A remarkable bit of digging by our man McIntyre finds out more about certain people who live in glass houses.
(reposted with explicit permission from the author for the plagiarism police,)
In the original Deep Climate post about Wegman, DC characterized Bradley 1999, a revision of the 1985 edition of Bradley’s textbook, as “seminal”. In respect to the dendro chapter at least, this is flatly untrue. Bradley copied both graphics and language from Fritts’ 1976 textbook, Tree Rings and Climate.
Bradley’s copying is not just incidental. Of the first 13 figures in Bradley’s dendro chapter, 12(!) are either copied exactly from Fritts 1976 or, in a few cases, with negligible “paraphrase” (e.g. Bradley Figure 10.10 combines single-columned Fritts Figure 7.10 and 7.11 into a double-columned figure).
For six of the 12 figures, Bradley cites references other than Fritts 1976 – mostly earlier Fritts articles, but also one Lamarche article. In each case, Fritts 1976 had itself re-used the earlier graphic (with citation) with a fresh caption (often lengthy). However, in each of these six cases, Bradley used the Fritts 1976 in a verbatim or near-verbatim form without citing Fritts 1976.
USE OF FRITTS 1976 CAPTIONS WITHOUT CITATION
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.2
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.2 is identical to Fritts 1976 Figure 1.5 and Fritts 1971 Figure 3. The caption to Bradley 1985 Figure 10.2 states:
Trees growing on sites where climate seldom limits growth processes produce rings that are uniformly wide (left). Such rings provide little or no record of variations in climate and are termed complacent. (right): Trees growing on sites where climatic factors are frequently limiting produce rings that vary in width from year to year depending on how severely limiting climate has been to growth. These are termed sensitive (from Fritts, 1971).
The caption to Figure 1.5 from unreferenced Fritts 1976 is virtually identical:
Trees growing on sites where climate seldom limits growth processes produce rings that are uniformly wide (A). Such rings provide little or no record of variations in climate and are termed complacent. Trees growing on sites where climatic factors are frequently limiting produce rings that vary in width from year to year depending on how severely limiting climate has been to growth. (B) These are termed sensitive.
The caption to Fritts 1971 Figure 3 is related but not so close:
Trees with ample moisture and favorable temperatures are not limited by climatic factors (left). Their rings are uniformly wide and there is little variation in thickness from one ring to the next. Trees on arid or extremely cold sites may often be limited by climatic factors (right). Their rings are narrow and there may be marked variation in ring thickness corresponding to variations. in climatic factors which have limited growth.
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.3
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.3 is identical to Fritts 1976 Figure 5.8 and Fritts 1971 Figure 5. The caption to Bradley 1985 Figure 10.3 states:
A schematic diagram showing how low precipitation and high temperature during the growing season may lead to the formation of a narrow tree ring in arid-site trees. Arrows indicate the net effects and include various processes and their interactions. It is implied that the effects of high precipitation and low temperature are the opposite and may lead to an increase in ring widths (from Fritts, 1971).
This is again virtually identical to the corresponding caption in Fritts 1976 – Figure 5.8. (Bradley changed “will increase” to “may lead to an increase”.)
Model Part A. A diagram representing some of the relationships that cause climatic factors of low precipitation and high temperatures during the growing season to lead to the formation of a narrow ring in arid-site trees. The arrows indicate the net effects and include various processes and their interactions. It is implied that the effects of high precipitation and low temperature are the opposite, that is, ring width will increase.
The caption to Fritts 1971 Figure 5 is related, but the Bradley language is clearly derived from the language from the unreferenced Fritts 1976.
Physiological Model A illustrating how low precipitation and high temperature during the growing season (season of cambial activity) may cause a ring to be narrow for conifers growing on semiarid and warm sites. The climatic conditions affect physiological processes which limit the rate of cell division, the amount of cell expansion or the length of the growing season.
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.4
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.4 is identical to Fritts 1976 Figure 5.9 and Fritts 1971 Figure 6. The caption to Bradley 1985 Figure 10.4 states:
A schematic diagram showing how low precipitation and high temperature before the growing season may lead to the formation of a narrow tree ring in arid-site trees. (from Fritts, 1971).
