Snow doubt about it: alpine shrubs reveal climate change

Growth rings in a sturdy, long-lived alpine shrub have been used to identity 300 years of climate change in the Australian Alps.

Growth rings in the mountain plum pine were found to be very narrow for heavy-snow years, showing a relationship between temperature and shrub growth.

The mountain plum pine can live for up to 600 years and so the relationship between snow cover and shrub growth can be used to estimate annual snow conditions for many centuries past.