| Summary: | Author's manuscript. === The bristlecone pines are of exceptional interest for studies of past environmental changes and especially of climatic changes. Individual trees of these species attain ages approaching 5000 years, and the wood of dead trees can remain intact for several thousand years more. These characteristics permit the development of very long tree-ring chronologies. Furthermore, ecological and environmental changes are shown by the age structure of the forest and by presence of logs, stumps, and wood remnants in areas
that are now unforested. The Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva D. K. Bailey) and the closely related Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine (P. aristata Engelm.) are widely distributed in the high mountains of western United States. However, the largest number of old trees and the greatest climatic sensitivity of ring -width characteristics and of distributional patterns
are found at the western limits of the Great Basin species - in the White Mountains of eastern California.
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