The language from the corresponding Figure 5.9 in unreferenced Fritts 1976 is:
Model Part B. A diagram representing some of the relationships that cause climatic factors of low precipitation and high temperatures prior to the growing season to lead to the formation of a narrow ring in arid-site trees. Compare with Fig 5.8.
The language in cited Fritts 1971 Figure 6 is again related but not as close as the unreferenced Fritts 1976:
Physiological Model B illustrating how low precipitation and high temperature prior to the growing season (season of cambial activity) may cause the ring to be narrow for conifers growing on semiarid and warm sites. The climatic conditions may affect physiological processes which precondition the plant, reduce the potential for rapid growth and reduce the rate of cell division (shown in Model A) so that a narrow ring is formed.
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.7
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.7 is identical to Fritts 1976 Figure 1.9 and Fritts 1971 Figure 2. The caption to Bradley 1985 Figure 10.7 states:
Standardization of ring-width measurements is necessary to remove the decrease in size associated with increasing age of the tree. If the ring widths for the three specimens shown in the upper figure are simply averaged by year, without removing the effect of the tree’s age, the mean ring-width chronology shown below them exhibits intervals of high and low growth, associated with the varying age of the samples. This age variability is generally removed by fitting a curve to each ring-width series, and dividing each ring width by the corresponding value of the curve. The resulting values, shown in the lower half of the figure, are referred to as indices, and may be averaged among specimens differing in age to produce a mean chronology for a site (lowermost record) ( from Fritts, 1971).
The language from Figure 1.8 in the unreferenced Fritts 1976 version is virtually identical:
Standardization of ring-width measurements is necessary to remove the decrease in size associated with increasing age of the tree. If the ring widths for the three specimens shown in the upper figure are averaged by year, without removing the effect of the tree’s age, the mean ring-width chronology shown immediately below them exhibits intervals of high and low growth associated with the varying age of the samples. This age variability can be removed by fitting a curve to each ring-width series, and dividing each ring width by the corresponding value of the curve. The resulting values shown in the lower half of the figure are referred to as indices and may be averaged among specimens differing in age to produce a mean chronology for a site.
The language in Figure 2 from the citation, Fritts 1971, is again related, but not as close as the unreferenced Fritts 1976:
Standardization is necessary because the first-formed rings are generally wider than those found in the older portions of stems and because some trees grow more rapidly than others. If ring-width measurements, plotted as a function of year of formation (upper plots) are averaged, the mean chronology will show long-term variations arising from differences in ring age and mean growth rate of different sampled specimens (fourth plot). When an exponential curve is fitted as shown in the upper plots and the value of each cure during each year is divided into the ring width for that year, new values are obtained which are referred to as indices (lower plot). These indices do not vary as a function of tree age and mean growth and have an expectation value of 1.0. Such indices may be safely averaged (lowest plot) to obtain a ring-width chronology that is likely to correspond to short-term fluctuations in climate that have limited the growth of the trees.
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.9
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.9 is identical to Fritts 1976 Figure 6.6 and a figure from Fritts et al 1965 that I haven’t examined yet. The caption to Bradley 1985 Figure 10.9 states:
Five year running means of ring width indices from Pseudotsuga menziesii at Mesa Verde, Colorado, corrected for autocorrelation and plotted on every even year from AD442 through 1962 (after Fritts et al 1965)
The caption to unreferenced Fritts 1976 Figure 6.6 is identical:
Five year running means of ring width indices from Pseudotsuga menziesii at Mesa Verde, Colorado, corrected for autocorrelation and plotted on every even year from AD442 through 1962 (Modified from Fritts et al 1965c)
[insert Fritts 1965 when examined]
Bradley Figure 10.13
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.13 is identical to Fritts 1976 Figure 8.9 and Lamarche 1974 Figure 6. The caption to Bradley 1985 Figure 10.13 states:
Growth of pinus longaeva on lower forest border (…) and upper treeline (—) sites of the White Mountains, California, and the precipitation and temperature anomalies inferred from the departures in ring width. Data expressed as 20 year averages of standardized normal values. Arrows show dates of glacial moraines in nearby mountains (after Lamarche 1974)
The caption to Fritts Figure 8.9 is virtually identical:
The 20-year average growth , expressed in standardized normal values, in Pinus longaeva on lower forest border (…) and upper treeline (—) sites of the White Mountains, California, and the precipitation and temperature anomalies inferred from the departures in ring width. Arrows show dates of glacial moraines in nearby mountains (From Lamarche, V.C. 1974 Science 183 (4129) 1043-1048, copyright 1974 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.)
