oak Coulsdon ndash London (North2000)
COBHAM AD1770 AD2001 513 136 Oak Cobham ndash Kent (Arnold et al2003)
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 7
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can only be girthmeasured (Figures 4 and 5) The likelymaximumandminimum limits of age
for a given radius of a standing tree can be identified from Figure 4 This study confirms a
relatively short lifespan of maiden lime trees in formal avenues Only 1 of the 30 lime trees
sampled could be a survivor from the original planting in 1661 Although not shown here the
earliest campaign of re-planting probably occurred c 1898 (Moir 1996) which suggests that
trees in the avenue had started to die off around 230 years after the original planting It is also
of interest that only after c 1898 large-leaved limes were used in the avenues Whether it
might be possible to extend the 138-year long lime chronology established back further in
time is not clear but the population of ancient lime trees in the north of England (Pigott 1989)
could hold the potential to produce millennium-long chronologies
Insufficient samples of large-leaved limes were available to establish a useful
chronology to identify possible differences in correlations with climate between this
species and hybrids However as cross-matching and growth rates showed no clear
differences all the samples were combined in this analysis A similar approach is typically
Figure 5 Plot of girth against tree age
Figure 6 Correlation functions of the residual chronology with monthly maximum temperature(T-max) minimum temperature (T-min) and precipitation (Prec) Correlations are for an 80-yearperiod (1911ndash1990) Note none of the relationships shown were found to be significant by responsefunction analysis
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applied in the dendrochronological analysis of British oaks (Quercus robur L) and Sessile
Oaks (Quercus petraea) where samples from these two species are usually combined
Some problems in the analysis of lime were encountered in ring boundary
identification and the occurrence of missing rings in older trees Lime appears to be an
intermediate between diffuse-porous and ring-porous tree species The start of each ring is
defined by a ring of xylem parenchyma (Pigott 1989) but these boundaries are often
poorly distinguished In particular narrow rings the boundary was not always present
which can make the identification of an annual ring difficult The width of rings also varied
considerably narrow rings tended to be ldquolocally missingrdquo (ie visible around only part of
the circumference) but ldquofalse ringrdquo boundaries could also occur within a ring (parallel to
the ring boundary) and are difficult to distinguish from true ring boundaries The first 10ndash
20 rings of growth were found to be particularly prone to very narrow rings and so they
could not be reliably measured and were only counted
Physiological relationships with climate
Correlation between ring growth and rainfall in May June and August rainfall is positive
which indicates that higher rainfall tends to lead to the development of wider rings and
conversely lower rainfall leads to narrower rings (probably through water stress) Low
precipitation limiting the radial growth during the growing season is a relationship that
lime shares with yew (Moir et al 2011) and oak
Maximum and minimum temperatures in January indicate that lower mean temperatures
in January are unfavourable for the radial growth in lime Maximum temperatures in March
are unexpectedly shown to have negative relationships with ring width and the absence of
a corresponding correlationwithminimum temperature inMarch suggests that above average
early spring temperature is unfavourable for radial growth in lime A physiological
mechanism for this relationship may be that premature loss of winter hardiness followed by
freezing kills or injures expanding tender tissues such as buds flowers leaves and shoots
Moving correlation analysis shows that these relationships start from 1980 for January and
1962 forMarch temperatures Taking into account the 80-year base length of the analysis this
indicates that they have become significant since the 1940s and 1920s respectively Losses of
Figure 7 Contour map showing moving correlation values of climatic variables against HPLIMEring-width indices A moving 80-year base length over the period 1872ndash1997 is used only the lastyear of the interval coefficients significant at a level of (p 005) and months that show $9consecutive years of values in the HPLIME chronology are shown Months in CAPS identify those inthe year prior to ring growth
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 9
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correlations between ring width and maximum temperatures in April and precipitation in
March and April are also shown to occur around this period from the 1930s While these
observed changes in correlations could relate to the effects of climate change they might
equally be responses to changed age and species composition in the chronology Other
environmental factors such as competition between trees might also be involved
Future research
Apremise of tree-ring studies has long been held that treesmore sensitive to temperature tend
to be found in the high latitudes andor altitudes near their climatically determined limits of
distribution (Fritts 1976) Therefore the sampling of lime trees planted further north is
important to establish a relationship between radial growth and climate near the limits of
limesrsquo range Lime trees have potential to become a useful indicator species for global
warming at high latitudes (Chen Hill Ohlemuller amp Thomas 2011) Radoglou et al (2008)
showed that lime trees grow faster in the first 50 years of life than beech but by the age of 100
years beech stands yield about 30 more than lime Additional research on Tilia might be
considered useful to help predict their future yields and effects under a climate-warming
scenario
The potential to acquire samples useful for dendrochronological analysis by the
cutting of V-sections from the stumps of previously felled trees is highlighted V-
sectioning from where the radii were widest helped overcome the problem of missing rings
in this study and this could be a useful method to gain material for dendrochronological
studies from the stumps left of old trees of all species
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Hampton Court Palace UK We are grateful to Graham Dillamore forthe collection and transportation of samples Donald Pigott and Rikard Andersson made usefulcomments that helped improve this paper
Notes on contributors
Andy K Moir is Director of Tree-Ring Services and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Institutefor the Environment at Brunel University He has worked on the tree-ring analysis of trees andtimber-framed buildings for over 20 years
Suzanne AG Leroy is Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences at Brunel University Herresearch focuses on palaeoclimates palaeoecology and the reconstruction of past natural hazards
References
Arnold A J Howard R E Laxton R R amp Litton C D (2003) Tree-ring analysis of timbersfrom Cobham Hall Cobham Kent English Heritage Centre for Archaeol Rep 502003
Biondi F amp Waikul K (2004) Dendroclime2002 A Cthornthorn program for statistical calibration ofclimate signals in tree-ring chronologies Computer amp Geosciences 30 303ndash311
Blasing T J Solomon A M amp Duvick D N (1984) Response functions revisited Tree-ringBulletin 44 1ndash15
Brett D W (1978) Elm tree rings as a rainfall record Weather 33 87ndash94Briffa K R Osborn T J Schweingruber F H Harris I C Jones P D Shiyatov S G amp
Vaganov E A (2001) Low-frequency temperature variations from a northern tree ring densitynetwork Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 106(D3) 2929ndash2941
Chen I-C Hill J K Ohlemuller R amp Thomas C D (2011) Rapid range shifts of speciesassociated with high levels of climate warming Science 333 1024ndash1026
10 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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ity O
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Cook E R Briffa K R Shiyatov S G ampMazepa V (1990) Tree-ring standardization and growth-trend estimation In E R Cook amp L A Kairiukstis (Eds) Methods of dendrochronologyApplications in the environmental science Dordrecht Kluwer Academic
Cook E R amp Peters K (1997) Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic andenvironmental change The Holocene 7(3) 361ndash370
Fritts H C (1976) Tree rings and climate New York NY Academic PressGough T (2000) A restoration plan for the Long Water Avenue Hampton Court Place London
Internal Report for the Gardens amp Estate Managers Hampton Court PalaceGray R K S amp Grist N R (2000) Natural regeneration of limes (Tilia spp) in Scotland Locally
widespread and more numerous in 1999 Glasgow Naturalist 23 13ndash16Kelly P M Leuschner H-H Briffa K R amp Harris I C (2002) The climatic interpretation of
pan-European signature years in oak ring-width series The Holocene 12 689ndash695Mayer H (1977) Waldbau auf soziologisch-okologischer Grundlage Stuttgart Gustav Fisher
VerlagMoir A K (1996) A dendrochronological analysis of 9 oak compartments from the Sotterley
Estate Suffolk England An interim report Hungerford Tree-Ring ServicesMoir A K (1999) The dendrochronological potential of modern yew (Taxus baccata) with special
reference to yew from Hampton Court Palace UK New Phytologist 144(3) 479ndash488Moir A K Leroy S A G amp Helama S (2011) Role of substrate on the dendroclimatic response
of Scots pine from varying elevations in Northern Scotland Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 41 822ndash838
Newlands C D (1999) Habitats and rare plants of the Durham and Southern Magnesian Limestonenatural areas with reference to the SSSI series Naturalist 124 23ndash27
North D (2000) A dendrochronological investigation into yew (Taxus baccata) trees on the NorthDowns Greater London (Unpublished MSc thesis) University of Greenwich Greenwich
Pigott C D (1989) Estimation of the age of lime trees (Tilia spp) in parklands from stem diameterand ring counts Arboricultural Journal 13 289ndash302
Pigott C D (1993) The history and ecology of Ancient woodlands In P Beswick I D Rotherhamamp J Parsons (Eds) Ancient woodlands Their archaeology and ecology ndash A coincidence ofinterest Also published in Landscape Archaeology and Ecology 1 1ndash11
Pigott CDampHuntley J P (1980) Factors controlling the distributionofTilia cordata at the northernlimits of its geographical range II History in north-west EnglandNew Phytologist 84 145ndash164
Pigott C D amp Huntley J P (1981) Factors controlling the distribution of Tilia cordata at thenorthern limits of its geographical range III Nature and causes of seed sterility NewPhytologist 87 817ndash839
Radoglou K Dobrowolska D Spyroglou G amp Nicolecu V N (2008) A review on the ecologyand silviculture of limes (Tilia cordata Mill Tilia platyphyllos Scop and Tilia tomentosaMoench) in Europe (pp 1ndash29) Retrieved from httpwwwvalbrouni-freiburgde
Siebenlist-Kerner V (1978) The chronology 1341ndash1636 for certain hillside oaks from WesternEngland and Wales In J M Fletcher (Ed) Dendrochronology in Europe Vol 51 BAR Int Ser(pp 295ndash301) Oxford Archeopress
Stokes M A amp Smiley T L (1968) An introduction to tree ring dating Chicago University ofChicago Press
Wales-Smith B G (1980) Revised monthly and annual totals of rainfall representative of KewSurrey and an updated analysis for 1697ndash1976 Meteorological Office HydrologicalMemorandum 43
Wigley T M L Briffa K R amp Jones P D (1984) On the average value of correlated time-serieswith applications in Dendroclimatology and Hydrometeorology Journal of Climate and AppliedMeteorology 23(2) 201ndash213
White J E J (1998) Estimating the age of large and veteran trees in Britain Forestry CommissionInformation Note 250
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 11
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The dendrochronological potential of lime (Tilia spp) from treesat Hampton Court Palace UK
Andy K Moirab and Suzanne AG Leroyb
aTree-Ring Services Hungerford Berkshire UK bInstitute for the Environment Brunel UniversityUxbridge London UK
Common lime (Tilia pound europaea L) and large-leaved lime (Tilia platyphyllos Scop)are dendrochronologically and dendroclimatologically analysed for the first time Limeis thought to be sensitive to climate change Once a dominant species in Europe it hasbeen in general decline from 3100 BC but recently it has been found to be increasingthe northern limits of its range Twenty-five trees from Hampton Court Palace (UK) arecross-matched to form a 138-year chronology spanning from AD 1866 to AD 2003The relationships with climate were investigated using monthly instrumental records ofprecipitation and temperature from Kew between AD 1872 and AD 1997 The age ofthe lime trees was found to correlate well with girth (r frac14 087) The annual resolutionof the chronology is robustly supported by regional cross-dating against established oakand yew chronologies Summer precipitation (May June and August) was shown to bea time-stable determinant of annual variation in radial growth Problems of indistinctboundaries and missing rings which become more prevalent in trees over 100 years ofage may limit the dendrochronological potential of lime
Keywords climate change dendrochronology dendroclimatology lime trees TiliaHampton Court
Introduction
In arboriculture and urban forestry the determination of tree age is useful to identify the
chronology of parks and gardens to forecast future tree size and threats associated with
increasing age and to identify individuals of particular conservation value Dendroclima-
tology one of the sub-disciplines of dendrochronology enables the identification of both
tree age and relationships between ring width and climatic variables In areas where a
particular tree species is suitably responsive and long-lived andor where past wood is
recoverable the discipline may enable climate records to be reconstructed at annual
resolution centuries before instrumental data are available In the British Isles the climatic
relationships of few tree species other than oak (Kelly Leuschner Briffa amp Harris 2002)
Scots Pine (Briffa et al 2001 Moir Leroy amp Helama 2011) yew (Moir 1999) and elm
(Brett 1978) have been examined All these genera have well-defined rings suitable for
tree-ring analysis Lime (Tilia spp) has not been previously dendroclimatologically
analysed This is possibly because it is only rarely found in old buildings and it has a
tendency to decay rapidly if damp Furthermore lime trees over 350ndash400 years of age are
typically hollow (Pigott 1989)
At the northern limits of its range in theLakeDistrict ofEngland limehasbeenconsidered
a relict species due to its limited production of fertile seeds and pollen evidence of decline
after 3100 year BC (Pigott ampHuntley 1980) The small-leaved lime (Tilia cordataMill) and
q 2013 Taylor amp Francis and Aboricultural Association
Corresponding author Email akmoirtree-ringcouk
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 2013
httpdxdoiorg101080030713752013783173
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large-leaved lime (Tilia platyphyllos Scop) species are both native to the UK but are near the
northern limits of their European ranges Small-leaved lime is essentially a continental species
known to require summer temperatures$208C at flowering for several consecutive days to
produce viable seed (Pigott amp Huntley 1981) It has had difficulty growing from seed in the
UK under contemporary climatic conditions but suitable conditions to permit fertilization
may have been more prevalent during the medieval warm period (Pigott 1989) Recently
Gray andGrist (2000) reported the natural regeneration of lime as far north as Perth Scotland
Large-leaved lime is nationally a scarce tree (Newlands 1999)Where both small- and large-
leaved limes occur they can hybridise resulting in common lime (Tilia pound europaeaL)which
is also a widely planted ornamental tree
Limes (Tilia spp) are one of the tallest broad-leaved trees inmost areas of Great Britain
They can achieve a height of 35ndash40m a diameter of 100ndash300 cm and live up to 1000 years
(Mayer 1977) Multi-stemmed self-coppicing limes can live much longer (Pigott 1993)
Lime trees have played a major role as an architectural element in gardens in many
European countries since the late seventeenth century Owing to their aesthetic value lime
trees have become increasingly important in urban and open landscape in recent decades
The avenues of a double row of lime trees on both sides of the Long Water at Hampton
Court Palace UK form the central feature of a great baroque patte drsquooie layout (Figures 1
and 2) This was originally commissioned by King Charles II soon after his restoration in
AD1660 It is the finest surviving example of its kind inGreat Britain The following history
of the lime trees at Hampton Court is summarised from a report by Gough (2000) Adrian
May a royal gardener purchased a consignment of 758 common limes fromHolland which
were planted in AD 1661 The average life expectancy of a European lime tree is 200ndash250
years so the LongWater avenuewas in its prime at the beginning ofQueenVictoriarsquos reign
A policy of gapping up those trees in the avenue which had perished was largely
unsuccessful due to competition with older trees Many trees used in gaps were also a
different species of lime or planted in the wrong positions which resulted in a gap-toothed
canopy The 1987 hurricane in Southern England affected the LongWater avenue badly By
2000 the original population of 544 trees had dwindled to 300 with only 7 original tree
specimens remaining The original trees were also a cause of problems as disease
(particularly several types of bracket fungus) and old age had left them in a dangerous
condition
In 2003 the lime trees of the royal palace park in Hampton Court were felled (Figure 2)
to allow the replanting and restoration of the avenues which presented a useful opportunity
for dendroclimatological and dendrochronological analysis Indeed on one hand lime
should be considered if it has the potential to become a new proxy for estimating global
change on the other hand the dating of old lime trees will contribute to the corpus of
knowledge on gardens of a historically significant place The aims of this research were (1)
to establish the ages of the trees sampled (2) to establish relationships between the radial
growth and meteorological climate records (3) to identify whether lime might be a useful
species in dendrochronology and (4) to interpret the ages of the sampled trees into the
cultural landscape of Hampton Court
Materials and methods
Sampling and chronology building
Full trunk sections were sawn by operators at Hampton Court typically from 20 to 30 cm
above the ground level For practical reasons V-section samples were cut across the widest
diameter to provide two radii for measurement (Figure 3) Standard dendrochronological
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techniques were then utilised for sample preparation measurement cross-matching and
dating (Stokes amp Smiley 1968) Cross-matches are reported using raw ring-width data and
the standard Studentrsquos t-value statistic Those t-values in excess of 35 are accepted as
significant where supported by visual comparison
Growth rates
Tree-ring series commonly contain age trend caused by the general reduction in the ring
width as trees get progressively older and pass through the formative mature and senescent
phases of growth (White 1998) For useful visual comparison between tree growth rates
cumulative plots were produced to help emphasise the underlying biological age growth
trend (Figure 4)
Figure 1 Map of Western Europe showing the location of Hampton Court
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 3
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Dendroclimatic analysis
The series were standardised (a process to remove age trends) using ARSTAN software
(Cook Briffa ShiyatovampMazepa 1990) andwere detrended using a negative exponential
curve or linear regression with power transformation (Cook amp Peters 1997) to reduce
potential end-effect inflation of resultant indices The chronology statistics generated from
the standardised series are described in Table 1 Mean sensitivity is a measure of the mean
relative change between adjacent ring widths (Fritts 1976) Values over 030 are high and
indicate that the tree-ring series are highly responsive to environmental factors while low
Figure 3 A V-section sample cut from a full section
Figure 2 A standing and felled lime tree along the Long Water at Hampton Court Palace UK
4 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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values indicate weak inter-annual variance The expressed population signal (EPS)
(Wigley Briffa amp Jones 1984) measures the degree to which the chronology correlates (or
agrees) with a theoretical population chronology The value of EPS ranges from 0 to 1 with
1 being the best possible value (the hypothetically perfect chronology)
Growthndashclimate relationships were examined using correlation functions as a
statistical model to compute coefficients between tree-ring chronologies and monthly
climatic variables (Blasing Solomon amp Duvick 1984) These coefficients are univariate
estimates of Pearsonrsquos product moment correlation Correlation function analyses and
moving interval correlation function analysis were carried out using DENDROCLIM2002
software (Biondi amp Waikul 2004) which tests significance at the 005 level A 14-
month analysis period extending from September in the year before growth to October of
the year of growth was selected Residual tree-ring chronologies (which have proved to
Figure 4 Cumulative plot tree rings
Table 1 General statistics of lime chronologies from the arstan standard chronology
File name MS AR1 R(bt) SNR EPS
HPLIME 033 029 067 1599 094
Note Common interval frac14 1910ndash1990 MS mean sensitivity AR1 first-order autocorrelation R(bt) betweenseries correlation SNR signal to noise ratio EPS expressed population signal
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yield more climatic information and minimise autocorrelation) were used with monthly
maximum temperature minimum temperature and precipitation as predictors Monthly
temperature and rainfall series for Kew (a meteorological station 95 km south west of
Hampton Court) were used in this analysis (Wales-Smith 1980) Temperature and rainfall
can be intercorrelated causing an apparent negative association between temperature and
ring width when using correlation to examine climatendashgrowth relationships as
highlighted by Fritts (1976) To help resolve this problem response function analysis
(which transforms the predictor variables into uncorrelated principal components) was
also carried out using DENDROCLIM2002 However as response coefficients tend to be
lower than correlation coefficients the results are only summarised
Results
Chronology
The results of the cross-matching between 25 samples against both oak and yew reference
chronologies are described below The trees sections were generally quite circular in form
and showed no signs of hollowing Pith was recovered in all cases Twenty-five out of the
30 samples (83) were successfully measured and cross-matched Nineteen series were
from common lime and four from large-leaved lime Two samples were labelled with the
same number and therefore could only be established as Tilia spp The 25 cross-matched
together were used to form a chronology called HPLIME which spans 1866ndash2003 The
annual resolution of this tree-ring series is confirmed by cross-matching against both oak
and yew existing reference chronologies (Table 2) The rings in years 19491950 1964
and 1985 were the narrowest rings and most commonly missing Instances of missing rings
were more frequent in older trees ie after the first 80 years of growth In five series where
the rings to bark could not be reliably measured it was calculated that a missing ring
occurred on average once every 12 years suggesting a 12 underestimation of tree age
from ring counts in lime trees over 50 years of age
Growth rates and age
The ages and girths of the 25 cross-matched trees (Figure 4) together with five ring
counted trees are plotted in Figure 5 and the following regression equation is calculated
