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Dendrochronology,
Forestry,
Environment
and
Smart Specialisation
in Mozambique
Connection with
European Smart Specialisation (S3) and
Cluster Business Modelling suggested for
milestoning future planning
Mauri Timonen
Hannu Herva
Tapio Timonen
Rovaniemi, October 5, 2016
http://lustiag.pp.fi/data/pdf/Dendrochronology_in_Mozambique.pdf
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Contents
Foreword ................................................................................................................................. 4
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................... 5
1.1. The concept of Dendrochronology .................................................................................... 5
1.2. Why is Dendrochronology important in Mozambique? ...................................................... 5
2. Dendrochronology course................................................................................................... 7
3. Laboratory equipment and activities .................................................................................. 7
4. Training activities ............................................................................................................... 8
5. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 9
6. Roadmap to Smart Future!.................................................................................................. 9
Cover page: Forecas Dendro Course in 2013: fieldwork day and core sampling.
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Summary/abstract
This paper is basically a technical document that reports about the Dendrochronology
Course held 13-17 May, 2013 in Maputo, Mozambique. The first section introduces Dendrochronology as a science, the next section is devoted to the course activities and the
third section summarises some of our teaching experience.
Separately from the previous contents, the fourth section is devoted to future planning of
Finnish and Mozambican Dendrochronology. We name it ” a Roadmap for Smarter Future”. The words “Roadmap” and “Smart” are very popular words in the European policy
and administration. We, however, want to use these words connected to R&D (Research
and Development) and to business modelling. We wish to adopt something about this
thinking and bring it to Finnish and Mozambican Dendrochronology so that there would
be a closer connection to cooperate or communicate with the Smart Specialisation Platform (S3). The European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA) and the European Cluster
Observatory.
Why especially these connections?
Following Moedas’ statement, we think it is now good time to convert some of our scientific output and skills into products, services – and jobs. This tendency will probably be
permanent in the coming years. As we are in the very beginning in this process, we can
get help from the ESCA-driven platform called Emerging Industries. If things advance
successfully, Dendrochronology based business applications may contribute to a betterresourced future also in the basic science. That’s what is already happening in many Middle-European clusters.
Rovaniemi , October 5, 2016
Mauri Timonen
Hannu Herva
Tapio Timonen
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1. Introduction
1.1. The concept of Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology (The Science of Tree Rings1) is
the dating and study of annual rings in trees. The
word comes from these roots2:
-
ology
chronos
-
dendros
: the study of;
: time: more specifically, events and
pro cesses in the past and
: using trees; more specifically,
the growth rings of trees.
Dendrochronologist (Tree Ring Scientist) is an expert who uses tree rings to answer questions
about the natural world and the place of humans
in its functioning.
Dendrochronology is an interdisciplinary science.
Its theory and techniques can be applied to many
disciplines, such as ecology, archaeology, climatology, geomorphology, glaciology, hydrology, fire
history and entomology3. Dendrochronology supports the following joint objectives:
-
-
placing the present in proper historical context,
better understanding of current environmental
processes and conditions and
better understanding of future environmental
issues.
Trees grow each year new cells, arranged in concentric circles (Figure 1). The number of cells e.g.
in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) during one growing season varies from less than 10 to over 50
depending on climatic conditions (cool/warm).
Annual growth rings are the result of these cells4.
Trees in temperate and colder climates typically
grow one new tree ring every year. The age of a
tree can theoretically be determined by counting
the number of rings present at the birth point.
But that’s not always the case: sometimes, particularly in the years of drought, one or more annual rings may be missing. If the growing season
is interrupted, a tree may grow a second false
ring.
Tropical trees often lack annual rings. The majority of the tree species in Mozambique don’t produce annual rings. This means that just a few species, such as Millettia stuhlmannii (Panga Panga,
1
2
http://web.utk.edu/~grissino/
http://ltrr.arizona.edu/about/treerings
More here: http://web.utk.edu/~grissino/principles.htm
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https://www.thefor estacademy.com/tr eeknowledge/annual-growth-rings/#.V8 _-eJiLRaQ
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Figure 1. The main elements of tree growth are height growth,
diameter growth and volume growth. The tree rings form during
a growing season as a result of accumulating cell layers. Closer
study of cells inside a growing season helps understanding the
whole growth process.
