Hey!!! What did the tree ring people say to the pollen people in a discreet manner? I don’t know either, but considering the short notice, for which I fully apologize, I’m sure Mr. Kyle Landolt may be able to provide a reasonable answer during his defense tomorrow.

As Dr. Tran just reminded me, a Master’s Defense should take place in a public forum. Consequently, I am happily inviting you all to attend the Defense of Mr. Kyle Landolt on Wednesday April 20, 2016 at 2:00 pm in the Burchfiel Geography Bldg (BGB) room 406. Kyle will speak for 20 – minutes and then have time to answer audience questions. The title of his Defense is:

Developing Historical Productivity Maps for the Blue Oak Woodlands in California using Remote Sensing and Dendrochronology

Global terrestrial carbon dynamics play a critical role in Earth's climate patterns. Increased net primary productivity (NPP) associated with terrestrial ecosystems can influence the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide by sequestering carbon through photosynthesis. Drylands, in particular, are an important terrestrial component that can act as a source or sink for carbon storage depending on various environmental factors that influence vegetation and soil patterns. Blue oak woodlands represent a large component of the terrestrial vegetation in California and provide an opportunity to study the historical variation in NPP by combining dendrochronological measurements and a satellite-based proxy for NPP: the remotely sensed time-integrated NDVI (iNDVI). The purpose of this research was to investigate the possible correlation of iNDVI to blue oak chronology measurements to reconstruct iNDVI of the blue oak woodlands from 1700 to 2003. We developed linear regressions to explain iNDVI using blue oak chronologies, elevation, slope, aspect, cation exchange capacity, and ecological sections and compared our results to reconstructed Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). Our reconstructions were able to predict iNDVI (Adjusted R^2 = 0.715) and were also correlated to PDSI values (Adjusted R^2 = 0.6388), finding notably high and low values of iNDVI at 1789 and 1934, respectively. These findings produce a novel time-series of iNDVI than can be used to determine how historical terrestrial vegetation productivity has fluctuated and sequestered carbon in the blue oak woodlands.

Robert A. Washington-Allen

Assistant Professor of Geography

Environmental Tomography Laboratory

Department of Geography

University of Tennessee

304 Burchfiel Geography Building

1000 Phillip Fulmer Way

Knoxville, TN 37996-0925

e-mail: washingtonra@utk.edu <mailto:[log in to unmask]>

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"God has chosen the world that is the most perfect,that is to say, the one

that is at the same time the simplest in hypotheses and the richest in

"I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness

of people." --- Isaac Newton