Tracing climate change through the copper beech tree
MassLive reported on Mount Holyoke College students’ work in tracing climate change through the campus’s beloved copper beech tree.
In summer 2024, a storm damaged Mount Holyoke College’s beloved copper beech tree, which then had to be removed. However, its 120-year legacy lives on as Visiting Assistant Professor in Geology Kinuyo Kanamaru’s students studied sections of the tree to trace climate change in the Connecticut River Valley.
MassLive visited the College as the 13 students examined “cookies” — cross-sections of the tree — to determine the effects of climatological factors throughout its life. They labeled events, such as a particularly cold winter in 1958 and Hurricane Irene in 2011, on the corresponding rings. These weather events, while severe, were brief and didn’t affect the width of the tree’s rings.
The students noticed that the growth rings narrowed over time, with the wood becoming more brittle over the last 25 years. They believe that these changes were caused by long-term stress on the tree due to warming temperatures from climate change.
Liesl Geissler ’27, a sophomore and environmental science major, was one of the students who presented the project to attendees at Mount Holyoke’s Summit on Feminist Leadership in Climate Justice this year. She explained that during this inquiry, she learned that you can count tree rings on violins or wooden bowls. This realisation helped her understand that dendrochronology is embedded in our daily lives.
