@article {2450, title = {The Growth Stop Phenomenon Of Baobabs (Adansonia Spp.) Identified By Radiocarbon DatingAbstract}, journal = {Radiocarbon}, volume = {59504754164661}, year = {2017}, month = {Jan-04-2017}, pages = {435 - 448}, abstract = {The article reports the growth stop phenomenon, which was documented only for baobabs, i.e. for trees belonging to the Adansonia genus. The identification of growth stop was enabled by radiocarbon dating, which allows a complex investigation of samples collected from the trunk/stems of baobabs. In several cases, the outermost rings of baobabs, which were close to the bark, were found to be old, with ages of several hundreds of years, instead of being very young. Dating results of samples collected from six baobabs are presented. For multistemmed baobabs, the growth stop may occur only for one or several stems. We identified four factors that may induce the growth stop: (i) stress determined by severe climate conditions, (ii) old age, (iii) the need to keep a stable internal architecture, and (iv) the collapse of stems that survive this trauma. Baobabs and their stems affected by growth stop may survive for several centuries, by continuing to produce leaves, flowers, and fruits. This phenomenon was associated with the capacity of baobabs to store large amounts of water in their trunks/stems in the rainy season. This reservoir of water is used during the dry season and allows the trees to survive prolonged drought periods.}, keywords = {Age determination, AMS, growth stop, Radiocarbon dating, tropical trees}, issn = {0033-8222}, doi = {10.1017/RDC.2016.92}, url = {https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0033822216000928/type/journal_articlehttps://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033822216000928}, author = {Patrut, Adrian and Woodborne, Stephan and von Reden, Karl F and Hall, Grant and Patrut, Roxana T and Rakosy, Laszlo and Danthu, Pascal and Pock-Tsy, Jean-Michel Leong and Lowy, Daniel A and Margineanu, Dragos} } @article {19, title = {African Baobabs with False Inner Cavities: The Radiocarbon Investigation of the Lebombo Eco Trail Baobab}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {10}, year = {2015}, note = {PT: J; TC: 0; UT: WOS:000348470400021}, pages = {e0117193-e0117193}, abstract = {The article reports the radiocarbon investigation results of the Lebombo Eco Trail tree, a representative African baobab from Mozambique. Several wood samples collected from the large inner cavity and from the outer part of the tree were investigated by AMS radiocarbon dating. According to dating results, the age values of all samples increase from the sampling point with the distance into the wood. For samples collected from the cavity walls, the increase of age values with the distance into the wood (up to a point of maximum age) represents a major anomaly. The only realistic explanation for this anomaly is that such inner cavities are, in fact, natural empty spaces between several fused stems disposed in a ring-shaped structure. We named them false cavities. Several important differences between normal cavities and false cavities are presented. Eventually, we dated other African baobabs with false inner cavities. We found that this new architecture enables baobabs to reach large sizes and old ages. The radiocarbon date of the oldest sample was 1425 +/- 24 BP, which corresponds to a calibrated age of 1355 +/- 15 yr. The dating results also show that the Lebombo baobab consists of five fused stems, with ages between 900 and 1400 years; these five stems build the complete ring. The ring and the false cavity closed 800-900 years ago. The results also indicate that the stems stopped growing toward the false cavity over the past 500 years.}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0117193}, author = {Patrut, Adrian and Woodborne, Stephan and von Reden, Karl F. and Hall, Grant and Hofmeyr, Michele and Lowy, Daniel A. and Patrut, Roxana T.} }