as follows
AGE frac14 10577 pound GIRTH ethin mTHORN2 11672 ethStandard error frac14 3125THORN
Prior to c 1898 only common lime hybrids appear to have been planted However
after c 1898 both common limes and large-leaved limes are shown to have been planted
The three oldest trees used in this equation could not be reliably measured but were ring
counted to be 312 269 and 250 years of age The oldest tree is therefore estimated to have
been growing since at least 1691 However assuming that it was one of the original limes
planted in 1661 this suggests an underestimation by ring counting of around 10 adding
further evidence of a 10ndash12 underestimation of age of lime trees from ring counts Plots
of cumulative ring width show no common differences in the radial growth rates of the two
species of lime in this study The mean formative growth rate is 384mmyear21 and
the transition between formative and mature growth occurs after 50 years of growth
(Figure 4) A mature growth rate of 325mmyear21 is applicable to trees between 50 and
100 years of age These results confirm that very few of the trees originally planted in 1661
survived
6 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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Growthndashclimate relationships
The statistical parameters of the standardised chronologies developed are shown in
Table 2 Mean sensitivity the relative change in ring widths from 1 year to the next (high-
frequency signal) is 033 which is high in comparison to values for oak Scots Pine and
yew in the UK First-order autocorrelation a measure of the influence of the previous
yearrsquos growth on the current year (Fritts 1976) is low (029) indicating little persistence
from one yearrsquos growth to the next The EPS value is 094 which is above a 085 value
suggested by Wigley et al (1984) as reasonably strong and suitable for climatic studies
Rainfall in the summer months of May June and August was shown by correlation
analysis to be the strongest determinant of ring width in lime (Figure 6) A positive
relationship between lime growth and rainfall also occurred in winter relating to the
previous November Moving correlation analysis shows that the relationships with
precipitation in May June and the previous November are time stable (Figure 7)
However precipitation in April and July ceased to be a significant factor in growth from
around the 1980s onwards while precipitation in August became significant Correlations
between ring growth and temperature are not time stable (Figure 7)
Discussion
The dendrochronology of lime
This study identifies that lime series cross-matched together and usefully against existing
chronologies of oak and yew It is important not only for estimating the ages of lime trees that
could not successfully be cross-matched but also for estimating the age of standing trees that
Table 2 Cross-matches of HPLIME chronology with oak and yew reference chronologies
File nameStartdate
Enddate t-Value
Overlap(years) Species
Chronology andshort reference
SEYEW11 AD1719 AD2009 702 138 Yew Churchyards of SE England(Moir in preparation)
YATLY-WW AD1829 AD2003 695 138 Oak Wych Wood ndash Yateley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
HPYEW92 AD1690 AD1992 622 127 Yew Hampton Court Palance ndash GTLondon (Moir 1999)
SLG AD1764 AD1993 621 128 Oak Scarles Grove ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
EVSLY-BR AD1815 AD2003 606 138 Oak Brick House ndash Eversley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
SWW AD1806 AD1992 599 127 Oak Southwell Lane ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HERWOR2 AD1729 AD1969 591 104 Oak Hereford and Cumberland (Sie-benlist-Kerner 1978)
BRIT002 AD1754 AD1979 572 114 Oak Bath ndash Avon (Pilcher unpub-lished)
MSC AD1820 AD1995 550 130 Oak Mendhams Corner ndash ScotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HVYEW00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Yew Happy Valley ndash Coulsdon ndashLondon (North 2000)
HVOAK00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Oak Coulsdon ndash London (North2000)
COBHAM AD1770 AD2001 513 136 Oak Cobham ndash Kent (Arnold et al2003)
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 7
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can only be girthmeasured (Figures 4 and 5) The likelymaximumandminimum limits of age
for a given radius of a standing tree can be identified from Figure 4 This study confirms a
relatively short lifespan of maiden lime trees in formal avenues Only 1 of the 30 lime trees
sampled could be a survivor from the original planting in 1661 Although not shown here the
earliest campaign of re-planting probably occurred c 1898 (Moir 1996) which suggests that
trees in the avenue had started to die off around 230 years after the original planting It is also
of interest that only after c 1898 large-leaved limes were used in the avenues Whether it
might be possible to extend the 138-year long lime chronology established back further in
time is not clear but the population of ancient lime trees in the north of England (Pigott 1989)
could hold the potential to produce millennium-long chronologies
Insufficient samples of large-leaved limes were available to establish a useful
chronology to identify possible differences in correlations with climate between this
species and hybrids However as cross-matching and growth rates showed no clear
differences all the samples were combined in this analysis A similar approach is typically
Figure 5 Plot of girth against tree age
Figure 6 Correlation functions of the residual chronology with monthly maximum temperature(T-max) minimum temperature (T-min) and precipitation (Prec) Correlations are for an 80-yearperiod (1911ndash1990) Note none of the relationships shown were found to be significant by responsefunction analysis
8 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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applied in the dendrochronological analysis of British oaks (Quercus robur L) and Sessile
Oaks (Quercus petraea) where samples from these two species are usually combined
Some problems in the analysis of lime were encountered in ring boundary
identification and the occurrence of missing rings in older trees Lime appears to be an
intermediate between diffuse-porous and ring-porous tree species The start of each ring is
defined by a ring of xylem parenchyma (Pigott 1989) but these boundaries are often
poorly distinguished In particular narrow rings the boundary was not always present
which can make the identification of an annual ring difficult The width of rings also varied
considerably narrow rings tended to be ldquolocally missingrdquo (ie visible around only part of
the circumference) but ldquofalse ringrdquo boundaries could also occur within a ring (parallel to
the ring boundary) and are difficult to distinguish from true ring boundaries The first 10ndash
20 rings of growth were found to be particularly prone to very narrow rings and so they
could not be reliably measured and were only counted
Physiological relationships with climate
Correlation between ring growth and rainfall in May June and August rainfall is positive
which indicates that higher rainfall tends to lead to the development of wider rings and
conversely lower rainfall leads to narrower rings (probably through water stress) Low
precipitation limiting the radial growth during the growing season is a relationship that
lime shares with yew (Moir et al 2011) and oak
Maximum and minimum temperatures in January indicate that lower mean temperatures
in January are unfavourable for the radial growth in lime Maximum temperatures in March
are unexpectedly shown to have negative relationships with ring width and the absence of
a corresponding correlationwithminimum temperature inMarch suggests that above average
early spring temperature is unfavourable for radial growth in lime A physiological
mechanism for this relationship may be that premature loss of winter hardiness followed by
freezing kills or injures expanding tender tissues such as buds flowers leaves and shoots
Moving correlation analysis shows that these relationships start from 1980 for January and
1962 forMarch temperatures Taking into account the 80-year base length of the analysis this
indicates that they have become significant since the 1940s and 1920s respectively Losses of
Figure 7 Contour map showing moving correlation values of climatic variables against HPLIMEring-width indices A moving 80-year base length over the period 1872ndash1997 is used only the lastyear of the interval coefficients significant at a level of (p 005) and months that show $9consecutive years of values in the HPLIME chronology are shown Months in CAPS identify those inthe year prior to ring growth
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 9
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correlations between ring width and maximum temperatures in April and precipitation in
March and April are also shown to occur around this period from the 1930s While these
observed changes in correlations could relate to the effects of climate change they might
equally be responses to changed age and species composition in the chronology Other
environmental factors such as competition between trees might also be involved
Future research
Apremise of tree-ring studies has long been held that treesmore sensitive to temperature tend
to be found in the high latitudes andor altitudes near their climatically determined limits of
distribution (Fritts 1976) Therefore the sampling of lime trees planted further north is
important to establish a relationship between radial growth and climate near the limits of
limesrsquo range Lime trees have potential to become a useful indicator species for global
warming at high latitudes (Chen Hill Ohlemuller amp Thomas 2011) Radoglou et al (2008)
showed that lime trees grow faster in the first 50 years of life than beech but by the age of 100
years beech stands yield about 30 more than lime Additional research on Tilia might be
considered useful to help predict their future yields and effects under a climate-warming
scenario
The potential to acquire samples useful for dendrochronological analysis by the
cutting of V-sections from the stumps of previously felled trees is highlighted V-
sectioning from where the radii were widest helped overcome the problem of missing rings
in this study and this could be a useful method to gain material for dendrochronological
studies from the stumps left of old trees of all species
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Hampton Court Palace UK We are grateful to Graham Dillamore forthe collection and transportation of samples Donald Pigott and Rikard Andersson made usefulcomments that helped improve this paper
Notes on contributors
Andy K Moir is Director of Tree-Ring Services and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Institutefor the Environment at Brunel University He has worked on the tree-ring analysis of trees andtimber-framed buildings for over 20 years
Suzanne AG Leroy is Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences at Brunel University Herresearch focuses on palaeoclimates palaeoecology and the reconstruction of past natural hazards
References
Arnold A J Howard R E Laxton R R amp Litton C D (2003) Tree-ring analysis of timbersfrom Cobham Hall Cobham Kent English Heritage Centre for Archaeol Rep 502003
Biondi F amp Waikul K (2004) Dendroclime2002 A Cthornthorn program for statistical calibration ofclimate signals in tree-ring chronologies Computer amp Geosciences 30 303ndash311
Blasing T J Solomon A M amp Duvick D N (1984) Response functions revisited Tree-ringBulletin 44 1ndash15
Brett D W (1978) Elm tree rings as a rainfall record Weather 33 87ndash94Briffa K R Osborn T J Schweingruber F H Harris I C Jones P D Shiyatov S G amp
Vaganov E A (2001) Low-frequency temperature variations from a northern tree ring densitynetwork Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 106(D3) 2929ndash2941
Chen I-C Hill J K Ohlemuller R amp Thomas C D (2011) Rapid range shifts of speciesassociated with high levels of climate warming Science 333 1024ndash1026
10 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
Dow
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by [
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vers
ity O
f M
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urne
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rari
es]
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3
Cook E R Briffa K R Shiyatov S G ampMazepa V (1990) Tree-ring standardization and growth-trend estimation In E R Cook amp L A Kairiukstis (Eds) Methods of dendrochronologyApplications in the environmental science Dordrecht Kluwer Academic
Cook E R amp Peters K (1997) Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic andenvironmental change The Holocene 7(3) 361ndash370
Fritts H C (1976) Tree rings and climate New York NY Academic PressGough T (2000) A restoration plan for the Long Water Avenue Hampton Court Place London
Internal Report for the Gardens amp Estate Managers Hampton Court PalaceGray R K S amp Grist N R (2000) Natural regeneration of limes (Tilia spp) in Scotland Locally
widespread and more numerous in 1999 Glasgow Naturalist 23 13ndash16Kelly P M Leuschner H-H Briffa K R amp Harris I C (2002) The climatic interpretation of
pan-European signature years in oak ring-width series The Holocene 12 689ndash695Mayer H (1977) Waldbau auf soziologisch-okologischer Grundlage Stuttgart Gustav Fisher
VerlagMoir A K (1996) A dendrochronological analysis of 9 oak compartments from the Sotterley
Estate Suffolk England An interim report Hungerford Tree-Ring ServicesMoir A K (1999) The dendrochronological potential of modern yew (Taxus baccata) with special
reference to yew from Hampton Court Palace UK New Phytologist 144(3) 479ndash488Moir A K Leroy S A G amp Helama S (2011) Role of substrate on the dendroclimatic response
of Scots pine from varying elevations in Northern Scotland Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 41 822ndash838
Newlands C D (1999) Habitats and rare plants of the Durham and Southern Magnesian Limestonenatural areas with reference to the SSSI series Naturalist 124 23ndash27
North D (2000) A dendrochronological investigation into yew (Taxus baccata) trees on the NorthDowns Greater London (Unpublished MSc thesis) University of Greenwich Greenwich
Pigott C D (1989) Estimation of the age of lime trees (Tilia spp) in parklands from stem diameterand ring counts Arboricultural Journal 13 289ndash302
Pigott C D (1993) The history and ecology of Ancient woodlands In P Beswick I D Rotherhamamp J Parsons (Eds) Ancient woodlands Their archaeology and ecology ndash A coincidence ofinterest Also published in Landscape Archaeology and Ecology 1 1ndash11
Pigott CDampHuntley J P (1980) Factors controlling the distributionofTilia cordata at the northernlimits of its geographical range II History in north-west EnglandNew Phytologist 84 145ndash164
Pigott C D amp Huntley J P (1981) Factors controlling the distribution of Tilia cordata at thenorthern limits of its geographical range III Nature and causes of seed sterility NewPhytologist 87 817ndash839
Radoglou K Dobrowolska D Spyroglou G amp Nicolecu V N (2008) A review on the ecologyand silviculture of limes (Tilia cordata Mill Tilia platyphyllos Scop and Tilia tomentosaMoench) in Europe (pp 1ndash29) Retrieved from httpwwwvalbrouni-freiburgde
Siebenlist-Kerner V (1978) The chronology 1341ndash1636 for certain hillside oaks from WesternEngland and Wales In J M Fletcher (Ed) Dendrochronology in Europe Vol 51 BAR Int Ser(pp 295ndash301) Oxford Archeopress
Stokes M A amp Smiley T L (1968) An introduction to tree ring dating Chicago University ofChicago Press
Wales-Smith B G (1980) Revised monthly and annual totals of rainfall representative of KewSurrey and an updated analysis for 1697ndash1976 Meteorological Office HydrologicalMemorandum 43
Wigley T M L Briffa K R amp Jones P D (1984) On the average value of correlated time-serieswith applications in Dendroclimatology and Hydrometeorology Journal of Climate and AppliedMeteorology 23(2) 201ndash213
White J E J (1998) Estimating the age of large and veteran trees in Britain Forestry CommissionInformation Note 250
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 11
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large-leaved lime (Tilia platyphyllos Scop) species are both native to the UK but are near the
northern limits of their European ranges Small-leaved lime is essentially a continental species
known to require summer temperatures$208C at flowering for several consecutive days to
produce viable seed (Pigott amp Huntley 1981) It has had difficulty growing from seed in the
UK under contemporary climatic conditions but suitable conditions to permit fertilization
may have been more prevalent during the medieval warm period (Pigott 1989) Recently
Gray andGrist (2000) reported the natural regeneration of lime as far north as Perth Scotland
Large-leaved lime is nationally a scarce tree (Newlands 1999)Where both small- and large-
leaved limes occur they can hybridise resulting in common lime (Tilia pound europaeaL)which
is also a widely planted ornamental tree
Limes (Tilia spp) are one of the tallest broad-leaved trees inmost areas of Great Britain
They can achieve a height of 35ndash40m a diameter of 100ndash300 cm and live up to 1000 years
(Mayer 1977) Multi-stemmed self-coppicing limes can live much longer (Pigott 1993)
Lime trees have played a major role as an architectural element in gardens in many
European countries since the late seventeenth century Owing to their aesthetic value lime
trees have become increasingly important in urban and open landscape in recent decades
The avenues of a double row of lime trees on both sides of the Long Water at Hampton
Court Palace UK form the central feature of a great baroque patte drsquooie layout (Figures 1
and 2) This was originally commissioned by King Charles II soon after his restoration in
AD1660 It is the finest surviving example of its kind inGreat Britain The following history
of the lime trees at Hampton Court is summarised from a report by Gough (2000) Adrian
May a royal gardener purchased a consignment of 758 common limes fromHolland which
were planted in AD 1661 The average life expectancy of a European lime tree is 200ndash250
years so the LongWater avenuewas in its prime at the beginning ofQueenVictoriarsquos reign
A policy of gapping up those trees in the avenue which had perished was largely
unsuccessful due to competition with older trees Many trees used in gaps were also a
different species of lime or planted in the wrong positions which resulted in a gap-toothed
canopy The 1987 hurricane in Southern England affected the LongWater avenue badly By
2000 the original population of 544 trees had dwindled to 300 with only 7 original tree
specimens remaining The original trees were also a cause of problems as disease
(particularly several types of bracket fungus) and old age had left them in a dangerous
condition
In 2003 the lime trees of the royal palace park in Hampton Court were felled (Figure 2)
to allow the replanting and restoration of the avenues which presented a useful opportunity
for dendroclimatological and dendrochronological analysis Indeed on one hand lime
should be considered if it has the potential to become a new proxy for estimating global
change on the other hand the dating of old lime trees will contribute to the corpus of
knowledge on gardens of a historically significant place The aims of this research were (1)
to establish the ages of the trees sampled (2) to establish relationships between the radial
growth and meteorological climate records (3) to identify whether lime might be a useful
species in dendrochronology and (4) to interpret the ages of the sampled trees into the
cultural landscape of Hampton Court
Materials and methods
Sampling and chronology building
Full trunk sections were sawn by operators at Hampton Court typically from 20 to 30 cm
above the ground level For practical reasons V-section samples were cut across the widest
diameter to provide two radii for measurement (Figure 3) Standard dendrochronological
2 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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techniques were then utilised for sample preparation measurement cross-matching and
dating (Stokes amp Smiley 1968) Cross-matches are reported using raw ring-width data and
the standard Studentrsquos t-value statistic Those t-values in excess of 35 are accepted as
significant where supported by visual comparison
Growth rates
Tree-ring series commonly contain age trend caused by the general reduction in the ring
width as trees get progressively older and pass through the formative mature and senescent
phases of growth (White 1998) For useful visual comparison between tree growth rates
cumulative plots were produced to help emphasise the underlying biological age growth
trend (Figure 4)
Figure 1 Map of Western Europe showing the location of Hampton Court
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 3
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Dendroclimatic analysis
The series were standardised (a process to remove age trends) using ARSTAN software
(Cook Briffa ShiyatovampMazepa 1990) andwere detrended using a negative exponential
curve or linear regression with power transformation (Cook amp Peters 1997) to reduce
potential end-effect inflation of resultant indices The chronology statistics generated from
the standardised series are described in Table 1 Mean sensitivity is a measure of the mean
relative change between adjacent ring widths (Fritts 1976) Values over 030 are high and
indicate that the tree-ring series are highly responsive to environmental factors while low
Figure 3 A V-section sample cut from a full section
Figure 2 A standing and felled lime tree along the Long Water at Hampton Court Palace UK
4 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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values indicate weak inter-annual variance The expressed population signal (EPS)
(Wigley Briffa amp Jones 1984) measures the degree to which the chronology correlates (or
agrees) with a theoretical population chronology The value of EPS ranges from 0 to 1 with
1 being the best possible value (the hypothetically perfect chronology)
Growthndashclimate relationships were examined using correlation functions as a
statistical model to compute coefficients between tree-ring chronologies and monthly
climatic variables (Blasing Solomon amp Duvick 1984) These coefficients are univariate
estimates of Pearsonrsquos product moment correlation Correlation function analyses and
moving interval correlation function analysis were carried out using DENDROCLIM2002
software (Biondi amp Waikul 2004) which tests significance at the 005 level A 14-
month analysis period extending from September in the year before growth to October of
the year of growth was selected Residual tree-ring chronologies (which have proved to
Figure 4 Cumulative plot tree rings
Table 1 General statistics of lime chronologies from the arstan standard chronology
File name MS AR1 R(bt) SNR EPS
HPLIME 033 029 067 1599 094
Note Common interval frac14 1910ndash1990 MS mean sensitivity AR1 first-order autocorrelation R(bt) betweenseries correlation SNR signal to noise ratio EPS expressed population signal
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 5
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yield more climatic information and minimise autocorrelation) were used with monthly
maximum temperature minimum temperature and precipitation as predictors Monthly
temperature and rainfall series for Kew (a meteorological station 95 km south west of
Hampton Court) were used in this analysis (Wales-Smith 1980) Temperature and rainfall
can be intercorrelated causing an apparent negative association between temperature and
ring width when using correlation to examine climatendashgrowth relationships as
highlighted by Fritts (1976) To help resolve this problem response function analysis
(which transforms the predictor variables into uncorrelated principal components) was
also carried out using DENDROCLIM2002 However as response coefficients tend to be
lower than correlation coefficients the results are only summarised
Results
Chronology
The results of the cross-matching between 25 samples against both oak and yew reference
chronologies are described below The trees sections were generally quite circular in form
