This item is part of the Tree-Ring Research (formerly Tree-Ring Bulletin) archive. For more information about this peer-reviewed scholarly journal, please email the Editor of Tree-Ring Research at editor@treeringsociety.org

Aguilera-Betti, I.

Apaz, P.

Christie, D.

Duarte, F.

Fernandez, A.

Figueroa, G.

González, M.E.

González-Reyes, Á.

Lara, A.

Moreira-Muñoz, A.

Muñoz, A.A.

Olea, M.

Sauchyn, D.

Sheppard, P.R.

Stahle, D.

Toledo-Guerrero, I.

Tree-Ring Research

The University of Arizona

TREE-RING RESEARCH, Vol. 73(1), 2017, pp. 53–56DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3959/1536-1098-73.1.53SCIENTIFIC ADVISORYTHE FIRST MILLENNIUM-AGE ARAUCARIA ARAUCANA IN PATAGONIAISABELLA AGUILERA-BETTI1*, ARIEL A. MUÑOZ1, DANIEL STAHLE2, GINO FIGUEROA1,3,FERNANDO DUARTE1, ÁLVARO GONZÁLEZ-REYES4,5, DUNCAN CHRISTIE6, ANTONIO LARA6,MAURO E. GONZÁLEZ6, PAUL R. SHEPPARD7, DAVID SAUCHYN8, ANDRÉS MOREIRA-MUÑOZ9,ISADORA TOLEDO-GUERRERO1, MATÍAS OLEA1, PABLO APAZ1,10, and ALFONSO FERNANDEZ111Laboratorio de Dendrocronología y Estudios Ambientales, Instituto de Geografía, Pontificia Universidad Católica deValparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile2Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA3Universidad Andrés Bello, Viña del Mar, Chile4Departamento de Geología, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile5Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile6Laboratorio de Dendrocronología y Cambio Global, Instituto de Conservación, Biodiversidad y Territorio, UniversidadAustral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile7Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA8Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative, University of Regina, Regina, Canada9Instituto de Geografía, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile10Paisaje Antofagasta LTDA, Antofagasta, Chile11Departamento de Geografía, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, ChileKeywords: Araucaria araucana, Pehuén, Llaima Volcano, Parque Nacional Conguillio, EndangeredSpecies, Millennium-old Araucaria.GENERAL BACKGROUND ONARAUCARIA ARAUCANA FORESTSThe iconic conifer Araucaria araucana (Arau-caria), called Pehuén by native people, is an en-demic species of the Andes of northern Patago-nia in Chile and Argentina. Its range encompassesonly three degrees of latitude (37◦20′ – 40◦20′S)with a small outlying presence in the coastal moun-tains of Chile (Veblen et al. 1995). The speciesis classified as endangered (Premoli et al. 2013)because of extensive logging and human-set fires.Araucaria araucana has a long history of ethno-biological importance. For centuries the Pehuénfruits have been a vital sustainable food source forthe Pehuenche people (Mapuche) and today thegrowing industry of ecotourism indirectly servesto protect these forests (Aagesen 1998; González* Corresponding author: isabella.aguilerab@gmail.comet al. 2013). After a long history of human de-struction of A. araucana forests, which reducedits range to half its original distribution, Chileand Argentina now legally protect this endangeredspecies. These ecosystems continue to be threat-ened by logging, fires, and extensive livestock use.These factors, and the potential threats posed byclimate change, are among the main challengesto A. araucana conservation (González and Lara2015).THE CHALLENGE OF FINDING OLDA. ARAUCANA TREESIn the mid-1950s, Edmund Schulman wasthe first dendrochronologist to carry out samplingin Argentina and Chile, and he built the firstchronologies of Fitzroya cupressoides and A. arau-cana (Schulman 1956). After Schulman, from 1973to 1978 Richard Holmes and Valmore LaMarcheCopyright C© 2017 by The Tree-Ring Society 5354 AGUILERA-BETTI ET AL.Figure 1. (A) An image of the A. araucana tree-ring collection site at Captrén, Llaima Volcano, Chile. (B) Five of the longest A.araucana tree-ring growth series of individual trees from different sites across the Andes are plotted. Notice that the millennium-agetree from Captrén displays a continuously crossdated growth series over a thousand years in length. (C) A map of northern Patagoniadisplays the distribution of Araucaria araucana in blue, green triangles indicate the locations of A. araucana tree-ring collection sites,and orange circles indicate the locations of the longest growth series plotted in (B).were the first researchers to extensively collect tree-ring samples of A. araucana, crossdate the tree ringsand develop chronologies (Holmes 1978; LaMarcheet al. 1979, Suarez et al. 2014). Additional informa-tion