While collecting cores from oak trees on Fire Island National Park, Nicole Davi, a dendrochronologist who works at the Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, explains the critical role maritime forests play in protecting our coastal communities from storms. The tree-ring records she builds will help us understand how these ecosystems are responding to climate change.
“I love maritime forests. I think they’re beautiful and just so dynamic and complex—there are so few of them,” Davi says. “They’re also right behind the ocean. I think of them as being on the front lines. I’m really interested in how climate is impacting these trees through extreme events like hurricanes, multiyear droughts and strong storms.”
This is the fourth video of Science for the Planet, a short explainer series about how scientists and scholars from across the Columbia Climate School are trying to understand the effects of climate change and help solve the crisis.
