Climate Change Is Hurting Arizona Trees, According To New Research

By Steve Goldstein
Published: Friday, October 11, 2019 - 12:54pm
Updated: Friday, October 11, 2019 - 3:49pm

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Pine trees in an Arizona canyon
Claire Caulfield/KJZZ
Pine trees in an Arizona canyon.

Trees in Arizona and other areas of the West have been hit hard many factors including wildfires and the bark beetle.

Now, new research indicates that climate change in the form of extreme and inconsistent precipitation totals is also hurting some tree species.

Scientists studied tree ring records in well over a thousand U.S. locations to measure the impact of extremes in rain amounts. Two of those researchers, Matt Dannenberg and William Smith, joined The Show to talk about this trend.

Dannenberg is an assistant professor at the University of Iowa, and Smith is an assistant professor at the University of Arizona.

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