and showed no signs of hollowing Pith was recovered in all cases Twenty-five out of the
30 samples (83) were successfully measured and cross-matched Nineteen series were
from common lime and four from large-leaved lime Two samples were labelled with the
same number and therefore could only be established as Tilia spp The 25 cross-matched
together were used to form a chronology called HPLIME which spans 1866ndash2003 The
annual resolution of this tree-ring series is confirmed by cross-matching against both oak
and yew existing reference chronologies (Table 2) The rings in years 19491950 1964
and 1985 were the narrowest rings and most commonly missing Instances of missing rings
were more frequent in older trees ie after the first 80 years of growth In five series where
the rings to bark could not be reliably measured it was calculated that a missing ring
occurred on average once every 12 years suggesting a 12 underestimation of tree age
from ring counts in lime trees over 50 years of age
Growth rates and age
The ages and girths of the 25 cross-matched trees (Figure 4) together with five ring
counted trees are plotted in Figure 5 and the following regression equation is calculated
as follows
AGE frac14 10577 pound GIRTH ethin mTHORN2 11672 ethStandard error frac14 3125THORN
Prior to c 1898 only common lime hybrids appear to have been planted However
after c 1898 both common limes and large-leaved limes are shown to have been planted
The three oldest trees used in this equation could not be reliably measured but were ring
counted to be 312 269 and 250 years of age The oldest tree is therefore estimated to have
been growing since at least 1691 However assuming that it was one of the original limes
planted in 1661 this suggests an underestimation by ring counting of around 10 adding
further evidence of a 10ndash12 underestimation of age of lime trees from ring counts Plots
of cumulative ring width show no common differences in the radial growth rates of the two
species of lime in this study The mean formative growth rate is 384mmyear21 and
the transition between formative and mature growth occurs after 50 years of growth
(Figure 4) A mature growth rate of 325mmyear21 is applicable to trees between 50 and
100 years of age These results confirm that very few of the trees originally planted in 1661
survived
6 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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Growthndashclimate relationships
The statistical parameters of the standardised chronologies developed are shown in
Table 2 Mean sensitivity the relative change in ring widths from 1 year to the next (high-
frequency signal) is 033 which is high in comparison to values for oak Scots Pine and
yew in the UK First-order autocorrelation a measure of the influence of the previous
yearrsquos growth on the current year (Fritts 1976) is low (029) indicating little persistence
from one yearrsquos growth to the next The EPS value is 094 which is above a 085 value
suggested by Wigley et al (1984) as reasonably strong and suitable for climatic studies
Rainfall in the summer months of May June and August was shown by correlation
analysis to be the strongest determinant of ring width in lime (Figure 6) A positive
relationship between lime growth and rainfall also occurred in winter relating to the
previous November Moving correlation analysis shows that the relationships with
precipitation in May June and the previous November are time stable (Figure 7)
However precipitation in April and July ceased to be a significant factor in growth from
around the 1980s onwards while precipitation in August became significant Correlations
between ring growth and temperature are not time stable (Figure 7)
Discussion
The dendrochronology of lime
This study identifies that lime series cross-matched together and usefully against existing
chronologies of oak and yew It is important not only for estimating the ages of lime trees that
could not successfully be cross-matched but also for estimating the age of standing trees that
Table 2 Cross-matches of HPLIME chronology with oak and yew reference chronologies
File nameStartdate
Enddate t-Value
Overlap(years) Species
Chronology andshort reference
SEYEW11 AD1719 AD2009 702 138 Yew Churchyards of SE England(Moir in preparation)
YATLY-WW AD1829 AD2003 695 138 Oak Wych Wood ndash Yateley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
HPYEW92 AD1690 AD1992 622 127 Yew Hampton Court Palance ndash GTLondon (Moir 1999)
SLG AD1764 AD1993 621 128 Oak Scarles Grove ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
EVSLY-BR AD1815 AD2003 606 138 Oak Brick House ndash Eversley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
SWW AD1806 AD1992 599 127 Oak Southwell Lane ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HERWOR2 AD1729 AD1969 591 104 Oak Hereford and Cumberland (Sie-benlist-Kerner 1978)
BRIT002 AD1754 AD1979 572 114 Oak Bath ndash Avon (Pilcher unpub-lished)
MSC AD1820 AD1995 550 130 Oak Mendhams Corner ndash ScotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HVYEW00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Yew Happy Valley ndash Coulsdon ndashLondon (North 2000)
HVOAK00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Oak Coulsdon ndash London (North2000)
COBHAM AD1770 AD2001 513 136 Oak Cobham ndash Kent (Arnold et al2003)
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 7
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can only be girthmeasured (Figures 4 and 5) The likelymaximumandminimum limits of age
for a given radius of a standing tree can be identified from Figure 4 This study confirms a
relatively short lifespan of maiden lime trees in formal avenues Only 1 of the 30 lime trees
sampled could be a survivor from the original planting in 1661 Although not shown here the
earliest campaign of re-planting probably occurred c 1898 (Moir 1996) which suggests that
trees in the avenue had started to die off around 230 years after the original planting It is also
of interest that only after c 1898 large-leaved limes were used in the avenues Whether it
might be possible to extend the 138-year long lime chronology established back further in
time is not clear but the population of ancient lime trees in the north of England (Pigott 1989)
could hold the potential to produce millennium-long chronologies
Insufficient samples of large-leaved limes were available to establish a useful
chronology to identify possible differences in correlations with climate between this
species and hybrids However as cross-matching and growth rates showed no clear
differences all the samples were combined in this analysis A similar approach is typically
Figure 5 Plot of girth against tree age
Figure 6 Correlation functions of the residual chronology with monthly maximum temperature(T-max) minimum temperature (T-min) and precipitation (Prec) Correlations are for an 80-yearperiod (1911ndash1990) Note none of the relationships shown were found to be significant by responsefunction analysis
8 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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applied in the dendrochronological analysis of British oaks (Quercus robur L) and Sessile
Oaks (Quercus petraea) where samples from these two species are usually combined
Some problems in the analysis of lime were encountered in ring boundary
identification and the occurrence of missing rings in older trees Lime appears to be an
intermediate between diffuse-porous and ring-porous tree species The start of each ring is
defined by a ring of xylem parenchyma (Pigott 1989) but these boundaries are often
poorly distinguished In particular narrow rings the boundary was not always present
which can make the identification of an annual ring difficult The width of rings also varied
considerably narrow rings tended to be ldquolocally missingrdquo (ie visible around only part of
the circumference) but ldquofalse ringrdquo boundaries could also occur within a ring (parallel to
the ring boundary) and are difficult to distinguish from true ring boundaries The first 10ndash
20 rings of growth were found to be particularly prone to very narrow rings and so they
could not be reliably measured and were only counted
Physiological relationships with climate
Correlation between ring growth and rainfall in May June and August rainfall is positive
which indicates that higher rainfall tends to lead to the development of wider rings and
conversely lower rainfall leads to narrower rings (probably through water stress) Low
precipitation limiting the radial growth during the growing season is a relationship that
lime shares with yew (Moir et al 2011) and oak
Maximum and minimum temperatures in January indicate that lower mean temperatures
in January are unfavourable for the radial growth in lime Maximum temperatures in March
are unexpectedly shown to have negative relationships with ring width and the absence of
a corresponding correlationwithminimum temperature inMarch suggests that above average
early spring temperature is unfavourable for radial growth in lime A physiological
mechanism for this relationship may be that premature loss of winter hardiness followed by
freezing kills or injures expanding tender tissues such as buds flowers leaves and shoots
Moving correlation analysis shows that these relationships start from 1980 for January and
1962 forMarch temperatures Taking into account the 80-year base length of the analysis this
indicates that they have become significant since the 1940s and 1920s respectively Losses of
Figure 7 Contour map showing moving correlation values of climatic variables against HPLIMEring-width indices A moving 80-year base length over the period 1872ndash1997 is used only the lastyear of the interval coefficients significant at a level of (p 005) and months that show $9consecutive years of values in the HPLIME chronology are shown Months in CAPS identify those inthe year prior to ring growth
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 9
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correlations between ring width and maximum temperatures in April and precipitation in
March and April are also shown to occur around this period from the 1930s While these
observed changes in correlations could relate to the effects of climate change they might
equally be responses to changed age and species composition in the chronology Other
environmental factors such as competition between trees might also be involved
Future research
Apremise of tree-ring studies has long been held that treesmore sensitive to temperature tend
to be found in the high latitudes andor altitudes near their climatically determined limits of
distribution (Fritts 1976) Therefore the sampling of lime trees planted further north is
important to establish a relationship between radial growth and climate near the limits of
limesrsquo range Lime trees have potential to become a useful indicator species for global
warming at high latitudes (Chen Hill Ohlemuller amp Thomas 2011) Radoglou et al (2008)
showed that lime trees grow faster in the first 50 years of life than beech but by the age of 100
years beech stands yield about 30 more than lime Additional research on Tilia might be
considered useful to help predict their future yields and effects under a climate-warming
scenario
The potential to acquire samples useful for dendrochronological analysis by the
cutting of V-sections from the stumps of previously felled trees is highlighted V-
sectioning from where the radii were widest helped overcome the problem of missing rings
in this study and this could be a useful method to gain material for dendrochronological
studies from the stumps left of old trees of all species
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Hampton Court Palace UK We are grateful to Graham Dillamore forthe collection and transportation of samples Donald Pigott and Rikard Andersson made usefulcomments that helped improve this paper
Notes on contributors
Andy K Moir is Director of Tree-Ring Services and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Institutefor the Environment at Brunel University He has worked on the tree-ring analysis of trees andtimber-framed buildings for over 20 years
Suzanne AG Leroy is Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences at Brunel University Herresearch focuses on palaeoclimates palaeoecology and the reconstruction of past natural hazards
References
Arnold A J Howard R E Laxton R R amp Litton C D (2003) Tree-ring analysis of timbersfrom Cobham Hall Cobham Kent English Heritage Centre for Archaeol Rep 502003
Biondi F amp Waikul K (2004) Dendroclime2002 A Cthornthorn program for statistical calibration ofclimate signals in tree-ring chronologies Computer amp Geosciences 30 303ndash311
Blasing T J Solomon A M amp Duvick D N (1984) Response functions revisited Tree-ringBulletin 44 1ndash15
Brett D W (1978) Elm tree rings as a rainfall record Weather 33 87ndash94Briffa K R Osborn T J Schweingruber F H Harris I C Jones P D Shiyatov S G amp
Vaganov E A (2001) Low-frequency temperature variations from a northern tree ring densitynetwork Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 106(D3) 2929ndash2941
Chen I-C Hill J K Ohlemuller R amp Thomas C D (2011) Rapid range shifts of speciesassociated with high levels of climate warming Science 333 1024ndash1026
10 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
Dow
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ded
by [
The
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vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
Cook E R Briffa K R Shiyatov S G ampMazepa V (1990) Tree-ring standardization and growth-trend estimation In E R Cook amp L A Kairiukstis (Eds) Methods of dendrochronologyApplications in the environmental science Dordrecht Kluwer Academic
Cook E R amp Peters K (1997) Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic andenvironmental change The Holocene 7(3) 361ndash370
Fritts H C (1976) Tree rings and climate New York NY Academic PressGough T (2000) A restoration plan for the Long Water Avenue Hampton Court Place London
Internal Report for the Gardens amp Estate Managers Hampton Court PalaceGray R K S amp Grist N R (2000) Natural regeneration of limes (Tilia spp) in Scotland Locally
widespread and more numerous in 1999 Glasgow Naturalist 23 13ndash16Kelly P M Leuschner H-H Briffa K R amp Harris I C (2002) The climatic interpretation of
pan-European signature years in oak ring-width series The Holocene 12 689ndash695Mayer H (1977) Waldbau auf soziologisch-okologischer Grundlage Stuttgart Gustav Fisher
VerlagMoir A K (1996) A dendrochronological analysis of 9 oak compartments from the Sotterley
Estate Suffolk England An interim report Hungerford Tree-Ring ServicesMoir A K (1999) The dendrochronological potential of modern yew (Taxus baccata) with special
reference to yew from Hampton Court Palace UK New Phytologist 144(3) 479ndash488Moir A K Leroy S A G amp Helama S (2011) Role of substrate on the dendroclimatic response
of Scots pine from varying elevations in Northern Scotland Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 41 822ndash838
Newlands C D (1999) Habitats and rare plants of the Durham and Southern Magnesian Limestonenatural areas with reference to the SSSI series Naturalist 124 23ndash27
North D (2000) A dendrochronological investigation into yew (Taxus baccata) trees on the NorthDowns Greater London (Unpublished MSc thesis) University of Greenwich Greenwich
Pigott C D (1989) Estimation of the age of lime trees (Tilia spp) in parklands from stem diameterand ring counts Arboricultural Journal 13 289ndash302
Pigott C D (1993) The history and ecology of Ancient woodlands In P Beswick I D Rotherhamamp J Parsons (Eds) Ancient woodlands Their archaeology and ecology ndash A coincidence ofinterest Also published in Landscape Archaeology and Ecology 1 1ndash11
Pigott CDampHuntley J P (1980) Factors controlling the distributionofTilia cordata at the northernlimits of its geographical range II History in north-west EnglandNew Phytologist 84 145ndash164
Pigott C D amp Huntley J P (1981) Factors controlling the distribution of Tilia cordata at thenorthern limits of its geographical range III Nature and causes of seed sterility NewPhytologist 87 817ndash839
Radoglou K Dobrowolska D Spyroglou G amp Nicolecu V N (2008) A review on the ecologyand silviculture of limes (Tilia cordata Mill Tilia platyphyllos Scop and Tilia tomentosaMoench) in Europe (pp 1ndash29) Retrieved from httpwwwvalbrouni-freiburgde
Siebenlist-Kerner V (1978) The chronology 1341ndash1636 for certain hillside oaks from WesternEngland and Wales In J M Fletcher (Ed) Dendrochronology in Europe Vol 51 BAR Int Ser(pp 295ndash301) Oxford Archeopress
Stokes M A amp Smiley T L (1968) An introduction to tree ring dating Chicago University ofChicago Press
Wales-Smith B G (1980) Revised monthly and annual totals of rainfall representative of KewSurrey and an updated analysis for 1697ndash1976 Meteorological Office HydrologicalMemorandum 43
Wigley T M L Briffa K R amp Jones P D (1984) On the average value of correlated time-serieswith applications in Dendroclimatology and Hydrometeorology Journal of Climate and AppliedMeteorology 23(2) 201ndash213
White J E J (1998) Estimating the age of large and veteran trees in Britain Forestry CommissionInformation Note 250
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 11
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ity O
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techniques were then utilised for sample preparation measurement cross-matching and
dating (Stokes amp Smiley 1968) Cross-matches are reported using raw ring-width data and
the standard Studentrsquos t-value statistic Those t-values in excess of 35 are accepted as
significant where supported by visual comparison
Growth rates
Tree-ring series commonly contain age trend caused by the general reduction in the ring
width as trees get progressively older and pass through the formative mature and senescent
phases of growth (White 1998) For useful visual comparison between tree growth rates
cumulative plots were produced to help emphasise the underlying biological age growth
trend (Figure 4)
Figure 1 Map of Western Europe showing the location of Hampton Court
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 3
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by [
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Dendroclimatic analysis
The series were standardised (a process to remove age trends) using ARSTAN software
(Cook Briffa ShiyatovampMazepa 1990) andwere detrended using a negative exponential
curve or linear regression with power transformation (Cook amp Peters 1997) to reduce
potential end-effect inflation of resultant indices The chronology statistics generated from
the standardised series are described in Table 1 Mean sensitivity is a measure of the mean
relative change between adjacent ring widths (Fritts 1976) Values over 030 are high and
indicate that the tree-ring series are highly responsive to environmental factors while low
Figure 3 A V-section sample cut from a full section
Figure 2 A standing and felled lime tree along the Long Water at Hampton Court Palace UK
4 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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values indicate weak inter-annual variance The expressed population signal (EPS)
(Wigley Briffa amp Jones 1984) measures the degree to which the chronology correlates (or
agrees) with a theoretical population chronology The value of EPS ranges from 0 to 1 with
1 being the best possible value (the hypothetically perfect chronology)
Growthndashclimate relationships were examined using correlation functions as a
statistical model to compute coefficients between tree-ring chronologies and monthly
climatic variables (Blasing Solomon amp Duvick 1984) These coefficients are univariate
estimates of Pearsonrsquos product moment correlation Correlation function analyses and
moving interval correlation function analysis were carried out using DENDROCLIM2002
software (Biondi amp Waikul 2004) which tests significance at the 005 level A 14-
month analysis period extending from September in the year before growth to October of
the year of growth was selected Residual tree-ring chronologies (which have proved to
Figure 4 Cumulative plot tree rings
Table 1 General statistics of lime chronologies from the arstan standard chronology
File name MS AR1 R(bt) SNR EPS
HPLIME 033 029 067 1599 094
Note Common interval frac14 1910ndash1990 MS mean sensitivity AR1 first-order autocorrelation R(bt) betweenseries correlation SNR signal to noise ratio EPS expressed population signal
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 5
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201
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yield more climatic information and minimise autocorrelation) were used with monthly
maximum temperature minimum temperature and precipitation as predictors Monthly
temperature and rainfall series for Kew (a meteorological station 95 km south west of
Hampton Court) were used in this analysis (Wales-Smith 1980) Temperature and rainfall
can be intercorrelated causing an apparent negative association between temperature and
ring width when using correlation to examine climatendashgrowth relationships as
highlighted by Fritts (1976) To help resolve this problem response function analysis
(which transforms the predictor variables into uncorrelated principal components) was
also carried out using DENDROCLIM2002 However as response coefficients tend to be
lower than correlation coefficients the results are only summarised
Results
Chronology
The results of the cross-matching between 25 samples against both oak and yew reference
chronologies are described below The trees sections were generally quite circular in form
and showed no signs of hollowing Pith was recovered in all cases Twenty-five out of the
30 samples (83) were successfully measured and cross-matched Nineteen series were
from common lime and four from large-leaved lime Two samples were labelled with the
same number and therefore could only be established as Tilia spp The 25 cross-matched
together were used to form a chronology called HPLIME which spans 1866ndash2003 The
annual resolution of this tree-ring series is confirmed by cross-matching against both oak
and yew existing reference chronologies (Table 2) The rings in years 19491950 1964
and 1985 were the narrowest rings and most commonly missing Instances of missing rings
were more frequent in older trees ie after the first 80 years of growth In five series where
the rings to bark could not be reliably measured it was calculated that a missing ring
occurred on average once every 12 years suggesting a 12 underestimation of tree age
from ring counts in lime trees over 50 years of age
Growth rates and age
The ages and girths of the 25 cross-matched trees (Figure 4) together with five ring
counted trees are plotted in Figure 5 and the following regression equation is calculated
as follows
AGE frac14 10577 pound GIRTH ethin mTHORN2 11672 ethStandard error frac14 3125THORN
Prior to c 1898 only common lime hybrids appear to have been planted However
after c 1898 both common limes and large-leaved limes are shown to have been planted
The three oldest trees used in this equation could not be reliably measured but were ring
counted to be 312 269 and 250 years of age The oldest tree is therefore estimated to have
been growing since at least 1691 However assuming that it was one of the original limes
planted in 1661 this suggests an underestimation by ring counting of around 10 adding
further evidence of a 10ndash12 underestimation of age of lime trees from ring counts Plots
of cumulative ring width show no common differences in the radial growth rates of the two
species of lime in this study The mean formative growth rate is 384mmyear21 and
the transition between formative and mature growth occurs after 50 years of growth
(Figure 4) A mature growth rate of 325mmyear21 is applicable to trees between 50 and
100 years of age These results confirm that very few of the trees originally planted in 1661
survived
6 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
Dow
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ded
by [
The
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vers
ity O
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12
May
201
3
Growthndashclimate relationships
The statistical parameters of the standardised chronologies developed are shown in