Jambirre) can be used for dendrochronological
studies.
Crossdating is a method for identifying the tree
rings of the same calendar year from multiple
trees (Figure 2). This approach makes it possible
to identify the missing and false rings. As a result
of this approach, the tree rings can be assigned
properly at the right calendar year position. To
obtain an average age-related growth curve for a
single stand or for a particular region, a method
called standardisation is needed to remove the
age-related growth trend and the other disturbing
effects (Figure 3, upper graph). In this process, a
number of closely matching individual tree ring
chronologies are combined into one averaged
growth-age curve (standardisation model).
The final step is to compare the observed ringwidths to the corresponding values of the averaged growth model. As the proportional values
(tree ring indices) are arranged by calendar year,
the series of annual index averages is called a
master chronology (Figure 4).
1.2. Why is Dendrochronology important in
Mozambique?
Until fairly recently, comparatively few dendrochronological studies have been carried out in
tropical regions (Remane & Therrell 2015). As
there was no earlier local Mozambican tree ring
research at all, Ivan Abdul Dulá Remane deserves
the honour to be a pioneer in Mozambican Dendrochronology. He studied in the UEM (Forest
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Figure 2. Crossdating is a method of locating the tree rings of the same calendar year in each sample. Cold summers
appear as small tree rings in the timberline pine in Finnish Lapland. Draught has similar effect on the tree rings of some
species in Mozambique. The thin tree rings form unique barcode like patterns that help finding the corresponding calendar years from samples trees.
engineering) and in Graduate school Southern
Illinois University Carbondale (Department of Geography and Environmental Resources), where he
finished his Degree of Master of Science in August
2013.
Africa, a network of chronologies throughout
Southern Africa can be developed.
Remane’s chronologies are also useful for reconstructing pre-instrumental rainfall variability in
His studies (Remane 2013, Remane & Therrell
2015) represent, for the first time in Mozambique, exact dendroclimatic and dendroecology
analyses focusing on growth dynamics and sustainable management of forests.
Remane developed tree ring width chronologies
for two tropical hardwood species: Millettia
stuhlmannii (Panga Panga) and Vitex payos
(Chocolate berry). He studied the history of climate variability by analysing signs of seasonal
droughts found in tree rings. His results showed
that the tree rings of Panga Panga correlate positively with monthly and seasonal precipitation:
rainfall during December and February explains
about 43% of the chronology variability.
This climate-growth relationship increases
knowledge about climate change impacts on
ecology. As these two species and other closely
related species are widely distributed in Mozambique and adjacent areas in southern and eastern
Figure 3. These graphs demonstrate the principle of standardisation
based on one sample. As the tree ring indices are arranged by calendar year, the result is a master chronology.
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Figure 4. This is an example of the result of a dendrochronological study in Eastern Finland. The figure shows 11-year FFTsmoothed temperature variations for the last millennium. In Mozambique a similar figure might be one day (as enough treering and other proxy data sets available) telling e.g. about seasonal precipitation variations and and its possibly cyclic character.
Mozambique. This provides important information to a country that, considering economic
development, is strongly dependent on rainfall.
Panga Panga is one of the most important timber
species in Mozambique. Ranked as a first class
commercial timber in Mozambique, it is frequently harvested in an unsustainable way. Sustainable
management of the species is needed for the continued utilization of this resource.
It is expected that the results of chronology building and dendrochronological analyses will increase knowledge on long-term climatic and environmental variability. This information gives to
politicians useful information for developing forest ecosystems towards more sustainable management.
2. Dendrochronology course
Our purpose to arrange a Dendrochronology course in
Mozambique was technical, educational and practical.
