date: Fri Apr 11 10:34:16 2008 from: Keith Briffa subject: RE: Nature Geoscience Review Request - manuscript to: "Langenberg, Heike" Heike I do not know whether you sent official instructions for returning this review - I can not find a "later" message from you. Attached is my review (and some brief comments by a colleague) . Best wishes Keith At 18:46 14/03/2008, you wrote: Dear Keith, Thanks very much for agreeing to review this paper for us (after Easter will be fine), and for the suggestions for complementary referees. With my next email, I will send a link to our webbased data base. Specifically, do you think the authors' interpretation of their tree-ring data is robust, including the corrections for age and climate variations? If so, do think the main finding regarding continental-scale impacts of sulphur deposition on forest growth is new and important? Of course, similar effects have been found for the regional scale, but the authors argue that such a widespread has not been reported before. I look forward to hearing what you think. Best wishes, Heike ******************************************** Dr Heike Langenberg Chief Editor Nature Geoscience [1]http://www.nature.com/ngeo/index.html -----Original Message----- From: Keith Briffa [[2]mailto:k.briffa@uea.ac.uk] Sent: 14 March 2008 15:26 To: Langenberg, Heike Subject: Re: Nature Geoscience Review Request - manuscript NGS-2008-02-00218 Hi Heike yes I am happy to take a look at this one . As for other referees I would suggest John Grace at Edinburgh (University) , or perhaps Malcolm Hughes in Tucson (tree Ring Lab.) . hope a response after Easter will suffice cheers Keith At 14:10 14/03/2008, you wrote: >MIME-Version: 1.0 >Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="_----------=_120550382054503" >X-Mailer: MIME::Lite 3.021 (F2.74; T1.23; A2.02; B3.07; Q3.07) >Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:10:20 -0400 >Message-Id: <49120550382020@rhwww4.nature.com.nature.com> >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >Dear Professor Briffa > >As you may have heard, we have recently launched Nature Geoscience, >a monthly research journal (please see our website ><[3]http://www.nature.com/ngeo>[4]http://www.nature.com/ngeo for more information). > >A short manuscript has been submitted to Nature Geoscience, which we >were hoping you would be interested in reviewing. The manuscript >comes from Yuliya Savva and Frank Berninger and is entitled "Sulphur >deposition causes a large-scale growth decline in boreal forests in >Eurasia". Its first paragraph is pasted below. > >Would you be able to specifically assess the interpretation of the >tree ring data, as well as the novelty and importance of this >manuscript for us, within about two weeks of receiving the paper? > >If you are unable to help us with this, can you suggest any >alternative referees who would have an appropriate expertise? I >would also be grateful for any thoughts that you might have >regarding other referees who would be appropriate to complement your >expertise on this work. > >Thank you in advance for your help and I look forward to hearing >from you soon. > >Best wishes, >Heike Langenberg > >******************************************** >Dr Heike Langenberg >Chief Editor > >Nature Geoscience ><[5]http://www.nature.com/ngeo/index.html>[6]http://www.nature.com/ngeo/index .html > > >Sulphur deposition causes a large-scale growth decline in boreal >forests in Eurasia > >Yuliya Savva and Frank Berninger > >Even small changes in the productivity of boreal forest should have >a large effect on the carbon balance, but are challenging to detect >due to their long life span. Human activity has changed climate, >atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, and the concentrations of >several pollutants over the last decades. Yet the combined effects >of these changes have not been quantified. Here we demonstrate that >the radial growth of one of the main forest species, Scots pine in >Northern Eurasia, has declined by 18% or 0.003 mm per year from the >1950s to the 1980s. This decrease was closely related to sulphur >depositions at the sites, while nitrogen depositions appeared to >increase growth. Additionally, sulphur deposition caused Scots pine >forests to be more sensitive to drought and cold springs. Although >the negative effects on the growth of plants from the relatively >polluted areas have been widely observed, the long-term effects of >sulphur emissions and its spread to ecosystems distant >from the point sources of pollution has never been previously >reported at such a large scale. The study is of fundamental >importance given that pollutant emissions into the atmosphere are >still rising in many regions. > >Please note that your contact details are being held on our >editorial database which is used only for this journal's management >of the peer review process. If you would prefer us not to contact >you in the future please let us know by emailing geoscience@nature.com. > > >This email has been sent through the NPG Manuscript Tracking System >NY-610A-NPG&MTS -- Professor Keith Briffa, Climatic Research Unit University of East Anglia Norwich, NR4 7TJ, U.K. Phone: +44-1603-593909 Fax: +44-1603-507784 [7]http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/people/briffa/ ******************************************************************************** DISCLAIMER: This e-mail is confidential and should not be used by anyone who is not the original intended recipient. 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