The caption to Lamarche 1974 Fig 6 is related, but not nearly as close as the unreferenced Fritts 1976:
Departures from mean growth(normalized 20-year means) trees on ecologically contrasting sites in the White Mountains and inferred climatic anomalies. Arrows show dates of glacial moraines in the nearby Sierra Nevada (19); all except the youngest were formed during periods judged to be relatively cool from the tree-ring evidence. Glacial advances of the early 1300s and early 1600s also coincide with unusually wet periods.
“AFTER” FRITTS 1976
For the six figures actually referenced to Fritts 1976, the Bradley 1985 captions all conclude with “after Fritts 1976″ (“after” is dropped in Bradley 1999). I leave it to readers to comment on whether the term “after” Fritts 1976 fully captures the fact that the figures are in fact identical and the lengthy captions are, in most cases, either verbatim or near verbatim.
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.1
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.1: Drawing of cell structure along a cross section of a young stem of a conifer. The earlywood is made up of large and relatively thin-walled cells (tracheids); latewood is made up of small, thick-walled tncheids. Variations in tracheid thickness may produce false rings in either earlywood or latewood (after Fritts, 1976).
Fritts 1976 Figure 2.3: Drawing of cell structure along a cross section of a young stem of a conifer. The earlywood is made up of large and relatively thin-walled cells (tracheids); latewood is made up of small, thick-walled tracheids. Variations in tracheid thickness may produce false rings in either earlywood or latewood.
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.5
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.5: Annual growth increments or rings are formed because the wood cells produced early in the growing season (earlywood, EW) are large, thin-walled, and less dense, while the cells formed at the end of the season (latewood, LW) are smaller, thick-walled, and more dense. An abrupt change in cell size between the last-formed cells of one ring (LW) and the first-formed cells of the next (EW) marks the boundary between annual rings. Sometimes growing conditions temporarily become severe before the end of the growing season and may lead to the production of thick-walled cells within an annual growth layer (arrows).This may make it difficult to distinguish where the actual growth increment ends, which could lead to errors in dating. Usually these intra-annual bands or false rings can be identified, but where they cannot the problem must be resolved by cross-dating (after Fritts, 1976).
Fritts 1976 Figure 1.5: Annual growth layers or rings are formed because the wood cells produced early in the growing season (EW) are large, thin-walled, and less dense, while the cells formed at the end of the season (LW) are smaller, thick-walled, and more dense. An abrupt change in cell size between the last-formed cells of one ring (LW) and the first-formed cells of the next (EW) marks the boundary between annual rings. Sometimes growing conditions temporarily become severe before the end of the growing season and cause subsequently formed cells to be smaller with thicker walls (arrows). When more favorable conditions return, the subsequently formed cells are larger and have thinner walls. The resulting dark bands within the growth layer are called intra-annual growth bands or flase rings and are usually identified by the gradual transition in cell-size on both margins of the band. Occasionally these intra-annual bands are indistinguishable from the true annual ring and the problem must be resolved by crossdating. In A, the false ring is within the latewood formed near the end of the growing season. In B, it is within the earlywood formed near the beginning of the growing season. Growth is in the upward direction. (Adapted from Kuo and McGinnes Jr, 1973).