The technical part was to establish a scanner-based
tree ring analysis environment for the joint use of
IIAM and FAEF-UEM. The educational part was to introduce some important methods of Dendrochronology. The practical part was to train the course participants working with Dendrochronological tree-ring
material. The following topics were included in the
course program:
-
3. Laboratory equipment and activities
We prefer a scanner based tree ring measurement system instead of a microscope-based system5 (Figure 5). One important argument speaking on behalf of the scanner-based system is its
excellent documentation of measurements, which
makes it possible to re-measure a sample or view
the results later on.
In this kind of system, the user can manually, using a mouse, adjust the exact position of any tree
ring boundary that was first created automatically
by the software. One of the great advantages of
this kind of system is the possibility to choose a
new measurement sector, just in a few moments,
from another location of the disk. It is also possible to choose a new measurement position in
cases, where some rings would be missing on the
measurement line.
Surely a microscope-based system has better resolution, which is crucial in the case of measuring
very thin tree rings (less than 0.01 mm). But those
cases are quite rare and may appear in hard conditions, e.g. at tree line or in some growth disturbance events. Anyway, the both measuring
systems have their share in a well-equipped tree
ring laboratory.
Introduction to Dendrochronology;
Tree ring analysis as a part of growth and
yield studies;
Climate connections of tree rings;
Sampling design and fieldwork;
Laboratory facilities: equipment and software;
Data storage and tree ring analysis;
Documenting and scientific reporting
Personal training
The joint laptop of the laboratory was loaded with
useful dendrochronological material supporting
the participants’ self-learning targets.
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http://www.cybis.se/forfun/dendro/buy_SW REG/Treering%20lab%20in%20Mozambique3.pdf
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Figure 5. This tree ring analysis system, developed by Cybis Elektronik & Data AB, uses scanned disk or core images for measurements and
chronology building. Closer description here.
4. Training activities
We had only five course days for teaching and
training in the field and the lab, which forced us
to prioritize some activities. Anyway, every course
participant got familiar with all the planned training activities: theory, sampling planning, fieldwork, laboratory work and tree ring analysis.
The only problem appeared with the new A3scanner that was available not until the last
course day. We, however, were able to extend
the course up to Saturday noon, which solved the
problem partly.
The fieldwork was done in a plantation of
Michafutene, a village in the Marracuene District,
Maputo Province (Figure 6). The group sampled
both cores and disks (Figure 6). Increment borers
were used to extract 5 mm thick cores from living
trees and snags. The disks were smoothed6 (Figure 7), scanned and finally measured.
Figure 8 demonstrates the difference in preparing
sample disks for measuring. It also suggests that
tree ring analyses need a lot of time and careful
concentration on each phase of the process.
Figure 6. The sampled forest is located in Michafutene, Marracuene District, Maputo Province. The sampled species were
Ambligonocarpus andogensis (discs) and Panga Panga (cores).
Eunice Catarina Sitoe from UEM-FAEF coring a Panga Panga tree.
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More about sampling and sample preparation:
http://www.jove.com/video/52337/a-technicalperspective-modern-tree-ring-resear ch-how-to-overcome
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5. Conclusion
The recent activity in establishing permanent
sampling plots (PSP) in Mozambique means also
focusing on growth and yield studies. It is important that these studies will continue on a permanent basis, because not until after many years
of regular monitoring more thorough conclusions
benefiting the development of Mozambican species-rich forests are possible.
In the meantime, there is a shortcut for quicker
results: Dendrochronology is a very useful complement to PSP. Collecting and analysing dendrochronological data provides a simple and smart
way of finding answers to many of the questions
open so far. Generalising a bit Remane’s and
Therrell’s (2015) conclusions, dendrochronological findings allow better understanding of the
species’ growth dynamics and ecology, their responses to climate variability in the past and potentially to future climate change. Thus it is expected that Dendrochronology will contribute to
a more sustainable management of forest ecosystems in Mozambique.
Figure 6. This disk collection was sampled from the same tree
at 2 m height intervals.
6. Roadmap to Smart Future!
A modern tree-ring laboratory is like a factory: it
processes raw material (tree-rings) and outputs
processed data, reports and services. To make it
all working, there is a need for skilled personnel,
sufficient laboratory and storage space, highquality equipment, technical and statistical software, and a good documentation system. In order
to gain maximum performance, dendrochronological facilities should be built from a combination
of common scientific knowhow, innovative thinking and connections. This means e.g. active networking, participating in international conferences and projects and close laboratory cooperation.