Table 2 Mean sensitivity the relative change in ring widths from 1 year to the next (high-
frequency signal) is 033 which is high in comparison to values for oak Scots Pine and
yew in the UK First-order autocorrelation a measure of the influence of the previous
yearrsquos growth on the current year (Fritts 1976) is low (029) indicating little persistence
from one yearrsquos growth to the next The EPS value is 094 which is above a 085 value
suggested by Wigley et al (1984) as reasonably strong and suitable for climatic studies
Rainfall in the summer months of May June and August was shown by correlation
analysis to be the strongest determinant of ring width in lime (Figure 6) A positive
relationship between lime growth and rainfall also occurred in winter relating to the
previous November Moving correlation analysis shows that the relationships with
precipitation in May June and the previous November are time stable (Figure 7)
However precipitation in April and July ceased to be a significant factor in growth from
around the 1980s onwards while precipitation in August became significant Correlations
between ring growth and temperature are not time stable (Figure 7)
Discussion
The dendrochronology of lime
This study identifies that lime series cross-matched together and usefully against existing
chronologies of oak and yew It is important not only for estimating the ages of lime trees that
could not successfully be cross-matched but also for estimating the age of standing trees that
Table 2 Cross-matches of HPLIME chronology with oak and yew reference chronologies
File nameStartdate
Enddate t-Value
Overlap(years) Species
Chronology andshort reference
SEYEW11 AD1719 AD2009 702 138 Yew Churchyards of SE England(Moir in preparation)
YATLY-WW AD1829 AD2003 695 138 Oak Wych Wood ndash Yateley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
HPYEW92 AD1690 AD1992 622 127 Yew Hampton Court Palance ndash GTLondon (Moir 1999)
SLG AD1764 AD1993 621 128 Oak Scarles Grove ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
EVSLY-BR AD1815 AD2003 606 138 Oak Brick House ndash Eversley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
SWW AD1806 AD1992 599 127 Oak Southwell Lane ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HERWOR2 AD1729 AD1969 591 104 Oak Hereford and Cumberland (Sie-benlist-Kerner 1978)
BRIT002 AD1754 AD1979 572 114 Oak Bath ndash Avon (Pilcher unpub-lished)
MSC AD1820 AD1995 550 130 Oak Mendhams Corner ndash ScotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HVYEW00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Yew Happy Valley ndash Coulsdon ndashLondon (North 2000)
HVOAK00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Oak Coulsdon ndash London (North2000)
COBHAM AD1770 AD2001 513 136 Oak Cobham ndash Kent (Arnold et al2003)
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 7
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can only be girthmeasured (Figures 4 and 5) The likelymaximumandminimum limits of age
for a given radius of a standing tree can be identified from Figure 4 This study confirms a
relatively short lifespan of maiden lime trees in formal avenues Only 1 of the 30 lime trees
sampled could be a survivor from the original planting in 1661 Although not shown here the
earliest campaign of re-planting probably occurred c 1898 (Moir 1996) which suggests that
trees in the avenue had started to die off around 230 years after the original planting It is also
of interest that only after c 1898 large-leaved limes were used in the avenues Whether it
might be possible to extend the 138-year long lime chronology established back further in
time is not clear but the population of ancient lime trees in the north of England (Pigott 1989)
could hold the potential to produce millennium-long chronologies
Insufficient samples of large-leaved limes were available to establish a useful
chronology to identify possible differences in correlations with climate between this
species and hybrids However as cross-matching and growth rates showed no clear
differences all the samples were combined in this analysis A similar approach is typically
Figure 5 Plot of girth against tree age
Figure 6 Correlation functions of the residual chronology with monthly maximum temperature(T-max) minimum temperature (T-min) and precipitation (Prec) Correlations are for an 80-yearperiod (1911ndash1990) Note none of the relationships shown were found to be significant by responsefunction analysis
8 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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applied in the dendrochronological analysis of British oaks (Quercus robur L) and Sessile
Oaks (Quercus petraea) where samples from these two species are usually combined
Some problems in the analysis of lime were encountered in ring boundary
identification and the occurrence of missing rings in older trees Lime appears to be an
intermediate between diffuse-porous and ring-porous tree species The start of each ring is
defined by a ring of xylem parenchyma (Pigott 1989) but these boundaries are often
poorly distinguished In particular narrow rings the boundary was not always present
which can make the identification of an annual ring difficult The width of rings also varied
considerably narrow rings tended to be ldquolocally missingrdquo (ie visible around only part of
the circumference) but ldquofalse ringrdquo boundaries could also occur within a ring (parallel to
the ring boundary) and are difficult to distinguish from true ring boundaries The first 10ndash
20 rings of growth were found to be particularly prone to very narrow rings and so they
could not be reliably measured and were only counted
Physiological relationships with climate
Correlation between ring growth and rainfall in May June and August rainfall is positive
which indicates that higher rainfall tends to lead to the development of wider rings and
conversely lower rainfall leads to narrower rings (probably through water stress) Low
precipitation limiting the radial growth during the growing season is a relationship that
lime shares with yew (Moir et al 2011) and oak
Maximum and minimum temperatures in January indicate that lower mean temperatures
in January are unfavourable for the radial growth in lime Maximum temperatures in March
are unexpectedly shown to have negative relationships with ring width and the absence of
a corresponding correlationwithminimum temperature inMarch suggests that above average
early spring temperature is unfavourable for radial growth in lime A physiological
mechanism for this relationship may be that premature loss of winter hardiness followed by
freezing kills or injures expanding tender tissues such as buds flowers leaves and shoots
Moving correlation analysis shows that these relationships start from 1980 for January and
1962 forMarch temperatures Taking into account the 80-year base length of the analysis this
indicates that they have become significant since the 1940s and 1920s respectively Losses of
Figure 7 Contour map showing moving correlation values of climatic variables against HPLIMEring-width indices A moving 80-year base length over the period 1872ndash1997 is used only the lastyear of the interval coefficients significant at a level of (p 005) and months that show $9consecutive years of values in the HPLIME chronology are shown Months in CAPS identify those inthe year prior to ring growth
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 9
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correlations between ring width and maximum temperatures in April and precipitation in
March and April are also shown to occur around this period from the 1930s While these
observed changes in correlations could relate to the effects of climate change they might
equally be responses to changed age and species composition in the chronology Other
environmental factors such as competition between trees might also be involved
Future research
Apremise of tree-ring studies has long been held that treesmore sensitive to temperature tend
to be found in the high latitudes andor altitudes near their climatically determined limits of
distribution (Fritts 1976) Therefore the sampling of lime trees planted further north is
important to establish a relationship between radial growth and climate near the limits of
limesrsquo range Lime trees have potential to become a useful indicator species for global
warming at high latitudes (Chen Hill Ohlemuller amp Thomas 2011) Radoglou et al (2008)
showed that lime trees grow faster in the first 50 years of life than beech but by the age of 100
years beech stands yield about 30 more than lime Additional research on Tilia might be
considered useful to help predict their future yields and effects under a climate-warming
scenario
The potential to acquire samples useful for dendrochronological analysis by the
cutting of V-sections from the stumps of previously felled trees is highlighted V-
sectioning from where the radii were widest helped overcome the problem of missing rings
in this study and this could be a useful method to gain material for dendrochronological
studies from the stumps left of old trees of all species
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Hampton Court Palace UK We are grateful to Graham Dillamore forthe collection and transportation of samples Donald Pigott and Rikard Andersson made usefulcomments that helped improve this paper
Notes on contributors
Andy K Moir is Director of Tree-Ring Services and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Institutefor the Environment at Brunel University He has worked on the tree-ring analysis of trees andtimber-framed buildings for over 20 years
Suzanne AG Leroy is Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences at Brunel University Herresearch focuses on palaeoclimates palaeoecology and the reconstruction of past natural hazards
References
Arnold A J Howard R E Laxton R R amp Litton C D (2003) Tree-ring analysis of timbersfrom Cobham Hall Cobham Kent English Heritage Centre for Archaeol Rep 502003
Biondi F amp Waikul K (2004) Dendroclime2002 A Cthornthorn program for statistical calibration ofclimate signals in tree-ring chronologies Computer amp Geosciences 30 303ndash311
Blasing T J Solomon A M amp Duvick D N (1984) Response functions revisited Tree-ringBulletin 44 1ndash15
Brett D W (1978) Elm tree rings as a rainfall record Weather 33 87ndash94Briffa K R Osborn T J Schweingruber F H Harris I C Jones P D Shiyatov S G amp
Vaganov E A (2001) Low-frequency temperature variations from a northern tree ring densitynetwork Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 106(D3) 2929ndash2941
Chen I-C Hill J K Ohlemuller R amp Thomas C D (2011) Rapid range shifts of speciesassociated with high levels of climate warming Science 333 1024ndash1026
10 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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The
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vers
ity O
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urne
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es]
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Cook E R Briffa K R Shiyatov S G ampMazepa V (1990) Tree-ring standardization and growth-trend estimation In E R Cook amp L A Kairiukstis (Eds) Methods of dendrochronologyApplications in the environmental science Dordrecht Kluwer Academic
Cook E R amp Peters K (1997) Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic andenvironmental change The Holocene 7(3) 361ndash370
Fritts H C (1976) Tree rings and climate New York NY Academic PressGough T (2000) A restoration plan for the Long Water Avenue Hampton Court Place London
Internal Report for the Gardens amp Estate Managers Hampton Court PalaceGray R K S amp Grist N R (2000) Natural regeneration of limes (Tilia spp) in Scotland Locally
widespread and more numerous in 1999 Glasgow Naturalist 23 13ndash16Kelly P M Leuschner H-H Briffa K R amp Harris I C (2002) The climatic interpretation of
pan-European signature years in oak ring-width series The Holocene 12 689ndash695Mayer H (1977) Waldbau auf soziologisch-okologischer Grundlage Stuttgart Gustav Fisher
VerlagMoir A K (1996) A dendrochronological analysis of 9 oak compartments from the Sotterley
Estate Suffolk England An interim report Hungerford Tree-Ring ServicesMoir A K (1999) The dendrochronological potential of modern yew (Taxus baccata) with special
reference to yew from Hampton Court Palace UK New Phytologist 144(3) 479ndash488Moir A K Leroy S A G amp Helama S (2011) Role of substrate on the dendroclimatic response
of Scots pine from varying elevations in Northern Scotland Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 41 822ndash838
Newlands C D (1999) Habitats and rare plants of the Durham and Southern Magnesian Limestonenatural areas with reference to the SSSI series Naturalist 124 23ndash27
North D (2000) A dendrochronological investigation into yew (Taxus baccata) trees on the NorthDowns Greater London (Unpublished MSc thesis) University of Greenwich Greenwich
Pigott C D (1989) Estimation of the age of lime trees (Tilia spp) in parklands from stem diameterand ring counts Arboricultural Journal 13 289ndash302
Pigott C D (1993) The history and ecology of Ancient woodlands In P Beswick I D Rotherhamamp J Parsons (Eds) Ancient woodlands Their archaeology and ecology ndash A coincidence ofinterest Also published in Landscape Archaeology and Ecology 1 1ndash11
Pigott CDampHuntley J P (1980) Factors controlling the distributionofTilia cordata at the northernlimits of its geographical range II History in north-west EnglandNew Phytologist 84 145ndash164
Pigott C D amp Huntley J P (1981) Factors controlling the distribution of Tilia cordata at thenorthern limits of its geographical range III Nature and causes of seed sterility NewPhytologist 87 817ndash839
Radoglou K Dobrowolska D Spyroglou G amp Nicolecu V N (2008) A review on the ecologyand silviculture of limes (Tilia cordata Mill Tilia platyphyllos Scop and Tilia tomentosaMoench) in Europe (pp 1ndash29) Retrieved from httpwwwvalbrouni-freiburgde
Siebenlist-Kerner V (1978) The chronology 1341ndash1636 for certain hillside oaks from WesternEngland and Wales In J M Fletcher (Ed) Dendrochronology in Europe Vol 51 BAR Int Ser(pp 295ndash301) Oxford Archeopress
Stokes M A amp Smiley T L (1968) An introduction to tree ring dating Chicago University ofChicago Press
Wales-Smith B G (1980) Revised monthly and annual totals of rainfall representative of KewSurrey and an updated analysis for 1697ndash1976 Meteorological Office HydrologicalMemorandum 43
Wigley T M L Briffa K R amp Jones P D (1984) On the average value of correlated time-serieswith applications in Dendroclimatology and Hydrometeorology Journal of Climate and AppliedMeteorology 23(2) 201ndash213
White J E J (1998) Estimating the age of large and veteran trees in Britain Forestry CommissionInformation Note 250
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 11
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Dendroclimatic analysis
The series were standardised (a process to remove age trends) using ARSTAN software
(Cook Briffa ShiyatovampMazepa 1990) andwere detrended using a negative exponential
curve or linear regression with power transformation (Cook amp Peters 1997) to reduce
potential end-effect inflation of resultant indices The chronology statistics generated from
the standardised series are described in Table 1 Mean sensitivity is a measure of the mean
relative change between adjacent ring widths (Fritts 1976) Values over 030 are high and
indicate that the tree-ring series are highly responsive to environmental factors while low
Figure 3 A V-section sample cut from a full section
Figure 2 A standing and felled lime tree along the Long Water at Hampton Court Palace UK
4 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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values indicate weak inter-annual variance The expressed population signal (EPS)
(Wigley Briffa amp Jones 1984) measures the degree to which the chronology correlates (or
agrees) with a theoretical population chronology The value of EPS ranges from 0 to 1 with
1 being the best possible value (the hypothetically perfect chronology)
Growthndashclimate relationships were examined using correlation functions as a
statistical model to compute coefficients between tree-ring chronologies and monthly
climatic variables (Blasing Solomon amp Duvick 1984) These coefficients are univariate
estimates of Pearsonrsquos product moment correlation Correlation function analyses and
moving interval correlation function analysis were carried out using DENDROCLIM2002
software (Biondi amp Waikul 2004) which tests significance at the 005 level A 14-
month analysis period extending from September in the year before growth to October of
the year of growth was selected Residual tree-ring chronologies (which have proved to
Figure 4 Cumulative plot tree rings
Table 1 General statistics of lime chronologies from the arstan standard chronology
File name MS AR1 R(bt) SNR EPS
HPLIME 033 029 067 1599 094
Note Common interval frac14 1910ndash1990 MS mean sensitivity AR1 first-order autocorrelation R(bt) betweenseries correlation SNR signal to noise ratio EPS expressed population signal
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 5
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yield more climatic information and minimise autocorrelation) were used with monthly
maximum temperature minimum temperature and precipitation as predictors Monthly
temperature and rainfall series for Kew (a meteorological station 95 km south west of
Hampton Court) were used in this analysis (Wales-Smith 1980) Temperature and rainfall
can be intercorrelated causing an apparent negative association between temperature and
ring width when using correlation to examine climatendashgrowth relationships as
highlighted by Fritts (1976) To help resolve this problem response function analysis
(which transforms the predictor variables into uncorrelated principal components) was
also carried out using DENDROCLIM2002 However as response coefficients tend to be
lower than correlation coefficients the results are only summarised
Results
Chronology
The results of the cross-matching between 25 samples against both oak and yew reference
chronologies are described below The trees sections were generally quite circular in form
and showed no signs of hollowing Pith was recovered in all cases Twenty-five out of the
30 samples (83) were successfully measured and cross-matched Nineteen series were
from common lime and four from large-leaved lime Two samples were labelled with the
same number and therefore could only be established as Tilia spp The 25 cross-matched
together were used to form a chronology called HPLIME which spans 1866ndash2003 The
annual resolution of this tree-ring series is confirmed by cross-matching against both oak
and yew existing reference chronologies (Table 2) The rings in years 19491950 1964
and 1985 were the narrowest rings and most commonly missing Instances of missing rings
were more frequent in older trees ie after the first 80 years of growth In five series where
the rings to bark could not be reliably measured it was calculated that a missing ring
occurred on average once every 12 years suggesting a 12 underestimation of tree age
from ring counts in lime trees over 50 years of age
Growth rates and age
The ages and girths of the 25 cross-matched trees (Figure 4) together with five ring
counted trees are plotted in Figure 5 and the following regression equation is calculated
as follows
AGE frac14 10577 pound GIRTH ethin mTHORN2 11672 ethStandard error frac14 3125THORN
Prior to c 1898 only common lime hybrids appear to have been planted However
after c 1898 both common limes and large-leaved limes are shown to have been planted
The three oldest trees used in this equation could not be reliably measured but were ring
counted to be 312 269 and 250 years of age The oldest tree is therefore estimated to have
been growing since at least 1691 However assuming that it was one of the original limes
planted in 1661 this suggests an underestimation by ring counting of around 10 adding
further evidence of a 10ndash12 underestimation of age of lime trees from ring counts Plots
of cumulative ring width show no common differences in the radial growth rates of the two
species of lime in this study The mean formative growth rate is 384mmyear21 and
the transition between formative and mature growth occurs after 50 years of growth
(Figure 4) A mature growth rate of 325mmyear21 is applicable to trees between 50 and
100 years of age These results confirm that very few of the trees originally planted in 1661
survived
6 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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Growthndashclimate relationships
The statistical parameters of the standardised chronologies developed are shown in
Table 2 Mean sensitivity the relative change in ring widths from 1 year to the next (high-
frequency signal) is 033 which is high in comparison to values for oak Scots Pine and
yew in the UK First-order autocorrelation a measure of the influence of the previous
yearrsquos growth on the current year (Fritts 1976) is low (029) indicating little persistence
from one yearrsquos growth to the next The EPS value is 094 which is above a 085 value
suggested by Wigley et al (1984) as reasonably strong and suitable for climatic studies
Rainfall in the summer months of May June and August was shown by correlation
analysis to be the strongest determinant of ring width in lime (Figure 6) A positive
relationship between lime growth and rainfall also occurred in winter relating to the
previous November Moving correlation analysis shows that the relationships with
precipitation in May June and the previous November are time stable (Figure 7)
However precipitation in April and July ceased to be a significant factor in growth from
around the 1980s onwards while precipitation in August became significant Correlations
between ring growth and temperature are not time stable (Figure 7)
Discussion
The dendrochronology of lime
This study identifies that lime series cross-matched together and usefully against existing
chronologies of oak and yew It is important not only for estimating the ages of lime trees that
could not successfully be cross-matched but also for estimating the age of standing trees that
Table 2 Cross-matches of HPLIME chronology with oak and yew reference chronologies
File nameStartdate
Enddate t-Value
Overlap(years) Species
Chronology andshort reference
SEYEW11 AD1719 AD2009 702 138 Yew Churchyards of SE England(Moir in preparation)
YATLY-WW AD1829 AD2003 695 138 Oak Wych Wood ndash Yateley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
HPYEW92 AD1690 AD1992 622 127 Yew Hampton Court Palance ndash GTLondon (Moir 1999)
SLG AD1764 AD1993 621 128 Oak Scarles Grove ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
EVSLY-BR AD1815 AD2003 606 138 Oak Brick House ndash Eversley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
SWW AD1806 AD1992 599 127 Oak Southwell Lane ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HERWOR2 AD1729 AD1969 591 104 Oak Hereford and Cumberland (Sie-benlist-Kerner 1978)
BRIT002 AD1754 AD1979 572 114 Oak Bath ndash Avon (Pilcher unpub-lished)
MSC AD1820 AD1995 550 130 Oak Mendhams Corner ndash ScotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HVYEW00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Yew Happy Valley ndash Coulsdon ndashLondon (North 2000)
HVOAK00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Oak Coulsdon ndash London (North2000)
COBHAM AD1770 AD2001 513 136 Oak Cobham ndash Kent (Arnold et al2003)
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 7
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can only be girthmeasured (Figures 4 and 5) The likelymaximumandminimum limits of age
for a given radius of a standing tree can be identified from Figure 4 This study confirms a
relatively short lifespan of maiden lime trees in formal avenues Only 1 of the 30 lime trees
sampled could be a survivor from the original planting in 1661 Although not shown here the
earliest campaign of re-planting probably occurred c 1898 (Moir 1996) which suggests that
trees in the avenue had started to die off around 230 years after the original planting It is also
of interest that only after c 1898 large-leaved limes were used in the avenues Whether it
might be possible to extend the 138-year long lime chronology established back further in
