Current Research and Projects in Progress
Two current avenues of research on living trees are briefly outlined on this page. Further research projects on buildings and some other aspects of research on live trees are accessible from the links in the side bar menu.
The Ancient Oaks Initiative
This project was initiated through a survey of oak trees in Yateley and Eversley by the Yateley Society, for further information please visit the Yateley Society web-site.
Living trees and historical building timbers provide an archive of annual growth rings, a chronological record from which tree-ring analysis can determine age, type/timing of cutting treatments and even past landscapes. The increment coring and tree-ring analysis of 15 veteran oak trees in Yateley was proposed as useful in yielding site specific information on growth rates, climate, and past practices, such as boundary marking, pollarding and tree population structure. It was also intended that the results could help inform any future management of the trees and establish the conservation value of these veteran tree.
Sampling by complete or partial increment cores(cores which penetrate well short of a tree's centre or pith) offers accuracy in dating individual trees and the potential to help clarify the great deal of uncertainty which remains in assessing the age of large individual trees. Also, their dendrochronological analysis offers the potential to investigate a number of other important aspects.
- To determine age and germination/planting dates
- To establish girth to age relationships
- To identify past management practices
- To contribute to the dendrochronological research on historic buildings
- To provide chronological data for further historical and climate research
Fieldwork occurred in November 2003 and a draft report of the results has recently been submitted to the Yateley Society.
Longwater Limes at Hampton Court
Some 30 sections of lime between 0.3m and 1.3m diameter were collected from lime trees lining the Longwater at Hampton Court Palace at the end of 2003. These samples became available during a re-landscaping program. One of the mains aims of the analysis is to establish the dendrochronological potential of lime in this country. Should analysis prove successful it is hoped to also identify the climatic response of lime, by use of the extremely long climatic record available nearby at Kew.
Updated: 28/12/2006