about the first dendrochronological samplingcampaigns in the Southern Andes can be foundin Suarez et al. (2014). During these early collec-tions, some of the oldest individuals of A. arau-cana were discovered, reaching more than 800 yearsold. After more than 50 years of tree-ring researchand contrary to the popular belief in Chile andArgentina of the existence of millennium-aged A.araucana trees, not a single tree-ring sample reach-ing one thousand years old had been documented.Over these five decades of tree-ring research in A.araucana forests, challenges to building long tree-ring chronologies have been (i) the scarcity of vir-gin stands of old trees given the high impact of log-ging and human induced fires, (ii) the difficulty offinding well-defined growth rings in samples fromsites experiencing growth-limiting conditions suchas high elevations or well-drained volcanic sub-strate, and (iii) A. araucana wood decomposes at ahigh rate. Sub-fossil wood quickly degrades on theforest floor, although some living trees experienceheart-rot, where the core of the stem rots out, mak-ing it impossible to reach the pith and accuratelydetermine the age of the tree. The examination ofsub-aquatic wood preserved in Andean lakes couldprovide a new approach to extending chronologiesof the species.INFORMATION FROM A. ARAUCANATREE-RING RESEARCHScientists from Chile, Argentina, and othercountries have analyzed more than 1780 tree-ringsamples of A. araucana, producing more than 37tree-ring chronologies from sites across its entiredistribution (Figure 1). This valuable tree-ring ma-terial has been used for dendroclimatological stud-ies reconstructing streamflow variability of Chileanand Argentinean rivers (Holmes et al. 1979; Mundoet al. 2012a; Muñoz et al. 2016), temperature (Vil-lalba et al. 1989), hemispheric-scale variations inmodes of atmospheric circulation (Villalba et al.2012), and to fill gaps in century-long instrumen-tal precipitation records from the Chilean Patag-onia (González-Reyes and Muñoz 2013). Arau-caria araucana also has been used in dendroeco-logical studies of forest dynamics (González et al.2010; Hadad et al. 2015a), tree-growth, climate andseed production relationships (Hadad et al. 2016),spatio-temporal climate-growth analyses (Mundoet al. 2012b; Muñoz et al. 2014), and fire history re-constructions (González et al. 2005, 2006; Mundoet al. 2013). During the last decade, A. araucanatree rings have been used to detect the 14C “BombPeak” corroborated by the annual resolution of itsgrowth rings (Hadad et al. 2015b), utilized in pre-liminary δ13C and δ18O isotopes studies (Tognettiet al. 2012), and in the analysis of chemical elementmarkers to detect the occurrence of past volcanicThe Oldest Araucaria Tree Documented 55eruptions (Puchi et al. 2016). Furthermore, the needfor developing millennium-long climate reconstruc-tions in the Southern Hemisphere has renewed theinterest of the international tree-ring community inthe use of A. araucana records from the northernPatagonian Andes (Mundo et al. 2012b).THE DISCOVERYIn the summer season of 2015–2016, col-leagues from Chile, United States, and Canada,collected samples from an old-growth stand of A.araucana at the Captrén site near Llaima volcano(38◦39′S, 71◦41′W) in Conguillío National Park,southern Chilean Andes. This collection providesthe first sample of a living, annually crossdated treegrowing over 1000 years, reaching 1021 years old.Previous to this campaign, the Captrén chronol-ogy started in the year 1664, but now this chronol-ogy is the longest of the A. araucana network, be-ginning in the year 994. The second oldest tree inthis chronology was 975 years old at the time ofsampling, implying the existence of more trees ofgreat age at the site. From the complete networkof A. araucana chronologies, only a few came fromsites located close to volcanoes, probably becausethe main dendrochronological studies of the specieshave been related to fire ecology and climatic signalsin the growth patterns. In addition, the existence ofthese old trees on the slopes of Llaima volcano indi-cates the relative stability and moderate severity ofthe eruptions at the site even though this volcanois one of the most active in the southern Andes.The relatively short historical record of the LlaimaVolcano eruptive activity starts in the year 1640(Dzierma and Wehrmann 2010). Although some re-searchers have reconstructed eruptions using varvesediments, this new A. araucana chronology fromthe Captrén site could provide a higher resolutioninter-annual record of volcanic