time is not clear but the population of ancient lime trees in the north of England (Pigott 1989)
could hold the potential to produce millennium-long chronologies
Insufficient samples of large-leaved limes were available to establish a useful
chronology to identify possible differences in correlations with climate between this
species and hybrids However as cross-matching and growth rates showed no clear
differences all the samples were combined in this analysis A similar approach is typically
Figure 5 Plot of girth against tree age
Figure 6 Correlation functions of the residual chronology with monthly maximum temperature(T-max) minimum temperature (T-min) and precipitation (Prec) Correlations are for an 80-yearperiod (1911ndash1990) Note none of the relationships shown were found to be significant by responsefunction analysis
8 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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applied in the dendrochronological analysis of British oaks (Quercus robur L) and Sessile
Oaks (Quercus petraea) where samples from these two species are usually combined
Some problems in the analysis of lime were encountered in ring boundary
identification and the occurrence of missing rings in older trees Lime appears to be an
intermediate between diffuse-porous and ring-porous tree species The start of each ring is
defined by a ring of xylem parenchyma (Pigott 1989) but these boundaries are often
poorly distinguished In particular narrow rings the boundary was not always present
which can make the identification of an annual ring difficult The width of rings also varied
considerably narrow rings tended to be ldquolocally missingrdquo (ie visible around only part of
the circumference) but ldquofalse ringrdquo boundaries could also occur within a ring (parallel to
the ring boundary) and are difficult to distinguish from true ring boundaries The first 10ndash
20 rings of growth were found to be particularly prone to very narrow rings and so they
could not be reliably measured and were only counted
Physiological relationships with climate
Correlation between ring growth and rainfall in May June and August rainfall is positive
which indicates that higher rainfall tends to lead to the development of wider rings and
conversely lower rainfall leads to narrower rings (probably through water stress) Low
precipitation limiting the radial growth during the growing season is a relationship that
lime shares with yew (Moir et al 2011) and oak
Maximum and minimum temperatures in January indicate that lower mean temperatures
in January are unfavourable for the radial growth in lime Maximum temperatures in March
are unexpectedly shown to have negative relationships with ring width and the absence of
a corresponding correlationwithminimum temperature inMarch suggests that above average
early spring temperature is unfavourable for radial growth in lime A physiological
mechanism for this relationship may be that premature loss of winter hardiness followed by
freezing kills or injures expanding tender tissues such as buds flowers leaves and shoots
Moving correlation analysis shows that these relationships start from 1980 for January and
1962 forMarch temperatures Taking into account the 80-year base length of the analysis this
indicates that they have become significant since the 1940s and 1920s respectively Losses of
Figure 7 Contour map showing moving correlation values of climatic variables against HPLIMEring-width indices A moving 80-year base length over the period 1872ndash1997 is used only the lastyear of the interval coefficients significant at a level of (p 005) and months that show $9consecutive years of values in the HPLIME chronology are shown Months in CAPS identify those inthe year prior to ring growth
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 9
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
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vers
ity O
f M
elbo
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Lib
rari
es]
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May
201
3
correlations between ring width and maximum temperatures in April and precipitation in
March and April are also shown to occur around this period from the 1930s While these
observed changes in correlations could relate to the effects of climate change they might
equally be responses to changed age and species composition in the chronology Other
environmental factors such as competition between trees might also be involved
Future research
Apremise of tree-ring studies has long been held that treesmore sensitive to temperature tend
to be found in the high latitudes andor altitudes near their climatically determined limits of
distribution (Fritts 1976) Therefore the sampling of lime trees planted further north is
important to establish a relationship between radial growth and climate near the limits of
limesrsquo range Lime trees have potential to become a useful indicator species for global
warming at high latitudes (Chen Hill Ohlemuller amp Thomas 2011) Radoglou et al (2008)
showed that lime trees grow faster in the first 50 years of life than beech but by the age of 100
years beech stands yield about 30 more than lime Additional research on Tilia might be
considered useful to help predict their future yields and effects under a climate-warming
scenario
The potential to acquire samples useful for dendrochronological analysis by the
cutting of V-sections from the stumps of previously felled trees is highlighted V-
sectioning from where the radii were widest helped overcome the problem of missing rings
in this study and this could be a useful method to gain material for dendrochronological
studies from the stumps left of old trees of all species
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Hampton Court Palace UK We are grateful to Graham Dillamore forthe collection and transportation of samples Donald Pigott and Rikard Andersson made usefulcomments that helped improve this paper
Notes on contributors
Andy K Moir is Director of Tree-Ring Services and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Institutefor the Environment at Brunel University He has worked on the tree-ring analysis of trees andtimber-framed buildings for over 20 years
Suzanne AG Leroy is Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences at Brunel University Herresearch focuses on palaeoclimates palaeoecology and the reconstruction of past natural hazards
References
Arnold A J Howard R E Laxton R R amp Litton C D (2003) Tree-ring analysis of timbersfrom Cobham Hall Cobham Kent English Heritage Centre for Archaeol Rep 502003
Biondi F amp Waikul K (2004) Dendroclime2002 A Cthornthorn program for statistical calibration ofclimate signals in tree-ring chronologies Computer amp Geosciences 30 303ndash311
Blasing T J Solomon A M amp Duvick D N (1984) Response functions revisited Tree-ringBulletin 44 1ndash15
Brett D W (1978) Elm tree rings as a rainfall record Weather 33 87ndash94Briffa K R Osborn T J Schweingruber F H Harris I C Jones P D Shiyatov S G amp
Vaganov E A (2001) Low-frequency temperature variations from a northern tree ring densitynetwork Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 106(D3) 2929ndash2941
Chen I-C Hill J K Ohlemuller R amp Thomas C D (2011) Rapid range shifts of speciesassociated with high levels of climate warming Science 333 1024ndash1026
10 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
Cook E R Briffa K R Shiyatov S G ampMazepa V (1990) Tree-ring standardization and growth-trend estimation In E R Cook amp L A Kairiukstis (Eds) Methods of dendrochronologyApplications in the environmental science Dordrecht Kluwer Academic
Cook E R amp Peters K (1997) Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic andenvironmental change The Holocene 7(3) 361ndash370
Fritts H C (1976) Tree rings and climate New York NY Academic PressGough T (2000) A restoration plan for the Long Water Avenue Hampton Court Place London
Internal Report for the Gardens amp Estate Managers Hampton Court PalaceGray R K S amp Grist N R (2000) Natural regeneration of limes (Tilia spp) in Scotland Locally
widespread and more numerous in 1999 Glasgow Naturalist 23 13ndash16Kelly P M Leuschner H-H Briffa K R amp Harris I C (2002) The climatic interpretation of
pan-European signature years in oak ring-width series The Holocene 12 689ndash695Mayer H (1977) Waldbau auf soziologisch-okologischer Grundlage Stuttgart Gustav Fisher
VerlagMoir A K (1996) A dendrochronological analysis of 9 oak compartments from the Sotterley
Estate Suffolk England An interim report Hungerford Tree-Ring ServicesMoir A K (1999) The dendrochronological potential of modern yew (Taxus baccata) with special
reference to yew from Hampton Court Palace UK New Phytologist 144(3) 479ndash488Moir A K Leroy S A G amp Helama S (2011) Role of substrate on the dendroclimatic response
of Scots pine from varying elevations in Northern Scotland Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 41 822ndash838
Newlands C D (1999) Habitats and rare plants of the Durham and Southern Magnesian Limestonenatural areas with reference to the SSSI series Naturalist 124 23ndash27
North D (2000) A dendrochronological investigation into yew (Taxus baccata) trees on the NorthDowns Greater London (Unpublished MSc thesis) University of Greenwich Greenwich
Pigott C D (1989) Estimation of the age of lime trees (Tilia spp) in parklands from stem diameterand ring counts Arboricultural Journal 13 289ndash302
Pigott C D (1993) The history and ecology of Ancient woodlands In P Beswick I D Rotherhamamp J Parsons (Eds) Ancient woodlands Their archaeology and ecology ndash A coincidence ofinterest Also published in Landscape Archaeology and Ecology 1 1ndash11
Pigott CDampHuntley J P (1980) Factors controlling the distributionofTilia cordata at the northernlimits of its geographical range II History in north-west EnglandNew Phytologist 84 145ndash164
Pigott C D amp Huntley J P (1981) Factors controlling the distribution of Tilia cordata at thenorthern limits of its geographical range III Nature and causes of seed sterility NewPhytologist 87 817ndash839
Radoglou K Dobrowolska D Spyroglou G amp Nicolecu V N (2008) A review on the ecologyand silviculture of limes (Tilia cordata Mill Tilia platyphyllos Scop and Tilia tomentosaMoench) in Europe (pp 1ndash29) Retrieved from httpwwwvalbrouni-freiburgde
Siebenlist-Kerner V (1978) The chronology 1341ndash1636 for certain hillside oaks from WesternEngland and Wales In J M Fletcher (Ed) Dendrochronology in Europe Vol 51 BAR Int Ser(pp 295ndash301) Oxford Archeopress
Stokes M A amp Smiley T L (1968) An introduction to tree ring dating Chicago University ofChicago Press
Wales-Smith B G (1980) Revised monthly and annual totals of rainfall representative of KewSurrey and an updated analysis for 1697ndash1976 Meteorological Office HydrologicalMemorandum 43
Wigley T M L Briffa K R amp Jones P D (1984) On the average value of correlated time-serieswith applications in Dendroclimatology and Hydrometeorology Journal of Climate and AppliedMeteorology 23(2) 201ndash213
White J E J (1998) Estimating the age of large and veteran trees in Britain Forestry CommissionInformation Note 250
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 11
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values indicate weak inter-annual variance The expressed population signal (EPS)
(Wigley Briffa amp Jones 1984) measures the degree to which the chronology correlates (or
agrees) with a theoretical population chronology The value of EPS ranges from 0 to 1 with
1 being the best possible value (the hypothetically perfect chronology)
Growthndashclimate relationships were examined using correlation functions as a
statistical model to compute coefficients between tree-ring chronologies and monthly
climatic variables (Blasing Solomon amp Duvick 1984) These coefficients are univariate
estimates of Pearsonrsquos product moment correlation Correlation function analyses and
moving interval correlation function analysis were carried out using DENDROCLIM2002
software (Biondi amp Waikul 2004) which tests significance at the 005 level A 14-
month analysis period extending from September in the year before growth to October of
the year of growth was selected Residual tree-ring chronologies (which have proved to
Figure 4 Cumulative plot tree rings
Table 1 General statistics of lime chronologies from the arstan standard chronology
File name MS AR1 R(bt) SNR EPS
HPLIME 033 029 067 1599 094
Note Common interval frac14 1910ndash1990 MS mean sensitivity AR1 first-order autocorrelation R(bt) betweenseries correlation SNR signal to noise ratio EPS expressed population signal
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 5
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201
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yield more climatic information and minimise autocorrelation) were used with monthly
maximum temperature minimum temperature and precipitation as predictors Monthly
temperature and rainfall series for Kew (a meteorological station 95 km south west of
Hampton Court) were used in this analysis (Wales-Smith 1980) Temperature and rainfall
can be intercorrelated causing an apparent negative association between temperature and
ring width when using correlation to examine climatendashgrowth relationships as
highlighted by Fritts (1976) To help resolve this problem response function analysis
(which transforms the predictor variables into uncorrelated principal components) was
also carried out using DENDROCLIM2002 However as response coefficients tend to be
lower than correlation coefficients the results are only summarised
Results
Chronology
The results of the cross-matching between 25 samples against both oak and yew reference
chronologies are described below The trees sections were generally quite circular in form
and showed no signs of hollowing Pith was recovered in all cases Twenty-five out of the
30 samples (83) were successfully measured and cross-matched Nineteen series were
from common lime and four from large-leaved lime Two samples were labelled with the
same number and therefore could only be established as Tilia spp The 25 cross-matched
together were used to form a chronology called HPLIME which spans 1866ndash2003 The
annual resolution of this tree-ring series is confirmed by cross-matching against both oak
and yew existing reference chronologies (Table 2) The rings in years 19491950 1964
and 1985 were the narrowest rings and most commonly missing Instances of missing rings
were more frequent in older trees ie after the first 80 years of growth In five series where
the rings to bark could not be reliably measured it was calculated that a missing ring
occurred on average once every 12 years suggesting a 12 underestimation of tree age
from ring counts in lime trees over 50 years of age
Growth rates and age
The ages and girths of the 25 cross-matched trees (Figure 4) together with five ring
counted trees are plotted in Figure 5 and the following regression equation is calculated
as follows
AGE frac14 10577 pound GIRTH ethin mTHORN2 11672 ethStandard error frac14 3125THORN
Prior to c 1898 only common lime hybrids appear to have been planted However
after c 1898 both common limes and large-leaved limes are shown to have been planted
The three oldest trees used in this equation could not be reliably measured but were ring
counted to be 312 269 and 250 years of age The oldest tree is therefore estimated to have
been growing since at least 1691 However assuming that it was one of the original limes
planted in 1661 this suggests an underestimation by ring counting of around 10 adding
further evidence of a 10ndash12 underestimation of age of lime trees from ring counts Plots
of cumulative ring width show no common differences in the radial growth rates of the two
species of lime in this study The mean formative growth rate is 384mmyear21 and
the transition between formative and mature growth occurs after 50 years of growth
(Figure 4) A mature growth rate of 325mmyear21 is applicable to trees between 50 and
100 years of age These results confirm that very few of the trees originally planted in 1661
survived
6 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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201
3
Growthndashclimate relationships
The statistical parameters of the standardised chronologies developed are shown in
Table 2 Mean sensitivity the relative change in ring widths from 1 year to the next (high-
frequency signal) is 033 which is high in comparison to values for oak Scots Pine and
yew in the UK First-order autocorrelation a measure of the influence of the previous
yearrsquos growth on the current year (Fritts 1976) is low (029) indicating little persistence
from one yearrsquos growth to the next The EPS value is 094 which is above a 085 value
suggested by Wigley et al (1984) as reasonably strong and suitable for climatic studies
Rainfall in the summer months of May June and August was shown by correlation
analysis to be the strongest determinant of ring width in lime (Figure 6) A positive
relationship between lime growth and rainfall also occurred in winter relating to the
previous November Moving correlation analysis shows that the relationships with
precipitation in May June and the previous November are time stable (Figure 7)
However precipitation in April and July ceased to be a significant factor in growth from
around the 1980s onwards while precipitation in August became significant Correlations
between ring growth and temperature are not time stable (Figure 7)
Discussion
The dendrochronology of lime
This study identifies that lime series cross-matched together and usefully against existing
chronologies of oak and yew It is important not only for estimating the ages of lime trees that
could not successfully be cross-matched but also for estimating the age of standing trees that
Table 2 Cross-matches of HPLIME chronology with oak and yew reference chronologies
File nameStartdate
Enddate t-Value
Overlap(years) Species
Chronology andshort reference
SEYEW11 AD1719 AD2009 702 138 Yew Churchyards of SE England(Moir in preparation)
YATLY-WW AD1829 AD2003 695 138 Oak Wych Wood ndash Yateley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
HPYEW92 AD1690 AD1992 622 127 Yew Hampton Court Palance ndash GTLondon (Moir 1999)
SLG AD1764 AD1993 621 128 Oak Scarles Grove ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
EVSLY-BR AD1815 AD2003 606 138 Oak Brick House ndash Eversley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
SWW AD1806 AD1992 599 127 Oak Southwell Lane ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HERWOR2 AD1729 AD1969 591 104 Oak Hereford and Cumberland (Sie-benlist-Kerner 1978)
BRIT002 AD1754 AD1979 572 114 Oak Bath ndash Avon (Pilcher unpub-lished)
MSC AD1820 AD1995 550 130 Oak Mendhams Corner ndash ScotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HVYEW00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Yew Happy Valley ndash Coulsdon ndashLondon (North 2000)
HVOAK00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Oak Coulsdon ndash London (North2000)
COBHAM AD1770 AD2001 513 136 Oak Cobham ndash Kent (Arnold et al2003)
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 7
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can only be girthmeasured (Figures 4 and 5) The likelymaximumandminimum limits of age
for a given radius of a standing tree can be identified from Figure 4 This study confirms a
relatively short lifespan of maiden lime trees in formal avenues Only 1 of the 30 lime trees
sampled could be a survivor from the original planting in 1661 Although not shown here the
earliest campaign of re-planting probably occurred c 1898 (Moir 1996) which suggests that
trees in the avenue had started to die off around 230 years after the original planting It is also
of interest that only after c 1898 large-leaved limes were used in the avenues Whether it
might be possible to extend the 138-year long lime chronology established back further in
time is not clear but the population of ancient lime trees in the north of England (Pigott 1989)
could hold the potential to produce millennium-long chronologies
Insufficient samples of large-leaved limes were available to establish a useful
chronology to identify possible differences in correlations with climate between this
species and hybrids However as cross-matching and growth rates showed no clear
differences all the samples were combined in this analysis A similar approach is typically
Figure 5 Plot of girth against tree age
Figure 6 Correlation functions of the residual chronology with monthly maximum temperature(T-max) minimum temperature (T-min) and precipitation (Prec) Correlations are for an 80-yearperiod (1911ndash1990) Note none of the relationships shown were found to be significant by responsefunction analysis
8 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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applied in the dendrochronological analysis of British oaks (Quercus robur L) and Sessile
Oaks (Quercus petraea) where samples from these two species are usually combined
Some problems in the analysis of lime were encountered in ring boundary
identification and the occurrence of missing rings in older trees Lime appears to be an
intermediate between diffuse-porous and ring-porous tree species The start of each ring is
defined by a ring of xylem parenchyma (Pigott 1989) but these boundaries are often
poorly distinguished In particular narrow rings the boundary was not always present
which can make the identification of an annual ring difficult The width of rings also varied
considerably narrow rings tended to be ldquolocally missingrdquo (ie visible around only part of
the circumference) but ldquofalse ringrdquo boundaries could also occur within a ring (parallel to
the ring boundary) and are difficult to distinguish from true ring boundaries The first 10ndash
20 rings of growth were found to be particularly prone to very narrow rings and so they
could not be reliably measured and were only counted
Physiological relationships with climate
Correlation between ring growth and rainfall in May June and August rainfall is positive
which indicates that higher rainfall tends to lead to the development of wider rings and
conversely lower rainfall leads to narrower rings (probably through water stress) Low
precipitation limiting the radial growth during the growing season is a relationship that
lime shares with yew (Moir et al 2011) and oak
Maximum and minimum temperatures in January indicate that lower mean temperatures
in January are unfavourable for the radial growth in lime Maximum temperatures in March
are unexpectedly shown to have negative relationships with ring width and the absence of
a corresponding correlationwithminimum temperature inMarch suggests that above average
early spring temperature is unfavourable for radial growth in lime A physiological
mechanism for this relationship may be that premature loss of winter hardiness followed by
freezing kills or injures expanding tender tissues such as buds flowers leaves and shoots
Moving correlation analysis shows that these relationships start from 1980 for January and
1962 forMarch temperatures Taking into account the 80-year base length of the analysis this
indicates that they have become significant since the 1940s and 1920s respectively Losses of
Figure 7 Contour map showing moving correlation values of climatic variables against HPLIMEring-width indices A moving 80-year base length over the period 1872ndash1997 is used only the lastyear of the interval coefficients significant at a level of (p 005) and months that show $9consecutive years of values in the HPLIME chronology are shown Months in CAPS identify those inthe year prior to ring growth
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 9
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correlations between ring width and maximum temperatures in April and precipitation in
March and April are also shown to occur around this period from the 1930s While these
observed changes in correlations could relate to the effects of climate change they might
equally be responses to changed age and species composition in the chronology Other
environmental factors such as competition between trees might also be involved
Future research
Apremise of tree-ring studies has long been held that treesmore sensitive to temperature tend
to be found in the high latitudes andor altitudes near their climatically determined limits of
