The International Summer School has completed its work
08.28.2018
The work of the International Summer School "Tree Rings, Climate, Natural Resources, and Human Interaction" was summarized at the meeting on August 23, 2018.Employees of the Laboratory "Dendroecology and Ecological Monitoring" (KhTI, SibFU) took an active and direct part in the preparation and organization of this event. The Sayano-Shushensky branch of SibFU provided classrooms and accommodation of participants.
Young scientists from Poland, Belgium, South Africa, Lebanon, India and various regions of Russia successfully mastered basic skills of dendrochronology and dendroecology. The main activities, including lectures, laboratory studies and field work, were conducted by prof. Ramzi Touchan and prof. David Meko from the University of Arizona, USA. In addition, a series of interesting lectures and practical classes were conducted by scientists of the Siberian Federal University and the Khakass Technical Institute: Doctor of Biological Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Euvgene A. Vaganov, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Vladimir V. Shishov, PhD Liliana V. Belokopytova. During the event, also a field trip in the vicinity of Maina dam was carried out, as well as the self-presentations of the participants, an exciting excursion to the Shushenskoe Historical and Ethnographic Museum-Reserve and a friendly party.
At the end of the course, the participants presented two presentations of their work results. Using the chronology of the tree-ring width (TRW) obtained during course work, as well as several other chronologies of the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and climatic data provided by the Laboratory, one group reconstructed the annual precipitation in the region, and the other reconstructed the dynamics of droughts, expressed by the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI). Also, both groups together conducted an analysis of the frequency of occurrence of so-called "false rings" in the examined area, revealing its dependence on local conditions, i.e. elevation and the slope steepness. It is worth noting that all the final presentations of the participants were held at the highest level, which indicates the successful implementation of the course program. By tradition, the results of the course work will be published in an international scientific journal.
See photo from School in the gallery.