activity and serve tocorroborate both the historical and reconstructedrecords.CONCLUSIONSMillennial-length tree-ring chronologies of A.araucana have great potential to help answer rele-vant questions posed by climate change and naturalhazards such as volcanic activity and fire. Therefore,the effective protection of A. araucana must be se-cured to preserve one of the world’s most importantbotanical legacies. This finding serves to commem-orate and recognize the efforts of the many den-drochronologists who have studied A. araucana andreinforces the importance of future tree-ring stud-ies of this species. Finally, this finding confirms thepopular belief of the existence millennium-aged A.araucana individuals.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSSupport was provided by the Chilean ResearchCouncil (FONDECYT 1151427), the Center forClimate and Resilience Research (CR)2 (FONDAP15110009) and Proyectos Internos Pontificia Uni-versidad Católica de Valparaíso (039.353/2016 and039.329/2016). This study was completed using thefacilities of the Prairie Adaptation Research Col-laborative (PARC) at the University of Regina,Canada, where support came from the IDRC spon-sored VACEA project. We thank the many re-searchers from different countries who have been in-volved in Araucaria araucana studies, in particularwe acknowledge; Ignacio Mundo, Martín Hadad,Waldo Iglesias, César Pérez, Mauricio Espinoza,Carlos LeQuesne, Ricardo Villalba, Paulina Puchi,Fidel Roig, Moisés Rojas and Ricardo Moreno.Special gratitude is extended to the Chilean ForestService (Corporación Nacional Forestal: CONAF)for helping with fieldwork and giving us the supportto develop dendrochronological research in Arau-caria ecosystems.REFERENCES CITEDAagesen, D. L., 1998. Indigenous rights and conservation of themonkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana Araucariaceae): Acase study from Southern Chile. Economic Botany 52(2):46–160.Dzierma, Y., and H. Wehrmann, 2010. Eruption time seriesstatistically examined: Probabilities of future eruptions atVillarrica and Llaima Volcanoes, Southern Volcanic Zone,Chile. Journal of Volcanology Geothermal Research 193:82–92.González, M. E., M. Cortes, L. Gallo, S. Bekessy, C. Echever-ría, F. Izquierdo, and P. Montaldo, 2013. Coníferas chilenas:Araucaria araucana. In Las especies arbóreas de los bosquestemplados de Chile y Argentina. Autoecología, edited by Clau-dio Donoso Zegeres, pp. 36–53. Marisa Cuneo Ediciones, Val-divia, Chile.56 AGUILERA-BETTI ET AL.González, M. E., T. T. Veblen, and J. S. Sibold, 2005. Fire historyof Araucaria–Nothofagus forests in Villarrica National Park,Chile. Journal of Biogeography 32:187–1202.González, M. E., and A. Lara, 2015. Large fires in the AndeanAraucaria forests: When a natural ecological process becomesa threat. Oryx 49(3):389–395.González, M. E., and T. T. Veblen, 2006. Climatic influ-ences on fire in Araucaria araucana–Nothofagus forests inthe Andean cordillera of south-central Chile. Ecoscience 13:342–350.González, M. E., T. T. Veblen, and J. S. Sibold, 2010. In-fluence of fire severity on stand development of Arau-caria araucana—Nothofagus pumilio stands in the An-dean cordillera of south-central Chile. Austral Ecology 35:597–615.González-Reyes, A., and A. A. Muñoz, 2013. Cambios en la pre-cipitación de la ciudad de Valdivia (Chile) durante los últimos150 años. Bosque 34(2):200–213.Hadad, M. A., and F. A. Roig, 2016. Sex-related climate sensi-tivity of Araucaria araucana Patagonian forest-steppe ecotone.Forest Ecology and Management 362:130–141.Hadad, M. A., F. A. Roig, J. A. Boninsegna, and D. Patón, 2015a.Age effects on the climatic signal in Araucaria araucana fromxeric sites in Patagonia, Argentina. Plant Ecology & Diversity8(3):343-351.Hadad, M. A., G. M. Santos, F. A. Roig, and C. S. G.Grainger, 2015b. Annual nature of the growth rings of Arau-caria araucana confirmed by radiocarbon analysis. QuaternaryGeochronology 30:42–47.Holmes, R. L., 1978. Informe preliminar sobre el trabajode terreno en Argentina y Chile 1975–1978. Instituto Ar-gentino de Nivología y Glaciología (IANIGLA), Mendoza,Argentina.Holmes, R. L., C. W. Stockton, and V. C. LaMarche, 1979. Ex-tension of river flow records in Argentina from long tree-ringchronologies. Journal of the American Water Resources Associ-ation 15:1081–1085.LaMarche, V. C., R. L. Holmes, P. Dunwiddie, and L. Drew,1979. Tree-ring chronologies of the Southern Hemisphere 1. Ar-gentina. Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Ari-zona, Tucson.Mundo, I. A., T. Kitzberger, F. A. Roig, R. Villalba, and M. D.Barrera, 2013. Fire history in the Araucaria araucana forests ofArgentina: Human and climate influences. International Jour-nal of Wildland Fire 22:194–206.Mundo, I. A., M. H. Masiokas, R. Villalba, M. S. Morales,R. Neukom, C. Le Quesne, R. Urrutia, and A. Lara, 2012a.Multi-century tree-ring based reconstruction of the NeuquénRiver streamflow, northern Patagonia, Argentina. Climate ofthe Past 8:815–829.Mundo, I. A, F. A. Roig, R. Villalba, T. Kitzberger, and M. D.Barrera, 2012b. Araucaria araucana tree-ring chronologies inArgentina: Spatial growth variations and climate influences.Trees 26:443–458.Muñoz, A. A., J. Barichivich, D. A. Christie, W. Dorigo,D. Sauchyn, A. González-Reyes, R. Villalba, A. Lara, N.Riquelme, and M. E. González, 2014. Patterns and drivers ofAraucaria araucana forest growth along a biophysical gradi-ent in the northern Patagonian Andes: Linking tree-rings withsatellite observations of soil moisture. Austral Ecology 39:158–169.Muñoz, A. A., A. González-Reyes, A. Lara, D. Sauchyn, D. A.Christie, P. Puchi, R. Urrutia-Jalabert, I. Toledo-Guerrero, I.Aguilera-Betti, I. Mundo, P. R. Sheppard, D. Stahle, R. Vil-lalba, P. Szejner, C. LeQuesne, and J. Vanstone, 2016. Stream-flow variability in the Chilean Temperate-Mediterranean cli-mate transition (35◦S–42◦S) during the last 400 years inferredfrom tree-ring records. Climate Dynamics, doi:10.1007/s00382-016-3068-9.Premoli, A., P. Quiroga, and M. Gardner, 2013. Araucariaaraucana. The IUCN red list of threatened species 2013:e.T31355A2805113. Downloaded on 29 November 2016.Puchi, P., A. A Muñoz, I. Toledo-Guerrero, I. Aguilera-Betti, P.Sheppard, P. Apaz, and A. González-Reyes, 2016. The poten-tial of Araucaria araucana growth patterns to extend the erup-tion chronology of Volcano Villarrica, Chile. In Proceedingof the Third American Dendrochronology Conference (AbstractVolume). Mendoza, Argentina.Suarez, M. L, 2014. Revisiting a small part of the early work ofLamarche and collaborators in South America. Tree-Ring Re-search 70(1):49–53.Schulman, E., 1956. Dendroclimatic Changes in Semiarid Amer-ica. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Veblen, T. T., B. R. Burns, T. Kitzberger, A. Lara, and A. Vil-lalba, 1995. The ecology of the conifers of southern SouthAmerica. In Ecology of the southern conifers, edited by N. J.Enright, and R. S. Hill, pp. 129–135. Melbourne UniversityPress, Carlton, Victoria.Villalba R., J. Boninsegna, and D. R Cobos, 1989. A tree-ringreconstruction of summer temperature between A.D. 1500and 1974 in western Argentina. In Third International Con-ference on Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanogra-phy Buenos Aires, Argentina, Extended Abstracts, pp. 196–197.American Meteorological Society, Boston.Villalba, R., A. Lara, M. H. Masiokas, R. B. Urrutia, B. H.Luckman, G. J. Marshall, I. A. Mundo, D. A. Christie, E.R. Cook, R. Neukom, K. Allen, P. Fenwick, J. A. Bonin-segna, A. M. Srur, M. S. Morales, D. Araneo, J. G. Palmer,E. Cuq, J. C. Aravena, A. Holz, and C. Le Quesne, 2012. Un-usual Southern Hemisphere tree growth patterns induced bychanges in the Southern Annular Mode. Nature Geoscience 5:793–798.Tognetti. R., F. Lombardi, B. Lasserre, G. Battipaglia, M. Sauer,P. Cherubini, and M. Marchetti, 2012. Tree-ring responses inAraucaria araucana to two major eruptions of Lonquimay Vol-cano (Chile). Trees 26:1805–1819.Received 31 August 2016; accepted 29 November 2016.

The First Millennium-Age Araucaria Araucana in Patagonia

Aguilera-Betti, Isabella

Muñoz, Ariel A.

Stahle, Daniel

Figueroa, Gino

Duarte, Fernando

González-Reyes, Álvaro

Christie, Duncan

Lara, Antonio

González, Mauro E.

Moreira Muñoz, Andrés

Sheppard, Paul R.

Sauchyn, David

Toledo-Guerrero, Isadora

Olea, Matías

Apaz, Pablo

Fernandez, Alfonso

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile: Repositorio UC

Isabella Aguilera-Betti

Ariel A. Muñoz

Daniel Stahle

Gino Figueroa

Fernando Duarte

Álvaro González-Reyes

Duncan Christie

Antonio Lara

Mauro E. González

Paul R. Sheppard

David Sauchyn

Andrés Moreira-Muñoz

Isadora Toledo-Guerrero

Matías Olea

Pablo Apaz

Alfonso Fernandez

Crossref

The First Millennium-Age<i>Araucaria Araucana</i>in Patagonia

https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/10150/667359/1/Aguilera-BettiTRRv73n1-2017.pdf

The First Millennium-Age Araucaria Araucana in Patagonia

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

The University of Arizona

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile: Repositorio UC

Crossref