WSL Swiss Federal Research Institute 3 articles published in JoVE Environment Advanced Workflow for Taking High-Quality Increment Cores - New Techniques and Devices Holger Gärtner1, Loïc Schneider1, Sandro Lucchinetti2, Paolo Cherubini1 1Forest Dynamics/Dendrosciences, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, 2Mechanische Werkstatt, Schenkung Dapples Here, we present a protocol on how to avoid micro cracks in increment cores by applying a cordless drill with a torque multiplier to minimize problems when coring trees, as well as its effect on preparing long micro sections. This protocol also includes a procedure to sharpen corers in the field. Environment Evaluating Dryocosmus Kuriphilus-induced Damage on Castanea Sativa Eric Gehring1,2, Bruno Bellosi1, Ambra Quacchia1, Marco Conedera1 1Insubric Ecosystem Research Group, WSL Swiss Federal Research Institute, 2Laboratory of Soil Biodiversity, Université de Neuchâtel It is common practice to assess the damage caused by Dryocosmus kuriphilus by considering the abundance of galls alone rather than by also taking related branch corruption into consideration. We propose a composite damage index that takes into account the most important branch features, thus enabling more realistic damage assessment. Environment A Technical Perspective in Modern Tree-ring Research - How to Overcome Dendroecological and Wood Anatomical Challenges Holger Gärtner1, Paolo Cherubini1, Patrick Fonti1, Georg von Arx1, Loïc Schneider1, Daniel Nievergelt1, Anne Verstege1, Alexander Bast1, Fritz H. Schweingruber1, Ulf Büntgen1 1Landscape Dynamics / Dendroecology, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL Here we present a protocol outlining how to sample wooden specimens for the overall assessment of their growth structures. Macro- and microscopic preparation and visualization techniques necessary to generate well-replicated and highly resolved wood anatomical and dendroecological dataset, are described are described.