GEOG 3839 is also offered in Fall 2024
GEOG 3839 is also offered in Fall 2023
GEOG 3839 is also offered in Spring 2022
Fall 2023 | GEOG 3839 Section 001: Introduction to Dendrochronology (33306)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Lecture
- Credits:
- 4 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- Student Option
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- In Person
- Enrollment Requirements:
- (Biol 1001 or 1009 or equiv) or Geog 1403
- Meets With:
GEOG 5839 Section 001
- Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
UMTC, West Bank
Blegen Hall 110
UMTC, West Bank
Social Sciences Building 167
- Enrollment Status:
Open (18 of 20 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- Examination of past landscape histories are critical for assessing how environments change and identifying causal mechanisms. Tree-rings, the annual growth rings formed by trees growing in temperate regions, are an instrumental tool for elucidating changes over time. As biological entities, tree-rings are recorders of changes in their surroundings. The application of tree-rings to understand environmental change is called dendrochronology. Dendrochronology has played an important role in understanding past climates, disturbance regimes, and the history of Indigenous peoples (to name just a few applications). Its use has been critical to understanding pressing environmental issues such as 20th century global warming, the impacts of fire suppression on forested landscapes, the loss of the Black Forest in Europe (pollution), and the use/abandonment of archaeological sites (the Anasazi and Ojibwe). It is an exceedingly interesting analytical tool that has unique applications, but it isn't as simple as counting the rings of trees to determine an age. In this course we will focus on the biology, theoretical principles, and operational techniques of dendrochronology and apply this knowledge toward understanding forest change. By the end of the course students will be able to conduct basic dendrochronological research and appreciate the advantages and limitations of this important tool. My aim is to expose you to the foundational science behind the field, provide you with some simple tools, and introduce you to the variety of applications to which tree-ring analysis can be applied by doing some dendrochronological research. We will apply the tools of dendrochronology toward understanding forest dynamics in a specific landscape to examine fire and tree growth patterns and the influence of climate and people on the forested environment. This course will be a mixture of lecture and hands-on data analysis. The primary approach for this course is the development of a group resea
- Class Description:
- Student may contact the instructor or department for information.
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/33306/1239
ClassInfo Links - Fall 2023 Geography Classes