distribution (Fritts 1976) Therefore the sampling of lime trees planted further north is
important to establish a relationship between radial growth and climate near the limits of
limesrsquo range Lime trees have potential to become a useful indicator species for global
warming at high latitudes (Chen Hill Ohlemuller amp Thomas 2011) Radoglou et al (2008)
showed that lime trees grow faster in the first 50 years of life than beech but by the age of 100
years beech stands yield about 30 more than lime Additional research on Tilia might be
considered useful to help predict their future yields and effects under a climate-warming
scenario
The potential to acquire samples useful for dendrochronological analysis by the
cutting of V-sections from the stumps of previously felled trees is highlighted V-
sectioning from where the radii were widest helped overcome the problem of missing rings
in this study and this could be a useful method to gain material for dendrochronological
studies from the stumps left of old trees of all species
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Hampton Court Palace UK We are grateful to Graham Dillamore forthe collection and transportation of samples Donald Pigott and Rikard Andersson made usefulcomments that helped improve this paper
Notes on contributors
Andy K Moir is Director of Tree-Ring Services and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Institutefor the Environment at Brunel University He has worked on the tree-ring analysis of trees andtimber-framed buildings for over 20 years
Suzanne AG Leroy is Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences at Brunel University Herresearch focuses on palaeoclimates palaeoecology and the reconstruction of past natural hazards
References
Arnold A J Howard R E Laxton R R amp Litton C D (2003) Tree-ring analysis of timbersfrom Cobham Hall Cobham Kent English Heritage Centre for Archaeol Rep 502003
Biondi F amp Waikul K (2004) Dendroclime2002 A Cthornthorn program for statistical calibration ofclimate signals in tree-ring chronologies Computer amp Geosciences 30 303ndash311
Blasing T J Solomon A M amp Duvick D N (1984) Response functions revisited Tree-ringBulletin 44 1ndash15
Brett D W (1978) Elm tree rings as a rainfall record Weather 33 87ndash94Briffa K R Osborn T J Schweingruber F H Harris I C Jones P D Shiyatov S G amp
Vaganov E A (2001) Low-frequency temperature variations from a northern tree ring densitynetwork Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 106(D3) 2929ndash2941
Chen I-C Hill J K Ohlemuller R amp Thomas C D (2011) Rapid range shifts of speciesassociated with high levels of climate warming Science 333 1024ndash1026
10 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
Cook E R Briffa K R Shiyatov S G ampMazepa V (1990) Tree-ring standardization and growth-trend estimation In E R Cook amp L A Kairiukstis (Eds) Methods of dendrochronologyApplications in the environmental science Dordrecht Kluwer Academic
Cook E R amp Peters K (1997) Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic andenvironmental change The Holocene 7(3) 361ndash370
Fritts H C (1976) Tree rings and climate New York NY Academic PressGough T (2000) A restoration plan for the Long Water Avenue Hampton Court Place London
Internal Report for the Gardens amp Estate Managers Hampton Court PalaceGray R K S amp Grist N R (2000) Natural regeneration of limes (Tilia spp) in Scotland Locally
widespread and more numerous in 1999 Glasgow Naturalist 23 13ndash16Kelly P M Leuschner H-H Briffa K R amp Harris I C (2002) The climatic interpretation of
pan-European signature years in oak ring-width series The Holocene 12 689ndash695Mayer H (1977) Waldbau auf soziologisch-okologischer Grundlage Stuttgart Gustav Fisher
VerlagMoir A K (1996) A dendrochronological analysis of 9 oak compartments from the Sotterley
Estate Suffolk England An interim report Hungerford Tree-Ring ServicesMoir A K (1999) The dendrochronological potential of modern yew (Taxus baccata) with special
reference to yew from Hampton Court Palace UK New Phytologist 144(3) 479ndash488Moir A K Leroy S A G amp Helama S (2011) Role of substrate on the dendroclimatic response
of Scots pine from varying elevations in Northern Scotland Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 41 822ndash838
Newlands C D (1999) Habitats and rare plants of the Durham and Southern Magnesian Limestonenatural areas with reference to the SSSI series Naturalist 124 23ndash27
North D (2000) A dendrochronological investigation into yew (Taxus baccata) trees on the NorthDowns Greater London (Unpublished MSc thesis) University of Greenwich Greenwich
Pigott C D (1989) Estimation of the age of lime trees (Tilia spp) in parklands from stem diameterand ring counts Arboricultural Journal 13 289ndash302
Pigott C D (1993) The history and ecology of Ancient woodlands In P Beswick I D Rotherhamamp J Parsons (Eds) Ancient woodlands Their archaeology and ecology ndash A coincidence ofinterest Also published in Landscape Archaeology and Ecology 1 1ndash11
Pigott CDampHuntley J P (1980) Factors controlling the distributionofTilia cordata at the northernlimits of its geographical range II History in north-west EnglandNew Phytologist 84 145ndash164
Pigott C D amp Huntley J P (1981) Factors controlling the distribution of Tilia cordata at thenorthern limits of its geographical range III Nature and causes of seed sterility NewPhytologist 87 817ndash839
Radoglou K Dobrowolska D Spyroglou G amp Nicolecu V N (2008) A review on the ecologyand silviculture of limes (Tilia cordata Mill Tilia platyphyllos Scop and Tilia tomentosaMoench) in Europe (pp 1ndash29) Retrieved from httpwwwvalbrouni-freiburgde
Siebenlist-Kerner V (1978) The chronology 1341ndash1636 for certain hillside oaks from WesternEngland and Wales In J M Fletcher (Ed) Dendrochronology in Europe Vol 51 BAR Int Ser(pp 295ndash301) Oxford Archeopress
Stokes M A amp Smiley T L (1968) An introduction to tree ring dating Chicago University ofChicago Press
Wales-Smith B G (1980) Revised monthly and annual totals of rainfall representative of KewSurrey and an updated analysis for 1697ndash1976 Meteorological Office HydrologicalMemorandum 43
Wigley T M L Briffa K R amp Jones P D (1984) On the average value of correlated time-serieswith applications in Dendroclimatology and Hydrometeorology Journal of Climate and AppliedMeteorology 23(2) 201ndash213
White J E J (1998) Estimating the age of large and veteran trees in Britain Forestry CommissionInformation Note 250
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 11
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
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Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
yield more climatic information and minimise autocorrelation) were used with monthly
maximum temperature minimum temperature and precipitation as predictors Monthly
temperature and rainfall series for Kew (a meteorological station 95 km south west of
Hampton Court) were used in this analysis (Wales-Smith 1980) Temperature and rainfall
can be intercorrelated causing an apparent negative association between temperature and
ring width when using correlation to examine climatendashgrowth relationships as
highlighted by Fritts (1976) To help resolve this problem response function analysis
(which transforms the predictor variables into uncorrelated principal components) was
also carried out using DENDROCLIM2002 However as response coefficients tend to be
lower than correlation coefficients the results are only summarised
Results
Chronology
The results of the cross-matching between 25 samples against both oak and yew reference
chronologies are described below The trees sections were generally quite circular in form
and showed no signs of hollowing Pith was recovered in all cases Twenty-five out of the
30 samples (83) were successfully measured and cross-matched Nineteen series were
from common lime and four from large-leaved lime Two samples were labelled with the
same number and therefore could only be established as Tilia spp The 25 cross-matched
together were used to form a chronology called HPLIME which spans 1866ndash2003 The
annual resolution of this tree-ring series is confirmed by cross-matching against both oak
and yew existing reference chronologies (Table 2) The rings in years 19491950 1964
and 1985 were the narrowest rings and most commonly missing Instances of missing rings
were more frequent in older trees ie after the first 80 years of growth In five series where
the rings to bark could not be reliably measured it was calculated that a missing ring
occurred on average once every 12 years suggesting a 12 underestimation of tree age
from ring counts in lime trees over 50 years of age
Growth rates and age
The ages and girths of the 25 cross-matched trees (Figure 4) together with five ring
counted trees are plotted in Figure 5 and the following regression equation is calculated
as follows
AGE frac14 10577 pound GIRTH ethin mTHORN2 11672 ethStandard error frac14 3125THORN
Prior to c 1898 only common lime hybrids appear to have been planted However
after c 1898 both common limes and large-leaved limes are shown to have been planted
The three oldest trees used in this equation could not be reliably measured but were ring
counted to be 312 269 and 250 years of age The oldest tree is therefore estimated to have
been growing since at least 1691 However assuming that it was one of the original limes
planted in 1661 this suggests an underestimation by ring counting of around 10 adding
further evidence of a 10ndash12 underestimation of age of lime trees from ring counts Plots
of cumulative ring width show no common differences in the radial growth rates of the two
species of lime in this study The mean formative growth rate is 384mmyear21 and
the transition between formative and mature growth occurs after 50 years of growth
(Figure 4) A mature growth rate of 325mmyear21 is applicable to trees between 50 and
100 years of age These results confirm that very few of the trees originally planted in 1661
survived
6 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
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ded
by [
The
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ity O
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12
May
201
3
Growthndashclimate relationships
The statistical parameters of the standardised chronologies developed are shown in
Table 2 Mean sensitivity the relative change in ring widths from 1 year to the next (high-
frequency signal) is 033 which is high in comparison to values for oak Scots Pine and
yew in the UK First-order autocorrelation a measure of the influence of the previous
yearrsquos growth on the current year (Fritts 1976) is low (029) indicating little persistence
from one yearrsquos growth to the next The EPS value is 094 which is above a 085 value
suggested by Wigley et al (1984) as reasonably strong and suitable for climatic studies
Rainfall in the summer months of May June and August was shown by correlation
analysis to be the strongest determinant of ring width in lime (Figure 6) A positive
relationship between lime growth and rainfall also occurred in winter relating to the
previous November Moving correlation analysis shows that the relationships with
precipitation in May June and the previous November are time stable (Figure 7)
However precipitation in April and July ceased to be a significant factor in growth from
around the 1980s onwards while precipitation in August became significant Correlations
between ring growth and temperature are not time stable (Figure 7)
Discussion
The dendrochronology of lime
This study identifies that lime series cross-matched together and usefully against existing
chronologies of oak and yew It is important not only for estimating the ages of lime trees that
could not successfully be cross-matched but also for estimating the age of standing trees that
Table 2 Cross-matches of HPLIME chronology with oak and yew reference chronologies
File nameStartdate
Enddate t-Value
Overlap(years) Species
Chronology andshort reference
SEYEW11 AD1719 AD2009 702 138 Yew Churchyards of SE England(Moir in preparation)
YATLY-WW AD1829 AD2003 695 138 Oak Wych Wood ndash Yateley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
HPYEW92 AD1690 AD1992 622 127 Yew Hampton Court Palance ndash GTLondon (Moir 1999)
SLG AD1764 AD1993 621 128 Oak Scarles Grove ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
EVSLY-BR AD1815 AD2003 606 138 Oak Brick House ndash Eversley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
SWW AD1806 AD1992 599 127 Oak Southwell Lane ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HERWOR2 AD1729 AD1969 591 104 Oak Hereford and Cumberland (Sie-benlist-Kerner 1978)
BRIT002 AD1754 AD1979 572 114 Oak Bath ndash Avon (Pilcher unpub-lished)
MSC AD1820 AD1995 550 130 Oak Mendhams Corner ndash ScotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HVYEW00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Yew Happy Valley ndash Coulsdon ndashLondon (North 2000)
HVOAK00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Oak Coulsdon ndash London (North2000)
COBHAM AD1770 AD2001 513 136 Oak Cobham ndash Kent (Arnold et al2003)
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 7
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
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ity O
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12
May
201
3
can only be girthmeasured (Figures 4 and 5) The likelymaximumandminimum limits of age
for a given radius of a standing tree can be identified from Figure 4 This study confirms a
relatively short lifespan of maiden lime trees in formal avenues Only 1 of the 30 lime trees
sampled could be a survivor from the original planting in 1661 Although not shown here the
earliest campaign of re-planting probably occurred c 1898 (Moir 1996) which suggests that
trees in the avenue had started to die off around 230 years after the original planting It is also
of interest that only after c 1898 large-leaved limes were used in the avenues Whether it
might be possible to extend the 138-year long lime chronology established back further in
time is not clear but the population of ancient lime trees in the north of England (Pigott 1989)
could hold the potential to produce millennium-long chronologies
Insufficient samples of large-leaved limes were available to establish a useful
chronology to identify possible differences in correlations with climate between this
species and hybrids However as cross-matching and growth rates showed no clear
differences all the samples were combined in this analysis A similar approach is typically
Figure 5 Plot of girth against tree age
Figure 6 Correlation functions of the residual chronology with monthly maximum temperature(T-max) minimum temperature (T-min) and precipitation (Prec) Correlations are for an 80-yearperiod (1911ndash1990) Note none of the relationships shown were found to be significant by responsefunction analysis
8 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
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es]
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May
201
3
applied in the dendrochronological analysis of British oaks (Quercus robur L) and Sessile
Oaks (Quercus petraea) where samples from these two species are usually combined
Some problems in the analysis of lime were encountered in ring boundary
identification and the occurrence of missing rings in older trees Lime appears to be an
intermediate between diffuse-porous and ring-porous tree species The start of each ring is
defined by a ring of xylem parenchyma (Pigott 1989) but these boundaries are often
poorly distinguished In particular narrow rings the boundary was not always present
which can make the identification of an annual ring difficult The width of rings also varied
considerably narrow rings tended to be ldquolocally missingrdquo (ie visible around only part of
the circumference) but ldquofalse ringrdquo boundaries could also occur within a ring (parallel to
the ring boundary) and are difficult to distinguish from true ring boundaries The first 10ndash
20 rings of growth were found to be particularly prone to very narrow rings and so they
could not be reliably measured and were only counted
Physiological relationships with climate
Correlation between ring growth and rainfall in May June and August rainfall is positive
which indicates that higher rainfall tends to lead to the development of wider rings and
conversely lower rainfall leads to narrower rings (probably through water stress) Low
precipitation limiting the radial growth during the growing season is a relationship that
lime shares with yew (Moir et al 2011) and oak
Maximum and minimum temperatures in January indicate that lower mean temperatures
in January are unfavourable for the radial growth in lime Maximum temperatures in March
are unexpectedly shown to have negative relationships with ring width and the absence of
a corresponding correlationwithminimum temperature inMarch suggests that above average
early spring temperature is unfavourable for radial growth in lime A physiological
mechanism for this relationship may be that premature loss of winter hardiness followed by
freezing kills or injures expanding tender tissues such as buds flowers leaves and shoots
Moving correlation analysis shows that these relationships start from 1980 for January and
1962 forMarch temperatures Taking into account the 80-year base length of the analysis this
indicates that they have become significant since the 1940s and 1920s respectively Losses of
Figure 7 Contour map showing moving correlation values of climatic variables against HPLIMEring-width indices A moving 80-year base length over the period 1872ndash1997 is used only the lastyear of the interval coefficients significant at a level of (p 005) and months that show $9consecutive years of values in the HPLIME chronology are shown Months in CAPS identify those inthe year prior to ring growth
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 9
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
correlations between ring width and maximum temperatures in April and precipitation in
March and April are also shown to occur around this period from the 1930s While these
observed changes in correlations could relate to the effects of climate change they might
equally be responses to changed age and species composition in the chronology Other
environmental factors such as competition between trees might also be involved
Future research
Apremise of tree-ring studies has long been held that treesmore sensitive to temperature tend
to be found in the high latitudes andor altitudes near their climatically determined limits of
distribution (Fritts 1976) Therefore the sampling of lime trees planted further north is
important to establish a relationship between radial growth and climate near the limits of
limesrsquo range Lime trees have potential to become a useful indicator species for global
warming at high latitudes (Chen Hill Ohlemuller amp Thomas 2011) Radoglou et al (2008)
showed that lime trees grow faster in the first 50 years of life than beech but by the age of 100
years beech stands yield about 30 more than lime Additional research on Tilia might be
considered useful to help predict their future yields and effects under a climate-warming
scenario
The potential to acquire samples useful for dendrochronological analysis by the
cutting of V-sections from the stumps of previously felled trees is highlighted V-
sectioning from where the radii were widest helped overcome the problem of missing rings
in this study and this could be a useful method to gain material for dendrochronological
studies from the stumps left of old trees of all species
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Hampton Court Palace UK We are grateful to Graham Dillamore forthe collection and transportation of samples Donald Pigott and Rikard Andersson made usefulcomments that helped improve this paper
Notes on contributors
Andy K Moir is Director of Tree-Ring Services and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Institutefor the Environment at Brunel University He has worked on the tree-ring analysis of trees andtimber-framed buildings for over 20 years
Suzanne AG Leroy is Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences at Brunel University Herresearch focuses on palaeoclimates palaeoecology and the reconstruction of past natural hazards
References
Arnold A J Howard R E Laxton R R amp Litton C D (2003) Tree-ring analysis of timbersfrom Cobham Hall Cobham Kent English Heritage Centre for Archaeol Rep 502003
Biondi F amp Waikul K (2004) Dendroclime2002 A Cthornthorn program for statistical calibration ofclimate signals in tree-ring chronologies Computer amp Geosciences 30 303ndash311
Blasing T J Solomon A M amp Duvick D N (1984) Response functions revisited Tree-ringBulletin 44 1ndash15
Brett D W (1978) Elm tree rings as a rainfall record Weather 33 87ndash94Briffa K R Osborn T J Schweingruber F H Harris I C Jones P D Shiyatov S G amp
Vaganov E A (2001) Low-frequency temperature variations from a northern tree ring densitynetwork Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 106(D3) 2929ndash2941
Chen I-C Hill J K Ohlemuller R amp Thomas C D (2011) Rapid range shifts of speciesassociated with high levels of climate warming Science 333 1024ndash1026
10 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
Cook E R Briffa K R Shiyatov S G ampMazepa V (1990) Tree-ring standardization and growth-trend estimation In E R Cook amp L A Kairiukstis (Eds) Methods of dendrochronologyApplications in the environmental science Dordrecht Kluwer Academic
Cook E R amp Peters K (1997) Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic andenvironmental change The Holocene 7(3) 361ndash370
Fritts H C (1976) Tree rings and climate New York NY Academic PressGough T (2000) A restoration plan for the Long Water Avenue Hampton Court Place London
Internal Report for the Gardens amp Estate Managers Hampton Court PalaceGray R K S amp Grist N R (2000) Natural regeneration of limes (Tilia spp) in Scotland Locally
widespread and more numerous in 1999 Glasgow Naturalist 23 13ndash16Kelly P M Leuschner H-H Briffa K R amp Harris I C (2002) The climatic interpretation of
pan-European signature years in oak ring-width series The Holocene 12 689ndash695Mayer H (1977) Waldbau auf soziologisch-okologischer Grundlage Stuttgart Gustav Fisher
VerlagMoir A K (1996) A dendrochronological analysis of 9 oak compartments from the Sotterley
Estate Suffolk England An interim report Hungerford Tree-Ring ServicesMoir A K (1999) The dendrochronological potential of modern yew (Taxus baccata) with special
reference to yew from Hampton Court Palace UK New Phytologist 144(3) 479ndash488Moir A K Leroy S A G amp Helama S (2011) Role of substrate on the dendroclimatic response
of Scots pine from varying elevations in Northern Scotland Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 41 822ndash838
Newlands C D (1999) Habitats and rare plants of the Durham and Southern Magnesian Limestonenatural areas with reference to the SSSI series Naturalist 124 23ndash27
North D (2000) A dendrochronological investigation into yew (Taxus baccata) trees on the NorthDowns Greater London (Unpublished MSc thesis) University of Greenwich Greenwich
Pigott C D (1989) Estimation of the age of lime trees (Tilia spp) in parklands from stem diameterand ring counts Arboricultural Journal 13 289ndash302
Pigott C D (1993) The history and ecology of Ancient woodlands In P Beswick I D Rotherhamamp J Parsons (Eds) Ancient woodlands Their archaeology and ecology ndash A coincidence ofinterest Also published in Landscape Archaeology and Ecology 1 1ndash11
Pigott CDampHuntley J P (1980) Factors controlling the distributionofTilia cordata at the northernlimits of its geographical range II History in north-west EnglandNew Phytologist 84 145ndash164
Pigott C D amp Huntley J P (1981) Factors controlling the distribution of Tilia cordata at thenorthern limits of its geographical range III Nature and causes of seed sterility NewPhytologist 87 817ndash839
Radoglou K Dobrowolska D Spyroglou G amp Nicolecu V N (2008) A review on the ecologyand silviculture of limes (Tilia cordata Mill Tilia platyphyllos Scop and Tilia tomentosaMoench) in Europe (pp 1ndash29) Retrieved from httpwwwvalbrouni-freiburgde
Siebenlist-Kerner V (1978) The chronology 1341ndash1636 for certain hillside oaks from WesternEngland and Wales In J M Fletcher (Ed) Dendrochronology in Europe Vol 51 BAR Int Ser(pp 295ndash301) Oxford Archeopress