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.6
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.6: Cross dating of tree rings. Comparison of tree-ring widths makes it possible to identify false rings or where rings are locally absent. For example in (A), strict counting shows a clear lack of synchrony in the patterns. In the lower specimen of (a), rings 9 and 16 can be seen as very narrow and they do not appear at all in the upper specimen. Also, rings 21 (lower) and 20 (upper) show intra-annual growth bands. In (b) the positions of inferred absence are designated by dots (upper specimen(, the intra-annual band in ring 20 is recognized and the patterns in all ring widths are synchronously matched (after Fritts 1976).
Fritts 1976 Figure 1.8: Cross dating makes it possible to recognize areas where rings are locally absent or where intra-annual growth band appears like a true annual ring. The patterns of wide and narrow rings are compared among specimens. Every fifth ring is numbered in the diagram and in A the patterns of wide and narrow rings match until ring number 9, after which a lack of synchrony in pattern occurs. In the lower specimen of A, rings 9 and 16 can be seen as very narrow and they do not appear at all in the upper specimen; while rings 21 (in the lower) and 20 (in the upper) show intra-annual growth bands. In the upper specimen of B, the positions of inferred absence are designated by two dots, the intra-annual band in ring 20 is recognized and the patterns in all ring widths are synchronously matched (Drawing by M. Huggins).
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.10
Bradley 1985 Figure 10.10: Magnitudes of the elements of the first and second eigenvectors of climate at Mesa Verde, southwestern Colorado, and their corresponding amplitude sets. In eigenvector 1, (which reduces 13% of the climatic variance) the eigenvector elements for temperature are all the same sign; the corresponding signs for ten elements for precipitation have the opposite sign. This arises because temperatures throughout the 14 month period are somewhat positively correlated with each other, but they are negatively correlated with precipitation for ten out of 14 months. In eigenvector 2 which reduces 11% of the climatic variance) the eigenvector expresses a mode of climate in which the departures of temperature for July to November are opposite in sign to those of December to July. All elements for precipitation have signs opposite those of temperature, indicating a generally inverse relationship. The eigenvectors are multiplied with normalized climatic data to obtain the amplitude sets. Asterisks mark those elements with the largest positive and negative values, indicating a climatic regime for the year which most resembles the eigenvector in question (either positively or negatively (after Fritts 1976).
Fritts 1976 Figure 7.10: Plot of the magnitudes of the elements of the first and most important eigenvector of Mesa Verde climate, which reduces 13% of the climatic variance, and the corresponding amplitude set. The eigenvector expresses a mode of climate in which the departures of temperature for July to November are opposite in sign to those of December-July. All elements for precipitation have signs opposite those of temperature, indicating a generally inverse relationship. The eigenvector is multiplied with normalized climatic data to obtain the amplitude set. Asterisks mark those elements with the largest positive and negative values, indicating the most resemblance of the climatic regime for the year to that particular eigenvector. (See Fig 7.9).
Fritts 1976 Figure 7.11: The magnitudes of the elements of the second eigenvector of Mesa Verde climate, which reduces 11% of the climatic variance, and the corresponding amplitude set. The eigenvector elements for temperature are all the same sign; and the corresponding signs for ten elements for precipitation have the opposite sign. This arises because temperatures throughout the 14 month period are somewhat positively correlated with each other, but they are negatively correlated with precipitation for ten out of 14 months. The eigenvector is multiplied with normalized climatic data to obtain the amplitude set. Asterisks mark those elements with the largest positive and negative values, indicating the most resemblance of the climatic regime for the year to that particular eigenvector. (See Fig 7.12).
Bradley Figure 10.11
Bradley Figure 10.11: Response functions obtained from a stepwise regression analysis using amplitudes of eigenvectors to estimate a ring-width chronology representing six Pinus ponderosa sites along the lower slopes of the Rocky Mountains, Colorado. Steps with 1, 3 and 12 predictor variables are shown. Percentage variance reduced can be calculated by multiplying the R2 value by 100. The regression coefficients for amplitudes are converted to response functions though when response functions are complex as in this example, a linear combination of many eigenvectors is needed to obtain the best fitting relationship (after Fritts 1976).
