Annually resolved multi-millennial records of temperature are rare in the Southern Hemisphere (SH), and even rarer are SH records of cool-season temperature. Here we present a new tree-ring chronology extending back to 42 BCE based on Athrotaxis selaginoides from southern Tasmania. The development of this chronology was complicated by multiple tree-age cohorts and growth classes. Additionally, there was a collapse in sample depth between the mid-14^th and mid-16^th Centuries. Therefore, we used a multiple Regional Curve Standardization (mRCS) approach to standardization but have subsequently employed piecewise adaptive detrending (PAD). PAD utilizes the Friedman Supersmoother to remove the remaining multimillennial trend likely to be the result of changing site conditions rather than climate. The chronology is significantly associated with temperature from winter through to the end of the warm season, but its association with Austral July-October temperatures is both unusual and stable. The collapse in sample depth, and four clear cohorts of trees are most likely associated with landscape scale fire events.

A study was conducted to assess the impact of fertilization regimes on the growth and wood density of 13-year-old stands of Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis and Pinus taeda, located in an experimental area in Southeast Brazil. Growth parameters, such as total height, diameter at breast height (DBH), wood volume, and mean annual increment (MAI), were estimated using forest inventory data collected over an 8-year period. Forty-eight trees were selected, with 12 trees assigned to each of the four treatments: control and fertilized for each species. Four cores were obtained from each tree to measure wood density using X-ray densitometry, and tree-ring width series were crossdated and synchronized. The fertilization regime significantly affected the growth of P. caribaea var. hondurensis, which exhibited increased productivity, while P. taeda showed no significant growth responses. Fertilization resulted in a slight increase in wood density for P. taeda, while no changes were observed in P. caribaea var. hondurensis. Precipitation was identified as a key factor influencing wood density, with a negative correlation in P. taeda and a positive correlation with tree-ring width for both species. These findings underscore the importance of targeted fertilization strategies in forest management, particularly under varying environmental conditions.

This study analyzes wood anatomical properties and growth-ring boundaries in 16 tree species across a tropical humid forest along an altitudinal gradient in southern Ecuador. We extracted 64 wood cores, subjecting them to meticulous microscopic examination and thin section preparation with safranin and astrablue staining for growth-ring identification following IAWA standards. Correspondence analysis linking wood anatomical features and environmental variables revealed a nuanced connection between ecological factors, elevation and microscopic growth-ring distinctiveness. Species at lower altitudes (1000 m a.s.l.) exhibit indistinct growth rings, whereas those at higher altitudes (2000 m a.s.l.) often display distinct growth-ring boundaries with thick-walled latewood fibers. Apart from the deciduous Schefflera morototoni, evergreen tropical rainforest trees dominate at both elevations. This study provides new insights into growth-ring occurrence and anatomy in Ecuadorian tropical mountain rainforest trees, setting the stage for future dendrochronological research. The analysis of microscopic growth-ring features across species, elevations, and locations in the southeastern Andes offers new perspectives on wood structure. In the context of climate change, acquiring high-quality wood anatomical and dendrochronological data is crucial to advance our understanding of how forest trees respond to climate change and to develop adapted conservation and management strategies.

Forest ecologists and dendrochronologists are beginning to recognize the conservation and research value of forest fragments. In this study, a forest fragment was studied to quantify the current vegetation composition and structure, reconstruct the disturbance history, and identify evidence of future changes in forest composition. The most important overstory trees were white oak (Quercus alba), eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea), and chestnut oak (Quercus montana). This overstory composition appears to have developed during a 100-year period from 1850 to 1950, when the forest experienced continuous low-levels of disturbance. There was a timber harvest in the early 1950s, which appears to have initiated a reduction in the successful establishment of oaks and an increase in the successful establishment of red maple (Acer rubrum) and eastern white pine. Thus, although this forest fragment is not spatially connected to the larger eastern deciduous forest, it shares the regional pattern of mesophication observed across this region and is likely to experience a shift in composition towards more mesic tree species and a reduction in the dominance of oak.

The widely used open-access COFECHA program requires manual keyboard input to crossmatch an undated tree-ring series with a dated master series. The COFECHA program, like its commercial alternatives, has no option to execute a sequence of runs with the exclusive input from a file. The user trying to crossmatch a set of undated tree-ring series with a large regional set of dated series faces a cumbersome task: the user must manually repeat the input for each new run with an individual undated series even though the regional set of dated master series is identical to that of the previous run. Unlike its commercial counterparts, the COFECHA program lends itself to running from an external script file. The most convenient script is a Windows AutoHotkey script. Two example scripts are available on https://github.com/mathgeol/cros25. Using a text editor, the regional set of dated series file names is input only once, and it is used in all the following automated runs with a new undated series.

The field of dendrochronology is currently undergoing a transition, with an increasing reliance on digital analysis. Recent advances in hardware and software have enabled the rapid acquisition of information from wood in ways that were previously unattainable. However, the variety of digitization tools and the high resolutions achievable present a challenge in maintaining replicability and comparability of results. In addition, the high speed at which data are collected can lead to overlooking important aspects of dendrochronological techniques. For example, awareness of resolution of images for tree-ring measurements or even crossdating may play a minor role when setting tree-ring boundaries or may be biased towards the first samples measured.

This commentary addresses potential sources of error in the novel advances of digital techniques and highlights the suitability of combining digital advances with traditional data-control procedures that maintain the robustness and replicability of dendrochronological methods.

The 1^st Ecuadorian Dendrochronology Conference (ECUADENDRO 2025) took place in Daule, Ecuador, on January 23–24, 2025, with the generous sponsorship of the Tree-Ring Society. The event attracted 230 participants from 45 countries, bringing together leading experts in various subfields of tree-ring science, including dendroclimatology, dendroecology, dendrogeomorphology, dendroarchaeology, and cellular dendrochronology. Fifteen international speakers presented a diverse range of case studies from countries such as Ecuador, Norway, Sweden, India, Bangladesh, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Pakistan, and Germany. Their contributions highlighted significant advancements in tree-ring research and the global progress in the field. The conference discussions emphasized emerging trends and future directions for tree-ring science, shedding light on new areas for continued research and collaboration.

The Australia-New Zealand Tree-Ring Conference was held January 21–23, 2025, at Waipapa Taumata Rau/University of Auckland, in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It was intended to provide an opportunity for the Australian and New Zealand dendrochronological researchers to meet, present current research, and discuss the challenges and opportunities in working with Southern Hemisphere tree species, but it was open to others outside of Australasia, including some keynote speakers. The meeting brought together many researchers from within and outside academia for the first time since the pandemic, and in addition to providing a look at current interesting and ongoing dendrochronology projects, it promoted camaraderie for this regional tree-ring community.