Stokes M A amp Smiley T L (1968) An introduction to tree ring dating Chicago University ofChicago Press
Wales-Smith B G (1980) Revised monthly and annual totals of rainfall representative of KewSurrey and an updated analysis for 1697ndash1976 Meteorological Office HydrologicalMemorandum 43
Wigley T M L Briffa K R amp Jones P D (1984) On the average value of correlated time-serieswith applications in Dendroclimatology and Hydrometeorology Journal of Climate and AppliedMeteorology 23(2) 201ndash213
White J E J (1998) Estimating the age of large and veteran trees in Britain Forestry CommissionInformation Note 250
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 11
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
Growthndashclimate relationships
The statistical parameters of the standardised chronologies developed are shown in
Table 2 Mean sensitivity the relative change in ring widths from 1 year to the next (high-
frequency signal) is 033 which is high in comparison to values for oak Scots Pine and
yew in the UK First-order autocorrelation a measure of the influence of the previous
yearrsquos growth on the current year (Fritts 1976) is low (029) indicating little persistence
from one yearrsquos growth to the next The EPS value is 094 which is above a 085 value
suggested by Wigley et al (1984) as reasonably strong and suitable for climatic studies
Rainfall in the summer months of May June and August was shown by correlation
analysis to be the strongest determinant of ring width in lime (Figure 6) A positive
relationship between lime growth and rainfall also occurred in winter relating to the
previous November Moving correlation analysis shows that the relationships with
precipitation in May June and the previous November are time stable (Figure 7)
However precipitation in April and July ceased to be a significant factor in growth from
around the 1980s onwards while precipitation in August became significant Correlations
between ring growth and temperature are not time stable (Figure 7)
Discussion
The dendrochronology of lime
This study identifies that lime series cross-matched together and usefully against existing
chronologies of oak and yew It is important not only for estimating the ages of lime trees that
could not successfully be cross-matched but also for estimating the age of standing trees that
Table 2 Cross-matches of HPLIME chronology with oak and yew reference chronologies
File nameStartdate
Enddate t-Value
Overlap(years) Species
Chronology andshort reference
SEYEW11 AD1719 AD2009 702 138 Yew Churchyards of SE England(Moir in preparation)
YATLY-WW AD1829 AD2003 695 138 Oak Wych Wood ndash Yateley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
HPYEW92 AD1690 AD1992 622 127 Yew Hampton Court Palance ndash GTLondon (Moir 1999)
SLG AD1764 AD1993 621 128 Oak Scarles Grove ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
EVSLY-BR AD1815 AD2003 606 138 Oak Brick House ndash Eversley ndashHampshire (Moir unpublished)
SWW AD1806 AD1992 599 127 Oak Southwell Lane ndash SotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HERWOR2 AD1729 AD1969 591 104 Oak Hereford and Cumberland (Sie-benlist-Kerner 1978)
BRIT002 AD1754 AD1979 572 114 Oak Bath ndash Avon (Pilcher unpub-lished)
MSC AD1820 AD1995 550 130 Oak Mendhams Corner ndash ScotterleyEstate ndash Suffolk (Moir 1996)
HVYEW00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Yew Happy Valley ndash Coulsdon ndashLondon (North 2000)
HVOAK00 AD1814 AD2000 538 135 Oak Coulsdon ndash London (North2000)
COBHAM AD1770 AD2001 513 136 Oak Cobham ndash Kent (Arnold et al2003)
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 7
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
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vers
ity O
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es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
can only be girthmeasured (Figures 4 and 5) The likelymaximumandminimum limits of age
for a given radius of a standing tree can be identified from Figure 4 This study confirms a
relatively short lifespan of maiden lime trees in formal avenues Only 1 of the 30 lime trees
sampled could be a survivor from the original planting in 1661 Although not shown here the
earliest campaign of re-planting probably occurred c 1898 (Moir 1996) which suggests that
trees in the avenue had started to die off around 230 years after the original planting It is also
of interest that only after c 1898 large-leaved limes were used in the avenues Whether it
might be possible to extend the 138-year long lime chronology established back further in
time is not clear but the population of ancient lime trees in the north of England (Pigott 1989)
could hold the potential to produce millennium-long chronologies
Insufficient samples of large-leaved limes were available to establish a useful
chronology to identify possible differences in correlations with climate between this
species and hybrids However as cross-matching and growth rates showed no clear
differences all the samples were combined in this analysis A similar approach is typically
Figure 5 Plot of girth against tree age
Figure 6 Correlation functions of the residual chronology with monthly maximum temperature(T-max) minimum temperature (T-min) and precipitation (Prec) Correlations are for an 80-yearperiod (1911ndash1990) Note none of the relationships shown were found to be significant by responsefunction analysis
8 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
applied in the dendrochronological analysis of British oaks (Quercus robur L) and Sessile
Oaks (Quercus petraea) where samples from these two species are usually combined
Some problems in the analysis of lime were encountered in ring boundary
identification and the occurrence of missing rings in older trees Lime appears to be an
intermediate between diffuse-porous and ring-porous tree species The start of each ring is
defined by a ring of xylem parenchyma (Pigott 1989) but these boundaries are often
poorly distinguished In particular narrow rings the boundary was not always present
which can make the identification of an annual ring difficult The width of rings also varied
considerably narrow rings tended to be ldquolocally missingrdquo (ie visible around only part of
the circumference) but ldquofalse ringrdquo boundaries could also occur within a ring (parallel to
the ring boundary) and are difficult to distinguish from true ring boundaries The first 10ndash
20 rings of growth were found to be particularly prone to very narrow rings and so they
could not be reliably measured and were only counted
Physiological relationships with climate
Correlation between ring growth and rainfall in May June and August rainfall is positive
which indicates that higher rainfall tends to lead to the development of wider rings and
conversely lower rainfall leads to narrower rings (probably through water stress) Low
precipitation limiting the radial growth during the growing season is a relationship that
lime shares with yew (Moir et al 2011) and oak
Maximum and minimum temperatures in January indicate that lower mean temperatures
in January are unfavourable for the radial growth in lime Maximum temperatures in March
are unexpectedly shown to have negative relationships with ring width and the absence of
a corresponding correlationwithminimum temperature inMarch suggests that above average
early spring temperature is unfavourable for radial growth in lime A physiological
mechanism for this relationship may be that premature loss of winter hardiness followed by
freezing kills or injures expanding tender tissues such as buds flowers leaves and shoots
Moving correlation analysis shows that these relationships start from 1980 for January and
1962 forMarch temperatures Taking into account the 80-year base length of the analysis this
indicates that they have become significant since the 1940s and 1920s respectively Losses of
Figure 7 Contour map showing moving correlation values of climatic variables against HPLIMEring-width indices A moving 80-year base length over the period 1872ndash1997 is used only the lastyear of the interval coefficients significant at a level of (p 005) and months that show $9consecutive years of values in the HPLIME chronology are shown Months in CAPS identify those inthe year prior to ring growth
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 9
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
correlations between ring width and maximum temperatures in April and precipitation in
March and April are also shown to occur around this period from the 1930s While these
observed changes in correlations could relate to the effects of climate change they might
equally be responses to changed age and species composition in the chronology Other
environmental factors such as competition between trees might also be involved
Future research
Apremise of tree-ring studies has long been held that treesmore sensitive to temperature tend
to be found in the high latitudes andor altitudes near their climatically determined limits of
distribution (Fritts 1976) Therefore the sampling of lime trees planted further north is
important to establish a relationship between radial growth and climate near the limits of
limesrsquo range Lime trees have potential to become a useful indicator species for global
warming at high latitudes (Chen Hill Ohlemuller amp Thomas 2011) Radoglou et al (2008)
showed that lime trees grow faster in the first 50 years of life than beech but by the age of 100
years beech stands yield about 30 more than lime Additional research on Tilia might be
considered useful to help predict their future yields and effects under a climate-warming
scenario
The potential to acquire samples useful for dendrochronological analysis by the
cutting of V-sections from the stumps of previously felled trees is highlighted V-
sectioning from where the radii were widest helped overcome the problem of missing rings
in this study and this could be a useful method to gain material for dendrochronological
studies from the stumps left of old trees of all species
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Hampton Court Palace UK We are grateful to Graham Dillamore forthe collection and transportation of samples Donald Pigott and Rikard Andersson made usefulcomments that helped improve this paper
Notes on contributors
Andy K Moir is Director of Tree-Ring Services and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Institutefor the Environment at Brunel University He has worked on the tree-ring analysis of trees andtimber-framed buildings for over 20 years
Suzanne AG Leroy is Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences at Brunel University Herresearch focuses on palaeoclimates palaeoecology and the reconstruction of past natural hazards
References
Arnold A J Howard R E Laxton R R amp Litton C D (2003) Tree-ring analysis of timbersfrom Cobham Hall Cobham Kent English Heritage Centre for Archaeol Rep 502003
Biondi F amp Waikul K (2004) Dendroclime2002 A Cthornthorn program for statistical calibration ofclimate signals in tree-ring chronologies Computer amp Geosciences 30 303ndash311
Blasing T J Solomon A M amp Duvick D N (1984) Response functions revisited Tree-ringBulletin 44 1ndash15
Brett D W (1978) Elm tree rings as a rainfall record Weather 33 87ndash94Briffa K R Osborn T J Schweingruber F H Harris I C Jones P D Shiyatov S G amp
Vaganov E A (2001) Low-frequency temperature variations from a northern tree ring densitynetwork Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 106(D3) 2929ndash2941
Chen I-C Hill J K Ohlemuller R amp Thomas C D (2011) Rapid range shifts of speciesassociated with high levels of climate warming Science 333 1024ndash1026
10 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
Cook E R Briffa K R Shiyatov S G ampMazepa V (1990) Tree-ring standardization and growth-trend estimation In E R Cook amp L A Kairiukstis (Eds) Methods of dendrochronologyApplications in the environmental science Dordrecht Kluwer Academic
Cook E R amp Peters K (1997) Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic andenvironmental change The Holocene 7(3) 361ndash370
Fritts H C (1976) Tree rings and climate New York NY Academic PressGough T (2000) A restoration plan for the Long Water Avenue Hampton Court Place London
Internal Report for the Gardens amp Estate Managers Hampton Court PalaceGray R K S amp Grist N R (2000) Natural regeneration of limes (Tilia spp) in Scotland Locally
widespread and more numerous in 1999 Glasgow Naturalist 23 13ndash16Kelly P M Leuschner H-H Briffa K R amp Harris I C (2002) The climatic interpretation of
pan-European signature years in oak ring-width series The Holocene 12 689ndash695Mayer H (1977) Waldbau auf soziologisch-okologischer Grundlage Stuttgart Gustav Fisher
VerlagMoir A K (1996) A dendrochronological analysis of 9 oak compartments from the Sotterley
Estate Suffolk England An interim report Hungerford Tree-Ring ServicesMoir A K (1999) The dendrochronological potential of modern yew (Taxus baccata) with special
reference to yew from Hampton Court Palace UK New Phytologist 144(3) 479ndash488Moir A K Leroy S A G amp Helama S (2011) Role of substrate on the dendroclimatic response
of Scots pine from varying elevations in Northern Scotland Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 41 822ndash838
Newlands C D (1999) Habitats and rare plants of the Durham and Southern Magnesian Limestonenatural areas with reference to the SSSI series Naturalist 124 23ndash27
North D (2000) A dendrochronological investigation into yew (Taxus baccata) trees on the NorthDowns Greater London (Unpublished MSc thesis) University of Greenwich Greenwich
Pigott C D (1989) Estimation of the age of lime trees (Tilia spp) in parklands from stem diameterand ring counts Arboricultural Journal 13 289ndash302
Pigott C D (1993) The history and ecology of Ancient woodlands In P Beswick I D Rotherhamamp J Parsons (Eds) Ancient woodlands Their archaeology and ecology ndash A coincidence ofinterest Also published in Landscape Archaeology and Ecology 1 1ndash11
Pigott CDampHuntley J P (1980) Factors controlling the distributionofTilia cordata at the northernlimits of its geographical range II History in north-west EnglandNew Phytologist 84 145ndash164
Pigott C D amp Huntley J P (1981) Factors controlling the distribution of Tilia cordata at thenorthern limits of its geographical range III Nature and causes of seed sterility NewPhytologist 87 817ndash839
Radoglou K Dobrowolska D Spyroglou G amp Nicolecu V N (2008) A review on the ecologyand silviculture of limes (Tilia cordata Mill Tilia platyphyllos Scop and Tilia tomentosaMoench) in Europe (pp 1ndash29) Retrieved from httpwwwvalbrouni-freiburgde
Siebenlist-Kerner V (1978) The chronology 1341ndash1636 for certain hillside oaks from WesternEngland and Wales In J M Fletcher (Ed) Dendrochronology in Europe Vol 51 BAR Int Ser(pp 295ndash301) Oxford Archeopress
Stokes M A amp Smiley T L (1968) An introduction to tree ring dating Chicago University ofChicago Press
Wales-Smith B G (1980) Revised monthly and annual totals of rainfall representative of KewSurrey and an updated analysis for 1697ndash1976 Meteorological Office HydrologicalMemorandum 43
Wigley T M L Briffa K R amp Jones P D (1984) On the average value of correlated time-serieswith applications in Dendroclimatology and Hydrometeorology Journal of Climate and AppliedMeteorology 23(2) 201ndash213
White J E J (1998) Estimating the age of large and veteran trees in Britain Forestry CommissionInformation Note 250
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 11
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
can only be girthmeasured (Figures 4 and 5) The likelymaximumandminimum limits of age
for a given radius of a standing tree can be identified from Figure 4 This study confirms a
relatively short lifespan of maiden lime trees in formal avenues Only 1 of the 30 lime trees
sampled could be a survivor from the original planting in 1661 Although not shown here the
earliest campaign of re-planting probably occurred c 1898 (Moir 1996) which suggests that
trees in the avenue had started to die off around 230 years after the original planting It is also
of interest that only after c 1898 large-leaved limes were used in the avenues Whether it
might be possible to extend the 138-year long lime chronology established back further in
time is not clear but the population of ancient lime trees in the north of England (Pigott 1989)
could hold the potential to produce millennium-long chronologies
Insufficient samples of large-leaved limes were available to establish a useful
chronology to identify possible differences in correlations with climate between this
species and hybrids However as cross-matching and growth rates showed no clear
differences all the samples were combined in this analysis A similar approach is typically
Figure 5 Plot of girth against tree age
Figure 6 Correlation functions of the residual chronology with monthly maximum temperature(T-max) minimum temperature (T-min) and precipitation (Prec) Correlations are for an 80-yearperiod (1911ndash1990) Note none of the relationships shown were found to be significant by responsefunction analysis
8 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
applied in the dendrochronological analysis of British oaks (Quercus robur L) and Sessile
Oaks (Quercus petraea) where samples from these two species are usually combined
Some problems in the analysis of lime were encountered in ring boundary
identification and the occurrence of missing rings in older trees Lime appears to be an
intermediate between diffuse-porous and ring-porous tree species The start of each ring is
defined by a ring of xylem parenchyma (Pigott 1989) but these boundaries are often
poorly distinguished In particular narrow rings the boundary was not always present
which can make the identification of an annual ring difficult The width of rings also varied
considerably narrow rings tended to be ldquolocally missingrdquo (ie visible around only part of
the circumference) but ldquofalse ringrdquo boundaries could also occur within a ring (parallel to
the ring boundary) and are difficult to distinguish from true ring boundaries The first 10ndash
20 rings of growth were found to be particularly prone to very narrow rings and so they
could not be reliably measured and were only counted
Physiological relationships with climate
Correlation between ring growth and rainfall in May June and August rainfall is positive
which indicates that higher rainfall tends to lead to the development of wider rings and
conversely lower rainfall leads to narrower rings (probably through water stress) Low
precipitation limiting the radial growth during the growing season is a relationship that
lime shares with yew (Moir et al 2011) and oak
Maximum and minimum temperatures in January indicate that lower mean temperatures
in January are unfavourable for the radial growth in lime Maximum temperatures in March
are unexpectedly shown to have negative relationships with ring width and the absence of
a corresponding correlationwithminimum temperature inMarch suggests that above average
early spring temperature is unfavourable for radial growth in lime A physiological
mechanism for this relationship may be that premature loss of winter hardiness followed by
freezing kills or injures expanding tender tissues such as buds flowers leaves and shoots
Moving correlation analysis shows that these relationships start from 1980 for January and
1962 forMarch temperatures Taking into account the 80-year base length of the analysis this
indicates that they have become significant since the 1940s and 1920s respectively Losses of
Figure 7 Contour map showing moving correlation values of climatic variables against HPLIMEring-width indices A moving 80-year base length over the period 1872ndash1997 is used only the lastyear of the interval coefficients significant at a level of (p 005) and months that show $9consecutive years of values in the HPLIME chronology are shown Months in CAPS identify those inthe year prior to ring growth
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 9
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
correlations between ring width and maximum temperatures in April and precipitation in
March and April are also shown to occur around this period from the 1930s While these
observed changes in correlations could relate to the effects of climate change they might
equally be responses to changed age and species composition in the chronology Other
environmental factors such as competition between trees might also be involved
Future research
Apremise of tree-ring studies has long been held that treesmore sensitive to temperature tend
to be found in the high latitudes andor altitudes near their climatically determined limits of
distribution (Fritts 1976) Therefore the sampling of lime trees planted further north is
important to establish a relationship between radial growth and climate near the limits of
limesrsquo range Lime trees have potential to become a useful indicator species for global
warming at high latitudes (Chen Hill Ohlemuller amp Thomas 2011) Radoglou et al (2008)
showed that lime trees grow faster in the first 50 years of life than beech but by the age of 100
years beech stands yield about 30 more than lime Additional research on Tilia might be
considered useful to help predict their future yields and effects under a climate-warming
scenario
The potential to acquire samples useful for dendrochronological analysis by the
cutting of V-sections from the stumps of previously felled trees is highlighted V-
sectioning from where the radii were widest helped overcome the problem of missing rings
in this study and this could be a useful method to gain material for dendrochronological
studies from the stumps left of old trees of all species
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Hampton Court Palace UK We are grateful to Graham Dillamore forthe collection and transportation of samples Donald Pigott and Rikard Andersson made usefulcomments that helped improve this paper
Notes on contributors
Andy K Moir is Director of Tree-Ring Services and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Institutefor the Environment at Brunel University He has worked on the tree-ring analysis of trees andtimber-framed buildings for over 20 years
Suzanne AG Leroy is Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences at Brunel University Herresearch focuses on palaeoclimates palaeoecology and the reconstruction of past natural hazards
References
Arnold A J Howard R E Laxton R R amp Litton C D (2003) Tree-ring analysis of timbersfrom Cobham Hall Cobham Kent English Heritage Centre for Archaeol Rep 502003
Biondi F amp Waikul K (2004) Dendroclime2002 A Cthornthorn program for statistical calibration ofclimate signals in tree-ring chronologies Computer amp Geosciences 30 303ndash311
Blasing T J Solomon A M amp Duvick D N (1984) Response functions revisited Tree-ringBulletin 44 1ndash15
Brett D W (1978) Elm tree rings as a rainfall record Weather 33 87ndash94Briffa K R Osborn T J Schweingruber F H Harris I C Jones P D Shiyatov S G amp
Vaganov E A (2001) Low-frequency temperature variations from a northern tree ring densitynetwork Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 106(D3) 2929ndash2941
Chen I-C Hill J K Ohlemuller R amp Thomas C D (2011) Rapid range shifts of speciesassociated with high levels of climate warming Science 333 1024ndash1026
10 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
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rari
es]
at 1
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12
May
201
3
Cook E R Briffa K R Shiyatov S G ampMazepa V (1990) Tree-ring standardization and growth-trend estimation In E R Cook amp L A Kairiukstis (Eds) Methods of dendrochronologyApplications in the environmental science Dordrecht Kluwer Academic
Cook E R amp Peters K (1997) Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic andenvironmental change The Holocene 7(3) 361ndash370
Fritts H C (1976) Tree rings and climate New York NY Academic PressGough T (2000) A restoration plan for the Long Water Avenue Hampton Court Place London
Internal Report for the Gardens amp Estate Managers Hampton Court PalaceGray R K S amp Grist N R (2000) Natural regeneration of limes (Tilia spp) in Scotland Locally
widespread and more numerous in 1999 Glasgow Naturalist 23 13ndash16Kelly P M Leuschner H-H Briffa K R amp Harris I C (2002) The climatic interpretation of
