Increment borer

Description

These devices are used regularly by scientists who study climate change by measuring the width of growth rings in tree stems, a field of study known as dendrochronology. They may cause some damage to trees of some species in some circumstances, but generally do little harm (Eckstein and Dujesiefken 1999;Grissino-Mayer 2003;van Mantgem and Stephenson 2004;Wunder et al. 2011). Wiemann and Williamson (2012) found that it may be possible to estimate the average density across the whole cross-sectional area at a particular point along a stem by removing a core to a depth of only one sixth of the stem diameter; this would reduce the time and effort required to obtain a core from any tree.