Phenology Assignment:

Climate Change Affecting Animals and Plants:

Our climate is changing due to both humans, and natural reasons. The
changing of the climate has affected the animals and plants around the
world in many ways. For example, rising temperatures have affected
many birds in a sense that many birds around the world dont migrate
anymore, because the climate in the place theyre living has raised enough
to be suitable for the birds all year round. If birds do migrate, they will
not travel as far as they normally would because of rising temperatures.
Many animals are also waking from hibernation earlier due to climate
change. Plants are being affected by climate change too. Many flowers are
blooming much faster and early in the year and they are also living for
longer periods of time. Also, as the climate starts changing, plants will
have to start evolving; some plants will evolve faster than others, allowing
them to become the dominant species. Coral reefs will also be affected
greatly by climate change. Due to temperature rising water has gotten
warmer, which causes coral bleaching. This type of damage to coral reefs
destroys the habitat of many sea creatures and obstructs the food chain of
the ocean.
Collection of Evidence for Global Warming:
Studying Peat Bogs:
Peat is an accumulation of poorly decayed organic matter; it mostly
consists of dead plants. Peat bogs allow scientists to look at temperature
as far back as the last age (12,000 years ago). Scientists use pollen that fell
in the peat bog and bog beetles to study the climate.
Pollen:
Pollen that fell in the bogs help scientists find out about the climate at
different points in the past. Pollen is useful for studying the past
because:
-Pollen is produced is large quantities.
-Pollens outer layer is very tough and resistant to decay.
-Each plant creates its own type of pollen, allowing scientists to study
different types of plants.

-Peat forms in layers, so pollen from different ages will be in each layer.
-Some plants create pollen with certain temperatures, so if the type of
pollen that is found on one layer is created with hot weather we can
assume that when the layer was created the temperature was hot.
Bog Beetles:
Apart from plants, insects can also be found in peat bogs. Bog beetles
provide a more precise measure of climate change in the past. This is
because insect populations respond to climate change much faster than
plants do.
Tree-ring Analysis Dendrochronology:
Dendrochronology is the science or technique of dating events,
environmental change, and archaeological artifacts by using the
characteristic patterns of annual growth rings in timber and tree trunks.
If you find that the ring made in the year 1326 was wider than that made
the year 1327, it means that the tree grew more the year 1326. This
indicates that climate during that year was warmer and/or wetter. Tree
rings do not only give precise dates, but also clues about the pasts
climate.

Tree-ring Analysis Dendrochronology:

As we saw before, dendrochronology is the technique of dating events by
using the characteristic patterns of annual growth rings in timber and
tree trunks. The word is formed by three words:
Ology The study of.
Chronos Time
Dendros Using trees
Dendrochronology has three main practical applications; the first is to put
the present in proper historical context. The second is to better
understand current environmental processes and conditions, and the
third is to improve understanding of possible future environmental
issues.
Dendrochronologists do not simply count the rings to find the date of
each ring. Ring counting leads to the incorrect dating of tree rings. To
assure accurate dating, various techniques of cross dating are used. One
method of cross dating is skeleton plotting.
Skeleton Plotting:
Skeleton plotting is the process of marking a trees ring width variation
on graph paper, and then similar patterns of variation in individual plots
are matched among trees.
Basics of Ring Formation:
Knowing the basics of ring formation is key to be able to use skeleton
plotting and other cross dating techniques.
Conifer Tree Ring
Earlywood
-Appears light in color
-Cells have thin walls, large diameter.
Latewood
-Appears dark in color.
-Cells have thick walls, small diameter.

Angiosperm Tree Ring:

Earlywood
-Cells have large diameter vessels.
Latewood
-Cells have smaller diameter vessels.

False Bands/Rings:
-False bands are differentiated from true rings by their cellular structure.
-False bands are dateable but not by ring counting.