Question

Age of a tree can be estimated by:
A. Its height and girth
B. Biomass
C.Number of annual rings
D.Diameter of its heartwood.

Answer 1

Hint: When a new layer of wood is added to the trunk or the branches of a tree each year the annual rings are made.In temperate regions the climate conditions are not uniform throughout the year while in spring season cambium is very active and produces large number of xylary elements.

Complete answer:
The number of annual rings is the number of the year a tree is aged as a new layer of wood is added each year to the branches and the trunk, as the new wood is grown from the cambium layer between the old wood and the bark of the tree, the moisture in the tree during the spring season directs the energy of the tree towards producing the large growth cells, when the season is changed into the summer the growth also slows down and then finally stops. The annual rings have two parts: the light portion and the dark portion, the light portion is called the springwood and is wide as the tree grows during then. The dark portion is called the summerwood as it is thinner because of the slow growth of the tree.

Hence the correct option is ‘C’.

Note:
Dendrochronology is the study of the rings of the tree. The rings are present on the cross section of the trunk, the tree age can be determined by counting of these concentric rings.