Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T09:19:00.468Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Radiocarbon Determination of Past Growth Rates of Living Acacia Tortilis Trees from Two Arid Sites in the Eastern Sahara

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Tomasz Goslar ,
Gidske Andersen ,
Knut Krzywinski  and
Justyna Czernik
Tomasz Goslar*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Physics, A. Mickicwicz University, Umultowska 85, 61–614 Poznań, Poland Poznań Radiocarbon Laboratory, Rubicz 46, 61-612 Poznań, Poland
Gidske Andersen
Affiliation:
Uni Research AS, P.O. Box 7810, 5020 Bergen, Norway
Knut Krzywinski
Affiliation:
Uni Research AS, P.O. Box 7810, 5020 Bergen, Norway Department of Biology, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7800, 5020 Bergen, Norway
Justyna Czernik
Affiliation:
Poznań Radiocarbon Laboratory, Rubicz 46, 61-612 Poznań, Poland
*
Corresponding author. Email: tomasz.goslar@radiocarbon.pl.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Reconstructions arc presented of past growth rates of 10 Acacia tortilis trees, 5 growing at an arid site (Gebeit, Sudan) and 5 at a hyperarid site (Wadi Nuqrus, Egypt). The reconstructions were made using a free-shape age-depth model based on a series of 14C dates obtained on samples taken along the wood cores retrieved from the trunks of the trees (78 dates in total). In spite of the large difference in annual precipitation between the 2 sites, the range of ages of the trees (60–350 yr) and the variability in their growth rates are quite similar across both sites, whereas within-site growth rates are quite different even for closely spaced individuals. However, the pattern of growth rates of Acacias from the hyperarid Wadi Nuqrus indicates 2 periods of different aridity (the less arid AD 1650–1780 and more arid AD 1780–1930), while at Gebeit no such pattern has been detected.

Type
Paleoclimatology and Paleohydrology
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 55 , Issue 3: Proceedings of the 21st International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 2 of 2) , 2013 , pp. 1683 - 1692
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersen, GL. 1999. Change and variation in a hyper-arid cultural landscape: a methodological approach using remote sensing timeseries (LANDSAT MSS and TM, 1973–1996) from the wadi vegetation of the Eastern Desert of Egypt [thesis]. University of Bergen/ NERSC, Bergen.Google Scholar
Andersen, GL, Krzywinski, K. 2007a. Longevity and growth of Acacia tortilis: insights from 14C content and anatomy of wood. BMC Ecology 7(4): doi: 10.11861472-6785-7-4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andersen, GL, Krzywinski, K. 2007b. Mortality, recruitment and change of desert tree populations in a hyper-arid environment. PLoS ONE 2(2): e208, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, GL. 2012. Vegetation and management regime continuity in the cultural landscape of the eastern desert. In: Barnard, H, Duistermaat, K, editors. The History of the Peoples of the Eastern Desert. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. p 126–39.Google Scholar
Goslar, T, van der Knaap, WO, van Leeuwen, J, Kamenik, Ch. 2009. Free-shape 14C age-depth modelling of an intensively dated modern peat profile. Journal of Quaternary Science 24(5):481–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gourlay, ID. 1995. The definition of seasonal growth zones in some African Acacia species – a review. IAWA Journal 16(4):353–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hobbs, JJ. 1989. Bedouin Life in the Egyptian Wilderness. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Hua, Q, Barbetti, M. 2004. Review of tropospheric bomb radiocarbon data for carbon cycle modeling and age calibration purposes. Radiocarbon 46(3): 1273–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kassas, M, Imam, M. 1954. Habitat and plant communities in the Egyptian desert III. The wadi bed ecosystem. Journal of Ecology 42(2):424–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krzywinski, K, Pierce, RH, editors. 2001. Deserting the Desert: A Threatened Cultural Landscape Between the Nile and the Sea. Bergen: Alvheim og Eide Akademisk Forlag.Google Scholar
Levin, I, Naegler, T, Kromer, B, Diehl, M, Francey, RJ, Gomez-Pelaez, AJ, Steele, LP, Wagenbach, D, Weller, R, Worthy, DE. 2010. Observations and modelling of the global distribution and long-term trend of atmospheric 14CO2 . Tellus B 62(1):26–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, D, Moss, J. 1997. Age determination of Acacia tortilis (Forsk.) Hayne from northern Kenya. African Journal of Ecology 35(3):266–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nemec, M, Wacker, L, Hajdas, I, Gäggeler, H. 2010. Alternative methods for cellulose preparation for AMS measurement. Radiocarbon 52(3): 1358–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Or, K, Ward, D. 2003. Three-way interactions between Acacia, large mammalian herbivores and bruchid beetles – a review. African Journal of Ecology 41(3):257–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Hajdas, I, Heaton, T, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, McCormac, FG, Manning, SW, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Southon, JR, Talamo, S, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2009. IntCa109 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0-50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51(4): 1111–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rohner, C, Ward, D. 1999. Large mammalian herbivores and the conservation of arid Acacia stands in the Middle East. Conservation Biology 13(5):1162–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vose, RS, Schmoyer, RL, Steurer, PM, Peterson, TC, Heim, R, Karl, TR, Eischeid, JK. 1992. The Global Historical Climatology Network: Long-Term Monthly Temperature, Precipitation, Sea Level Pressure, and Station Pressure Data. ORNL/CDIAC-53; NDP-041. 325 p. doi:10.3334/CDIAC/cli.ndp041.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, D, Rohner, C. 1997. Anthropogenic causes of high mortality and low recruitment in three Acacia tree taxa in the Negev desert, Israel. Biodiversity and Conservation 6(6):877–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiegand, K, Jeltsch, F, Ward, D. 2004. Minimum recruitment frequency in plants with episodic recruitment. Oecologia 141(2):363–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zeide, B. 1993. Analysis of growth equations. Forest Science 39(3):594–616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar