Development of a Tree-Ring Chronology from Eastern Red Cedar

Dendrochronology is the science that uses tree-rings dated to their exact year of formation to analyze temporal and spatial patterns of processes in the physical and cultural sciences. There currently is no published record for tree-ring studies using Eastern Red Cedar in the Upper Mississippi River Valley in Wisconsin. Therefore, this study develops a chronology from tree-rings using Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana, L.). The objectives of this study were to collect samples from both live and dead trees and to create a tree-ring chronology based on standard dendrochronological methods including skeleton plotting and cross-dating. Creating a master chronology makes this study significant because it adds to the knowledge of tree-rings for western Wisconsin and has the potential to be used for further work in dendroclimatology to assess past climate change for the Upper Mississippi River Valley