Reconciling the community with a concept-The uniformitarian principle in the dendro-sciences

- The uniformitarian principle is the basis for extrapolating into the past.
- The dendro-community uses this principle inconsistently and partially incorrect.
- We propose a simple, logical and straightforward interpretation.

The uniformitarian principle is one of the most important foundations of all dendro- and paleo-sciences. Without it, no inferences about the past can be made. However, the use of this principle in our community is not consistent and partially incorrect, with the main confusion relating to the understanding of the “uniformitarian principle” as somehow implying a stable relationship between climate and tree growth. To solve this, we look briefly at the history of the term, show how we teach this principle in our textbooks, give some examples of incorrect applications of this principle in the recent literature and close with a simple, logical and straightforward interpretation of this principle to the dendro-community. Applying the principle of aggregate tree growth we show that instable climate-growth relationships and the “no-analogue problem” are not a violation of the uniformitarian principle, but rather reflect our incomplete understanding of tree growth processes. Simply stated: The “uniformitarian principle” is an a priori assumption of spatial and temporal invariance of law's describing nature's processes. Applied to the dendro-sciences it means that the principle of aggregate tree growth is valid in time and space.