Fritts Figure 10.11: Response functions obtained from a stepwise regression analysis using amplitudes of eigenvectors and prior growth to estimate a ring-width chronology representing six Pinus ponderosa sites along the lower slopes of the Rocky Mountains, Colorado. Steps with 1, 3, 7, 12 and 20 predictor variables are shown. The regression coefficients for amplitudes are converted to response functions (Equation 7.22) . When response functions are complex as in this example, a linear combination of many eigenvectors is needed to obtain the best fitting relationship. Prior growth was entered into regression after the step with 12 variables. The percent variance can be calculated by multiplying the R2 by 100.
RUNNING TEXT
Bradley 1985 included the acknowledgment to Fritts shown below. However, this acknowledgment was removed in Bradley 1999 – which may partially explain DC’s inflated estimation of the seminality of Bradley 1999:
…the greatest strides in dendroclimatology hae been made in the last 10-15 years, largely as a result of the work of H.C. Fritts and associates at the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research in the University of Arizona; much of this work has been documented at length in the excellent book by Fritts (1976).
As Bradley’s running text is mostly a commentary on Fritts 1976 graphics, unsurprisingly there are many parallels in language (even though Fritts 1976 is seldom mentioned in the running text and then not always relevantly). Here is one example of virtually identical language in the running text (noticed in a fairly quick pass)
Bradley, 346: Once the regression coefficients have been calculated, the eigenvectors incorporated in the regression equation are mathematically transformed into a new set of n coefficients corresponding to the original (intercorrelated) set of n variables. These new coefficients are termed weights or elements of the response function and are analogous to the stepwise regression coefficients discussed earlier…
Fritts 353: Once the regression coefficients for the selected set of orthogonal variables have been calculated, they may be mathematically transformed into a new set of coefficients which correspond to the original correlated set of variables. These new coefficients (sometimes referred to as weights or elements of the response function) are analogous to the stepwise regression coefficients described in the previous section…
Needless to say, there are many other examples.
Bradley’s Variations
Given the almost total derivativeness of these sections of Bradley 1985 from Fritts 1976, it’s interesting to see those places where Bradley has, in the terminology of DC and Mashey, “distorted” Fritts.
For example, Fritts (p 11) listed carbon dioxide as an important external limiting factor – a limiting factor notably left out by Bradley (but included by Wegman, a point with which DC took issue.)
Some of the most important external limiting factors are water, temperature, light, carbon dioxide, oxygen and soil minerals…
Another Bradley innovation was the following analogy of trees to a “filter or transducer” – the sort of metaphor that has been contested at Climate Audit as long as this blog has been going. Although Bradley cites Fritts 1976 as authority, I was unable to locate Fritts’ use of this metaphor (it is possible that I missed it, since I have Fritts 1976 only in a non-searchable form). However, Fritts seems mercifully free of thinking of trees as a sort of electronic transceiver nor have I thus far seen any examples of the signal-noise metaphor nor of “climate the dependent variable with ring-width data the predictor”.
From the point of view of paleoclimatology, it is perhaps useful to consider the tree as a filter or transducer which, through various physiological processes, converts a given climatic input signal into a certain ring width output that is stored and can be studied in detail, even thousands of years later (Fritts, 1976; Schweingruber, 1988, 1996).
In Bradley’s interview with USA Today, he stated:
“Clearly, text was just lifted verbatim from my book and placed in the (Wegman) report.
Something that Fritts could have said about Bradley. As to Deep Climate’s untrue assertion that Bradley 1999 was “seminal”, I presume that this statement was made without any attempt to determine whether it was true or not.
APPENDIX
Here is a summary of corresponding Bradley and Fritts figures.
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| Bradley has excerpted three of five Fritts panels (see right).
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@Nick Stokes, the point of this article is that, using the same methods applied to accuse Wegman of plagiarism, Bradley is also a plagiarist – and a much more thorough and comprehensive plagiarist. By their standards. Remember that. Consequently they’re either hypocrites or liars.
