Author: , The Arizona Republic

TUCSON — When Bryan Black accepted a post-doctoral research position at Oregon State University to study how fish grow, he hoped to apply his background in forest ecology to marine life. Black, a dendrochronologist, or tree-ring scientist, brought techniques from the land to the sea, using samples from fish, clams and coral to build timelines and draw conclusions about the environment and climate in water forms.Now an associate professor at the University of Arizona, Black has compiled a 500-year chronology that tracks fish growth in relation to environmental changes. He took his experience with tree rings and tracked the fish…