Hydroclimatic relationships and stable isotopic analysis in baldcypress tree rings.

Instrumental records of hydroclimatic extremes (e.g., drought, pluvial flooding, tropical cyclones) are temporally and spatially limited, making long-term assessments of the drivers of these events difficult. Paleo-reconstructions of these extreme events are therefore essential in understanding and evaluating future risk, especially within vulnerable coastal communities. In dendrochronology, δ18O (18O/16O) is a known proxy for reconstructing various hydroclimatic parameters (i.e., temperature, atmospheric humidity, streamflow). The tree takes up δ18O in source water for the development of woody tissue, with the isotopic ratio stored within the α-cellulose of annual tree rings. However, cellulose-derived δ18O from baldcypress (Taxodium distichum), the longest-lived species in the region, has never been investigated in studies of hydroclimate. In this exploratory study, we evaluate the use of δ18O-depletion in baldcypress latewood as a proxy for various southeastern hydroclimatic extremes to the comparable instrumental period. Results of baldcypress latewood δ18O over the Choctawhatchee River Basin were then compared to various climate indices and the instrumental tropical cyclone record, with correlations of varying strength expressed between the produced δ18O time series and precipitation, streamflow, self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index, and maximum summer temperature. Large decreases in baldcypress δ18O latewood are determined to be reflective of regional TC precipitation. In direct interspecies comparisons, baldcypress δ18O is shown to be more sensitive to drought conditions than nearby longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) δ18O. Results of these comparisons reveal the future potential of the proxy in multivariate climate reconstructions.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Science of the Total Environment

• Publication date

  2025-09-19

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180392PMID 40974936
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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