At http://phys.org/print346054232.html … Fongliang He and a research team have been looking at what causes trees to flourish and prosper – or struggle to reach the light. They conclude, from 1680 samples, that competition between trees in forest landscapes is the major cause, rather than climate change. Competition can constrict growth. This was obvious, of course, but climate scientists used tree rings to wish away the medieval warm period and the little ice age. This might be considered something of payback.
The piece concludes by saying the current trend of climate studies overlooks other processes important to forest dynamics and could thus be biased. Sceptics have been aware of the bias for years – the foresters are now catching up. The paper was published by PNAS and the researchers add some arm waving in the direction of CAGW, presumably in order to satisfy the peer review process.