Wood anatomical characters: Are they good climatic markers?
Résumé
It has been admitted, since a long time, that climate has an effect on wood anatomical characteristics. Some wood blemishes happen after very cold winter. What is more, it is not rare to see on one wood sample, two consecutives tree-rings with a very different size. It then exists, for one tree, “good years”, during which wood production is very important and “bad years” in which, on the contrary, this production drop. These wood characteristics regarding production are usually used in studies dealing with wood and climate.
The main function of wood is sapwood conduction. Water is a limiting factor in several habitats (cold and dry areas), and a lack of water can lead to a gaseous embolism of the hydraulic system of the tree. This work is a bibliographic summary, which present wood anatomical adaptation of characters related to vessels (arrangement, size, perforation type, appearance of spiral thickening) and to fibres (types) to climatic constraints threatening the tree hydraulic efficiency.
Looking at the obtained results, it is judicious to consider wood as an excellent climatic marker. The use of fossil wood in the reconstruction of palaeoclimate, as it has been done since a long time, is for the same reasons very relevant. Studies are now being conducted in order to refine these results and to find new climatic intra and inter-specific markers.
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