PubMed · 2026-01-26
Trees don't all record atmospheric radiocarbon equally in their annual rings — how a tree stores and uses carbon sugars before building wood can blur or delay the chemical signal, meaning the same year's air chemistry may show up differently across species and individuals.
Significant variability in radiocarbon signals exists between individual tree samples even when measuring the same atmospheric event, limiting the precision of tree-ring-based dating.
The lag between when a tree captures carbon through photosynthesis and when it actually incorporates that carbon into wood — mediated by nonstructural carbohydrate storage — is a key source of signal blurring in tree rings.
Phenology of carbon uptake and wood formation timing varies by species and interacts with stored carbohydrate use, meaning no single tree can be assumed to be a perfectly faithful recorder of annual atmospheric radiocarbon.