pan-European signature years in oak ring-width series The Holocene 12 689ndash695Mayer H (1977) Waldbau auf soziologisch-okologischer Grundlage Stuttgart Gustav Fisher
VerlagMoir A K (1996) A dendrochronological analysis of 9 oak compartments from the Sotterley
Estate Suffolk England An interim report Hungerford Tree-Ring ServicesMoir A K (1999) The dendrochronological potential of modern yew (Taxus baccata) with special
reference to yew from Hampton Court Palace UK New Phytologist 144(3) 479ndash488Moir A K Leroy S A G amp Helama S (2011) Role of substrate on the dendroclimatic response
of Scots pine from varying elevations in Northern Scotland Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 41 822ndash838
Newlands C D (1999) Habitats and rare plants of the Durham and Southern Magnesian Limestonenatural areas with reference to the SSSI series Naturalist 124 23ndash27
North D (2000) A dendrochronological investigation into yew (Taxus baccata) trees on the NorthDowns Greater London (Unpublished MSc thesis) University of Greenwich Greenwich
Pigott C D (1989) Estimation of the age of lime trees (Tilia spp) in parklands from stem diameterand ring counts Arboricultural Journal 13 289ndash302
Pigott C D (1993) The history and ecology of Ancient woodlands In P Beswick I D Rotherhamamp J Parsons (Eds) Ancient woodlands Their archaeology and ecology ndash A coincidence ofinterest Also published in Landscape Archaeology and Ecology 1 1ndash11
Pigott CDampHuntley J P (1980) Factors controlling the distributionofTilia cordata at the northernlimits of its geographical range II History in north-west EnglandNew Phytologist 84 145ndash164
Pigott C D amp Huntley J P (1981) Factors controlling the distribution of Tilia cordata at thenorthern limits of its geographical range III Nature and causes of seed sterility NewPhytologist 87 817ndash839
Radoglou K Dobrowolska D Spyroglou G amp Nicolecu V N (2008) A review on the ecologyand silviculture of limes (Tilia cordata Mill Tilia platyphyllos Scop and Tilia tomentosaMoench) in Europe (pp 1ndash29) Retrieved from httpwwwvalbrouni-freiburgde
Siebenlist-Kerner V (1978) The chronology 1341ndash1636 for certain hillside oaks from WesternEngland and Wales In J M Fletcher (Ed) Dendrochronology in Europe Vol 51 BAR Int Ser(pp 295ndash301) Oxford Archeopress
Stokes M A amp Smiley T L (1968) An introduction to tree ring dating Chicago University ofChicago Press
Wales-Smith B G (1980) Revised monthly and annual totals of rainfall representative of KewSurrey and an updated analysis for 1697ndash1976 Meteorological Office HydrologicalMemorandum 43
Wigley T M L Briffa K R amp Jones P D (1984) On the average value of correlated time-serieswith applications in Dendroclimatology and Hydrometeorology Journal of Climate and AppliedMeteorology 23(2) 201ndash213
White J E J (1998) Estimating the age of large and veteran trees in Britain Forestry CommissionInformation Note 250
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 11
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
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applied in the dendrochronological analysis of British oaks (Quercus robur L) and Sessile
Oaks (Quercus petraea) where samples from these two species are usually combined
Some problems in the analysis of lime were encountered in ring boundary
identification and the occurrence of missing rings in older trees Lime appears to be an
intermediate between diffuse-porous and ring-porous tree species The start of each ring is
defined by a ring of xylem parenchyma (Pigott 1989) but these boundaries are often
poorly distinguished In particular narrow rings the boundary was not always present
which can make the identification of an annual ring difficult The width of rings also varied
considerably narrow rings tended to be ldquolocally missingrdquo (ie visible around only part of
the circumference) but ldquofalse ringrdquo boundaries could also occur within a ring (parallel to
the ring boundary) and are difficult to distinguish from true ring boundaries The first 10ndash
20 rings of growth were found to be particularly prone to very narrow rings and so they
could not be reliably measured and were only counted
Physiological relationships with climate
Correlation between ring growth and rainfall in May June and August rainfall is positive
which indicates that higher rainfall tends to lead to the development of wider rings and
conversely lower rainfall leads to narrower rings (probably through water stress) Low
precipitation limiting the radial growth during the growing season is a relationship that
lime shares with yew (Moir et al 2011) and oak
Maximum and minimum temperatures in January indicate that lower mean temperatures
in January are unfavourable for the radial growth in lime Maximum temperatures in March
are unexpectedly shown to have negative relationships with ring width and the absence of
a corresponding correlationwithminimum temperature inMarch suggests that above average
early spring temperature is unfavourable for radial growth in lime A physiological
mechanism for this relationship may be that premature loss of winter hardiness followed by
freezing kills or injures expanding tender tissues such as buds flowers leaves and shoots
Moving correlation analysis shows that these relationships start from 1980 for January and
1962 forMarch temperatures Taking into account the 80-year base length of the analysis this
indicates that they have become significant since the 1940s and 1920s respectively Losses of
Figure 7 Contour map showing moving correlation values of climatic variables against HPLIMEring-width indices A moving 80-year base length over the period 1872ndash1997 is used only the lastyear of the interval coefficients significant at a level of (p 005) and months that show $9consecutive years of values in the HPLIME chronology are shown Months in CAPS identify those inthe year prior to ring growth
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 9
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ded
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ity O
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201
3
correlations between ring width and maximum temperatures in April and precipitation in
March and April are also shown to occur around this period from the 1930s While these
observed changes in correlations could relate to the effects of climate change they might
equally be responses to changed age and species composition in the chronology Other
environmental factors such as competition between trees might also be involved
Future research
Apremise of tree-ring studies has long been held that treesmore sensitive to temperature tend
to be found in the high latitudes andor altitudes near their climatically determined limits of
distribution (Fritts 1976) Therefore the sampling of lime trees planted further north is
important to establish a relationship between radial growth and climate near the limits of
limesrsquo range Lime trees have potential to become a useful indicator species for global
warming at high latitudes (Chen Hill Ohlemuller amp Thomas 2011) Radoglou et al (2008)
showed that lime trees grow faster in the first 50 years of life than beech but by the age of 100
years beech stands yield about 30 more than lime Additional research on Tilia might be
considered useful to help predict their future yields and effects under a climate-warming
scenario
The potential to acquire samples useful for dendrochronological analysis by the
cutting of V-sections from the stumps of previously felled trees is highlighted V-
sectioning from where the radii were widest helped overcome the problem of missing rings
in this study and this could be a useful method to gain material for dendrochronological
studies from the stumps left of old trees of all species
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Hampton Court Palace UK We are grateful to Graham Dillamore forthe collection and transportation of samples Donald Pigott and Rikard Andersson made usefulcomments that helped improve this paper
Notes on contributors
Andy K Moir is Director of Tree-Ring Services and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Institutefor the Environment at Brunel University He has worked on the tree-ring analysis of trees andtimber-framed buildings for over 20 years
Suzanne AG Leroy is Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences at Brunel University Herresearch focuses on palaeoclimates palaeoecology and the reconstruction of past natural hazards
References
Arnold A J Howard R E Laxton R R amp Litton C D (2003) Tree-ring analysis of timbersfrom Cobham Hall Cobham Kent English Heritage Centre for Archaeol Rep 502003
Biondi F amp Waikul K (2004) Dendroclime2002 A Cthornthorn program for statistical calibration ofclimate signals in tree-ring chronologies Computer amp Geosciences 30 303ndash311
Blasing T J Solomon A M amp Duvick D N (1984) Response functions revisited Tree-ringBulletin 44 1ndash15
Brett D W (1978) Elm tree rings as a rainfall record Weather 33 87ndash94Briffa K R Osborn T J Schweingruber F H Harris I C Jones P D Shiyatov S G amp
Vaganov E A (2001) Low-frequency temperature variations from a northern tree ring densitynetwork Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 106(D3) 2929ndash2941
Chen I-C Hill J K Ohlemuller R amp Thomas C D (2011) Rapid range shifts of speciesassociated with high levels of climate warming Science 333 1024ndash1026
10 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
Cook E R Briffa K R Shiyatov S G ampMazepa V (1990) Tree-ring standardization and growth-trend estimation In E R Cook amp L A Kairiukstis (Eds) Methods of dendrochronologyApplications in the environmental science Dordrecht Kluwer Academic
Cook E R amp Peters K (1997) Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic andenvironmental change The Holocene 7(3) 361ndash370
Fritts H C (1976) Tree rings and climate New York NY Academic PressGough T (2000) A restoration plan for the Long Water Avenue Hampton Court Place London
Internal Report for the Gardens amp Estate Managers Hampton Court PalaceGray R K S amp Grist N R (2000) Natural regeneration of limes (Tilia spp) in Scotland Locally
widespread and more numerous in 1999 Glasgow Naturalist 23 13ndash16Kelly P M Leuschner H-H Briffa K R amp Harris I C (2002) The climatic interpretation of
pan-European signature years in oak ring-width series The Holocene 12 689ndash695Mayer H (1977) Waldbau auf soziologisch-okologischer Grundlage Stuttgart Gustav Fisher
VerlagMoir A K (1996) A dendrochronological analysis of 9 oak compartments from the Sotterley
Estate Suffolk England An interim report Hungerford Tree-Ring ServicesMoir A K (1999) The dendrochronological potential of modern yew (Taxus baccata) with special
reference to yew from Hampton Court Palace UK New Phytologist 144(3) 479ndash488Moir A K Leroy S A G amp Helama S (2011) Role of substrate on the dendroclimatic response
of Scots pine from varying elevations in Northern Scotland Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 41 822ndash838
Newlands C D (1999) Habitats and rare plants of the Durham and Southern Magnesian Limestonenatural areas with reference to the SSSI series Naturalist 124 23ndash27
North D (2000) A dendrochronological investigation into yew (Taxus baccata) trees on the NorthDowns Greater London (Unpublished MSc thesis) University of Greenwich Greenwich
Pigott C D (1989) Estimation of the age of lime trees (Tilia spp) in parklands from stem diameterand ring counts Arboricultural Journal 13 289ndash302
Pigott C D (1993) The history and ecology of Ancient woodlands In P Beswick I D Rotherhamamp J Parsons (Eds) Ancient woodlands Their archaeology and ecology ndash A coincidence ofinterest Also published in Landscape Archaeology and Ecology 1 1ndash11
Pigott CDampHuntley J P (1980) Factors controlling the distributionofTilia cordata at the northernlimits of its geographical range II History in north-west EnglandNew Phytologist 84 145ndash164
Pigott C D amp Huntley J P (1981) Factors controlling the distribution of Tilia cordata at thenorthern limits of its geographical range III Nature and causes of seed sterility NewPhytologist 87 817ndash839
Radoglou K Dobrowolska D Spyroglou G amp Nicolecu V N (2008) A review on the ecologyand silviculture of limes (Tilia cordata Mill Tilia platyphyllos Scop and Tilia tomentosaMoench) in Europe (pp 1ndash29) Retrieved from httpwwwvalbrouni-freiburgde
Siebenlist-Kerner V (1978) The chronology 1341ndash1636 for certain hillside oaks from WesternEngland and Wales In J M Fletcher (Ed) Dendrochronology in Europe Vol 51 BAR Int Ser(pp 295ndash301) Oxford Archeopress
Stokes M A amp Smiley T L (1968) An introduction to tree ring dating Chicago University ofChicago Press
Wales-Smith B G (1980) Revised monthly and annual totals of rainfall representative of KewSurrey and an updated analysis for 1697ndash1976 Meteorological Office HydrologicalMemorandum 43
Wigley T M L Briffa K R amp Jones P D (1984) On the average value of correlated time-serieswith applications in Dendroclimatology and Hydrometeorology Journal of Climate and AppliedMeteorology 23(2) 201ndash213
White J E J (1998) Estimating the age of large and veteran trees in Britain Forestry CommissionInformation Note 250
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 11
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
correlations between ring width and maximum temperatures in April and precipitation in
March and April are also shown to occur around this period from the 1930s While these
observed changes in correlations could relate to the effects of climate change they might
equally be responses to changed age and species composition in the chronology Other
environmental factors such as competition between trees might also be involved
Future research
Apremise of tree-ring studies has long been held that treesmore sensitive to temperature tend
to be found in the high latitudes andor altitudes near their climatically determined limits of
distribution (Fritts 1976) Therefore the sampling of lime trees planted further north is
important to establish a relationship between radial growth and climate near the limits of
limesrsquo range Lime trees have potential to become a useful indicator species for global
warming at high latitudes (Chen Hill Ohlemuller amp Thomas 2011) Radoglou et al (2008)
showed that lime trees grow faster in the first 50 years of life than beech but by the age of 100
years beech stands yield about 30 more than lime Additional research on Tilia might be
considered useful to help predict their future yields and effects under a climate-warming
scenario
The potential to acquire samples useful for dendrochronological analysis by the
cutting of V-sections from the stumps of previously felled trees is highlighted V-
sectioning from where the radii were widest helped overcome the problem of missing rings
in this study and this could be a useful method to gain material for dendrochronological
studies from the stumps left of old trees of all species
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Hampton Court Palace UK We are grateful to Graham Dillamore forthe collection and transportation of samples Donald Pigott and Rikard Andersson made usefulcomments that helped improve this paper
Notes on contributors
Andy K Moir is Director of Tree-Ring Services and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Institutefor the Environment at Brunel University He has worked on the tree-ring analysis of trees andtimber-framed buildings for over 20 years
Suzanne AG Leroy is Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences at Brunel University Herresearch focuses on palaeoclimates palaeoecology and the reconstruction of past natural hazards
References
Arnold A J Howard R E Laxton R R amp Litton C D (2003) Tree-ring analysis of timbersfrom Cobham Hall Cobham Kent English Heritage Centre for Archaeol Rep 502003
Biondi F amp Waikul K (2004) Dendroclime2002 A Cthornthorn program for statistical calibration ofclimate signals in tree-ring chronologies Computer amp Geosciences 30 303ndash311
Blasing T J Solomon A M amp Duvick D N (1984) Response functions revisited Tree-ringBulletin 44 1ndash15
Brett D W (1978) Elm tree rings as a rainfall record Weather 33 87ndash94Briffa K R Osborn T J Schweingruber F H Harris I C Jones P D Shiyatov S G amp
Vaganov E A (2001) Low-frequency temperature variations from a northern tree ring densitynetwork Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 106(D3) 2929ndash2941
Chen I-C Hill J K Ohlemuller R amp Thomas C D (2011) Rapid range shifts of speciesassociated with high levels of climate warming Science 333 1024ndash1026
10 AK Moir and SAG Leroy
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
Cook E R Briffa K R Shiyatov S G ampMazepa V (1990) Tree-ring standardization and growth-trend estimation In E R Cook amp L A Kairiukstis (Eds) Methods of dendrochronologyApplications in the environmental science Dordrecht Kluwer Academic
Cook E R amp Peters K (1997) Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic andenvironmental change The Holocene 7(3) 361ndash370
Fritts H C (1976) Tree rings and climate New York NY Academic PressGough T (2000) A restoration plan for the Long Water Avenue Hampton Court Place London
Internal Report for the Gardens amp Estate Managers Hampton Court PalaceGray R K S amp Grist N R (2000) Natural regeneration of limes (Tilia spp) in Scotland Locally
widespread and more numerous in 1999 Glasgow Naturalist 23 13ndash16Kelly P M Leuschner H-H Briffa K R amp Harris I C (2002) The climatic interpretation of
pan-European signature years in oak ring-width series The Holocene 12 689ndash695Mayer H (1977) Waldbau auf soziologisch-okologischer Grundlage Stuttgart Gustav Fisher
VerlagMoir A K (1996) A dendrochronological analysis of 9 oak compartments from the Sotterley
Estate Suffolk England An interim report Hungerford Tree-Ring ServicesMoir A K (1999) The dendrochronological potential of modern yew (Taxus baccata) with special
reference to yew from Hampton Court Palace UK New Phytologist 144(3) 479ndash488Moir A K Leroy S A G amp Helama S (2011) Role of substrate on the dendroclimatic response
of Scots pine from varying elevations in Northern Scotland Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 41 822ndash838
Newlands C D (1999) Habitats and rare plants of the Durham and Southern Magnesian Limestonenatural areas with reference to the SSSI series Naturalist 124 23ndash27
North D (2000) A dendrochronological investigation into yew (Taxus baccata) trees on the NorthDowns Greater London (Unpublished MSc thesis) University of Greenwich Greenwich
Pigott C D (1989) Estimation of the age of lime trees (Tilia spp) in parklands from stem diameterand ring counts Arboricultural Journal 13 289ndash302
Pigott C D (1993) The history and ecology of Ancient woodlands In P Beswick I D Rotherhamamp J Parsons (Eds) Ancient woodlands Their archaeology and ecology ndash A coincidence ofinterest Also published in Landscape Archaeology and Ecology 1 1ndash11
Pigott CDampHuntley J P (1980) Factors controlling the distributionofTilia cordata at the northernlimits of its geographical range II History in north-west EnglandNew Phytologist 84 145ndash164
Pigott C D amp Huntley J P (1981) Factors controlling the distribution of Tilia cordata at thenorthern limits of its geographical range III Nature and causes of seed sterility NewPhytologist 87 817ndash839
Radoglou K Dobrowolska D Spyroglou G amp Nicolecu V N (2008) A review on the ecologyand silviculture of limes (Tilia cordata Mill Tilia platyphyllos Scop and Tilia tomentosaMoench) in Europe (pp 1ndash29) Retrieved from httpwwwvalbrouni-freiburgde
Siebenlist-Kerner V (1978) The chronology 1341ndash1636 for certain hillside oaks from WesternEngland and Wales In J M Fletcher (Ed) Dendrochronology in Europe Vol 51 BAR Int Ser(pp 295ndash301) Oxford Archeopress
Stokes M A amp Smiley T L (1968) An introduction to tree ring dating Chicago University ofChicago Press
Wales-Smith B G (1980) Revised monthly and annual totals of rainfall representative of KewSurrey and an updated analysis for 1697ndash1976 Meteorological Office HydrologicalMemorandum 43
Wigley T M L Briffa K R amp Jones P D (1984) On the average value of correlated time-serieswith applications in Dendroclimatology and Hydrometeorology Journal of Climate and AppliedMeteorology 23(2) 201ndash213
White J E J (1998) Estimating the age of large and veteran trees in Britain Forestry CommissionInformation Note 250
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 11
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3
Cook E R Briffa K R Shiyatov S G ampMazepa V (1990) Tree-ring standardization and growth-trend estimation In E R Cook amp L A Kairiukstis (Eds) Methods of dendrochronologyApplications in the environmental science Dordrecht Kluwer Academic
Cook E R amp Peters K (1997) Calculating unbiased tree-ring indices for the study of climatic andenvironmental change The Holocene 7(3) 361ndash370
Fritts H C (1976) Tree rings and climate New York NY Academic PressGough T (2000) A restoration plan for the Long Water Avenue Hampton Court Place London
Internal Report for the Gardens amp Estate Managers Hampton Court PalaceGray R K S amp Grist N R (2000) Natural regeneration of limes (Tilia spp) in Scotland Locally
widespread and more numerous in 1999 Glasgow Naturalist 23 13ndash16Kelly P M Leuschner H-H Briffa K R amp Harris I C (2002) The climatic interpretation of
pan-European signature years in oak ring-width series The Holocene 12 689ndash695Mayer H (1977) Waldbau auf soziologisch-okologischer Grundlage Stuttgart Gustav Fisher
VerlagMoir A K (1996) A dendrochronological analysis of 9 oak compartments from the Sotterley
Estate Suffolk England An interim report Hungerford Tree-Ring ServicesMoir A K (1999) The dendrochronological potential of modern yew (Taxus baccata) with special
reference to yew from Hampton Court Palace UK New Phytologist 144(3) 479ndash488Moir A K Leroy S A G amp Helama S (2011) Role of substrate on the dendroclimatic response
of Scots pine from varying elevations in Northern Scotland Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 41 822ndash838
Newlands C D (1999) Habitats and rare plants of the Durham and Southern Magnesian Limestonenatural areas with reference to the SSSI series Naturalist 124 23ndash27
North D (2000) A dendrochronological investigation into yew (Taxus baccata) trees on the NorthDowns Greater London (Unpublished MSc thesis) University of Greenwich Greenwich
Pigott C D (1989) Estimation of the age of lime trees (Tilia spp) in parklands from stem diameterand ring counts Arboricultural Journal 13 289ndash302
Pigott C D (1993) The history and ecology of Ancient woodlands In P Beswick I D Rotherhamamp J Parsons (Eds) Ancient woodlands Their archaeology and ecology ndash A coincidence ofinterest Also published in Landscape Archaeology and Ecology 1 1ndash11
Pigott CDampHuntley J P (1980) Factors controlling the distributionofTilia cordata at the northernlimits of its geographical range II History in north-west EnglandNew Phytologist 84 145ndash164
Pigott C D amp Huntley J P (1981) Factors controlling the distribution of Tilia cordata at thenorthern limits of its geographical range III Nature and causes of seed sterility NewPhytologist 87 817ndash839
Radoglou K Dobrowolska D Spyroglou G amp Nicolecu V N (2008) A review on the ecologyand silviculture of limes (Tilia cordata Mill Tilia platyphyllos Scop and Tilia tomentosaMoench) in Europe (pp 1ndash29) Retrieved from httpwwwvalbrouni-freiburgde
Siebenlist-Kerner V (1978) The chronology 1341ndash1636 for certain hillside oaks from WesternEngland and Wales In J M Fletcher (Ed) Dendrochronology in Europe Vol 51 BAR Int Ser(pp 295ndash301) Oxford Archeopress
Stokes M A amp Smiley T L (1968) An introduction to tree ring dating Chicago University ofChicago Press
Wales-Smith B G (1980) Revised monthly and annual totals of rainfall representative of KewSurrey and an updated analysis for 1697ndash1976 Meteorological Office HydrologicalMemorandum 43
Wigley T M L Briffa K R amp Jones P D (1984) On the average value of correlated time-serieswith applications in Dendroclimatology and Hydrometeorology Journal of Climate and AppliedMeteorology 23(2) 201ndash213
White J E J (1998) Estimating the age of large and veteran trees in Britain Forestry CommissionInformation Note 250
Arboricultural Journal The International Journal of Urban Forestry 11
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
The
Uni
vers
ity O
f M
elbo
urne
Lib
rari
es]
at 1
059
12
May
201
3