To do it even better, Mozambican Dendrochronology needs a Roadmap. We in Finland planned
our first Dendrochronology Roadmap7 in 1994,
and were also successful to implement it. A systematic plan to develop Finnish Dendrochronology and its infrastructure, improve personal skills
and increase international collaboration finally, 12
years later in the 7th Conference on Dendrochronology in Beijing, resulted a very important milestone: Finland was elected to host the next event
in 2010: the 8th Conference on Dendrochronology.
This was a signature confirming our successful
Roadmap project.
7
http://lustiag.pp.fi/LUST95C4.PDF
Figure 7. The disks were smoothed using a 60, 120 and 240 Grit
Sand Paper. More about sanding:
http://www.rmtrr.org/basics.html#preparation
Figure 8. The disk sample of Ambligonocarpus andogensis on
the left was collected in the Michafutene forest. The photo of
a Panga Panga cross-section on the right was picked from
Remane’s (2013) paper, p. 57. This is a good demonstration of
how hard or easy is to identify tree ring boundaries.
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Now we are planning the Second Roadmap Project for Finnish Dendrochronology. We plan to
create it in cooperation with the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA) and S3 Platform.
We believe that our most productive dendrochronological future opens by combining research
& development (R&D) and business resources and
consulting their expertise.
We plan to build our roadmap based on a modified Business Model Canvas (Osterwalder & Pigneur
2010). We would like to call it here a roadmap model
canvas, because the smart questioning structure
of the model makes it possible to create any kind
of plans, not only business plans. The contents of
the canvas was compiled by adding the chapter subtitles in pp. 20—41 to the main scheme on page 44.
We suggest something similar to be planned in
Mozambican Dendrochronology. It will be challenging but also rewarding. It is also good to keep
in mind that doing things together with experienced research organisations, such us Luke,
makes things happen much easier, quicker and
more goal-directed way.
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Selected references
Chamba, E., Manhica, A., Bila, J., Secretario, E., Timoteo, P.V.,Bonomar, M., Silo, E.C., Timonen, M. &
Herva, H. 2014. The Potential of Dendrochronology For Tree Growth And Yield Studies In Mozambique. Poster presentation.
http://lustiag.pp.fi/data/moz/wd2014_poster_v4a.pdf
Lämmer-Gamp, T., Meier zu Köcker, G. & Nerger, M. 2014. Cluster Collaboration and Business Support Tools to
Facilitate Entrepreneurship, Cross-sectoral Collaboration and Growth. European Cluster Observatory Report.
http://www.clusterplattform.at/fileadmin/user_upload/clusterbibliothek/Cluster-collaboration-and-businesssupport-tools.pdf
Osterwalder, A. & Pigneur, Y. 2010. Business Model Generation. 283 pp. Homepage:
http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/. Separately: Business Model Canvas (pp.12─46)
Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Bernarda, G. & Smith, A. 2014. Value Proposition Design. 290 pp. John Wiley &
Sons Inc. Homepage: http://www.strategyzer.com
Remane, I.A.D. & Therrell, M.D. Dendrochronological potential of Millettia stuhlmannii in Mozambique Trees
(2015) 29: 729. doi:10.1007/s00468-014-1150-7.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277883896_Dendrochronological_potential_of_Millettia_stuhlmannii_
in_Mozambique
Remane, I. A. D. 2013. Analysis of annual growth patterns of millettia stuhlmannii, in Mozambique. Master of Science Thesis. Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Department of Geography and Environmental Resources.
http://cola.siu.edu/geography/_common/documents/papers/remane
Timonen, M. & Herva, H. 2014. Some highlights telling about the Dendrochronology Course 10-14.6.2013.
http://lustiag.pp.fi/data/moz/mozambiquetreeringlab.pdf
Ketels, C. & Protsiv, S. 2014. European Cluster Panorama 2014. Center for Strategy and Competitiveness.
Stockholm School of Economics. European Cluster Observatory Report. Prepared
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