"In the last 20 years dendrochronology as a research field on its own has grown significantly and acquired a permanent role in ecolology, climatology, geology, archeology, and history. Presented here are the morphological, ecological, and anatomical characteristics of different tree species and their relationship to tree-ring research. Each species is introduced by an illustration of its exterior form and described in such a manner as to make it adaptable and comparable to chronological, ecological and climatic studies. Further, the soil, climatic and ecological conditions as well as the species distribution are presented,and microscopic representations, mostly cross sections, define the tree-ring sequences. Brief summaries of previous dendrochronological studies show how the species have been used in the past."--Publisher's description.