Prof Rob Wilson
Deputy Head of School
Director of Research
Professor
Research areas
I am a tree-ring scientist – a so-called Dendrochronologist. My main research focusses on late Holocene palaeoclimatology (the Common Era) with specific emphasis on the use of tree-ring archives to understand the drivers of climate and environmental change. I have been involved in local/regional studies in Europe, North/South America as well as Australasia and have led initiatives to understand large scale climate change at Hemispheric scales.
The extreme nature of our current climate state has led me to explore the impact of such changes on forest ecosystems. There are precious few locations in the world where climate change does not have a significant impact of woodland systems. These environmental changes not only impact our assumptions of a stable tree-growth response to climate – so important for basic principles in palaeoclimatology – but also the very health of these systems. Woodlands are the lungs of our planet, and we need to better understand how they may, or may not, adapt to the climate changes of the coming decades.
"Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world." - John Muir.
PhD supervision
- Emily Reid
- Kayleigh Letherbarrow
Selected publications
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Open access
A standard definition and terminology for Blue Intensity from conifers
Björklund, J., Seftigen, K., Kaczka, R. J., Rydval, M. & Wilson, R., 26 Mar 2024, (Accepted/In press) In: Dendrochronologia. In Press, 126200.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Recent human-induced atmospheric drying across Europe unprecedented in the last 400 years
Treydte, K., Liu, L., Padrón, R. S., Martínez-Sancho, E., Babst, F., Frank, D. C., Gessler, A., Kahmen, A., Poulter, B., Seneviratne, S. I., Stegehuis, A. I., Wilson, R., Andreu-Hayles, L., Bale, R., Bednarz, Z., Boettger, T., Berninger, F., Büntgen, U., Daux, V., Dorado-Liñán, I., & 48 others , Jan 2024, In: Nature Geoscience. 17, p. 58–65 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Picea schrenkiana tree ring blue intensity reveal recent glacier mass loss in High Mountain Asia is unprecedented within the last four centuries
Yue, W., Seftigen, K., Chen, F., Wilson, R., Zhang, H., Miao, Y., Chen, Y. & Zhao, X., Sept 2023, In: Global and Planetary Change. 228, 104210.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
A spatiotemporal assessment of extreme cold in northwestern North America following the unidentified 1809 CE volcanic eruption
Leland, C., D’Arrigo, R., Davi, N., Anchukaitis, K. J., Andreu-Hayles, L., Porter, T. J., Galloway, T., Mant, M., Wiles, G., Wilson, R., Beaulieu, S., Oelkers, R., Gaglioti, B., Rao, M. P., Reid, E. & Nixon, T., 8 May 2023, In: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. 38, 5, 18 p., e2022PA004581.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Climatic controls on the survival and loss of ancient types of barley on North Atlantic Islands
Martin, P., Brown, T. A., George, T. S., Gunnarson, B., Loader, N. J., Ross, P., Wishart, J. & Wilson, R., 18 Jan 2023, In: Climatic Change. 176, 2, 20 p., 4.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Experiments of the efficacy of tree ring blue intensity as a climate proxy in central and western China
Zheng, Y., Shen, H., Abernethy, R. & Wilson, R., 21 Aug 2023, In: Biogeosciences. 20, 16, p. 3481-3490 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
High sensitivity of summer temperatures to stratospheric sulfur loading from volcanoes in the Northern Hemisphere
Burke, A., Crick, L., Anchukaitis, K. J., Innes, H., Byrne, M. P., Hutchison, W., McConnell, J. R., Moore, K. A., Rae, J. W. B., Sigl, M. & Wilson, R., 21 Nov 2023, In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 120, 47, 8 p., e2221810120.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Prospects for dendroanatomy in paleoclimatology - a case study on Picea engelmannii from the Canadian Rockies
Seftigen, K., Fonti, M. V., Luckman, B., Rydval, M., Stridbeck, P., Von Arx, G., Wilson, R. & Björklund, J., 24 May 2022, In: Climate of the Past. 18, 5, p. 1151-1168 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Regional patterns of Late Medieval and Early Modern European building activity revealed by felling dates
Ljungqvist, F. C., Seim, A., Tegel, W., Krusic, P. J., Baittinger, C., Belingard, C., Bernabei, M., Bonde, N., Borghaerts, P., Couturier, Y., Crone, A., van Daalen, S., Daly, A., Doeve, P., Domínguez-Delmás, M., Edouard, J-L., Frank, T., Ginzler, C., Grabner, M., Gschwind, F. M., & 38 others , 26 Jan 2022, In: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 9, 20 p., 825751.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
A data assimilation approach to last millennium temperature field reconstruction using a limited high-sensitivity proxy network
King, J. M., Anchukaitis, K. J., Tierney, J. E., Hakim, G. J., Emile-Geay, J., Zhu, F. & Wilson, R., 1 Sept 2021, In: Journal of Climate. 34, 17, p. 7091-7111 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review