Archonix,
OK, where is Bradley’s plagiarism? Please point to it.
From Fritts‘ March 2000 page (not Fritz, folks!)
Last active work appears to be 2003. Looks like Fritts wrote in the days when dendroclimatology had integrity and carbon dioxide was included in the factors that influence treering size, as Wegman noted but Bradley omitted.
Thanks Mashey.
@Archonix
” Bradley is also a plagiarist – and a much more thorough and comprehensive plagiarist. “
Really? A much more thorough plagiarist because he references Fritts 1971 while Steve thinks Fritts 1976 is a better fit? This is a more “thorough” form of plagiarism than lifting entire paragraphs wholesale without reference and altering the meaning of others?
Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17.
Scottish author & novelist (1771 – 1832)
Link
Well done John Mashey. Not only have you outed yourself as an obsessive Internet crank, but you’ve exposed the Hockey Team to charges of widespread plagiarism and rampant hypocricy.
The best thing for Wegman to do right now is to publicly announce that he will properly attribute what was copied to the sources that Bradley copied.
Is that the sound of shattering glass I hear?
Tempest in a teapot, indeed. And by that I mean the Bradley charges, not SM’s revelations.
It seems that what has been ignored is the nature of Wegman’s report. It is NOT a published paper, but a report. Included in the report is a section that provides background/review to the topic which is the subject of the report, namely the misuse of statistics by Mann et al.
The rules for attribution for a report are not the same as for published academic articles. Wegman does provide attribution for his background, just not in the way it would be required for a published article.
SM’s exposure of Bradley’s copying of Fritts’s text does show that wholesale copying of text is common in textbooks, but is not a big deal since permission was granted.
What SM has done though is provide enough material for Wegman, if his defenders wish to use it at GM, to get Bradley’s charges summarily dismissed as sour grapes. It will not however stop the team from using this with their choir as “evidence” of Wegman’s being a hack, and therefore tainting his statistical analysis.
Its all about muddying the waters. In that Bradley and the team have likely succeeded, but only with those already in the choir. Unfortunately this choir includes a lot of powerful people – for now.
Only a numbskull would deny CO2 didn’t influence tree ring size. That, or they’re bowing to god Gaia in the name of climate science.
Archonix says:
October 19, 2010 at 2:41 am
——————-
Archonix,
Regarding the two below commenter challenges for you to show the Bradley plagiarism, you should check the CA post on it. There is more detailed discussion than here at WUWT.
Of course, Stokes and sharperoo could have told you that, but it appears not to be their style.
NOTE: It appears that this is getting wide circulation, like the Bradley PR blitz against Wegman did. I am sure a lot of independent thinkers are now looking at widespread plagiarism in the settled science publications. Bradley made a tactical error of major proportions. Look for an avalanche of settled science issues resulting from Bradley’s PR mistake.
John
Martin Brumby says:
October 19, 2010 at 12:11 am
@davidmhoffer says: October 18, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Absolutely excellent!
In 1976, the importance of having “pal-reviewed” papers was also in its infancy.>>
Thanks. When I first started reading dendro studies it was out of simple interest. Kept finding Briffa citing Jones and Mann, so look up Mann and he cites Jones and Briffa, and around the circle we go without end. One of my first wake up calls that the “fix” was in. If someone is able to draw, I would dearly like to have a caricature drawing of the three of them in robes and singing together to the obvious tune:
We three kings of dendro are
Raising the price, of running your car
Data bogus, and though we know it
Follow us, we are the Stars
Stars of tricking, Stars of hiding
Rings declining, still we’re shining
Fiction leading, Still proceeding
Stop your whining, We’re deciding
Who besides, we the Stars
Will even get, to keep their cars
Cherry picking, guys?
I said using the same methods applied to accuse Wegman of plagiarism, Bradley is also a plagiarist.
Learn to read. Seriously.
@John Whitman
“Of course, Stokes and sharperoo could have told you that, but it appears not to be their style.”
The link to CA is the third line of the post we’re all commenting on, why would someone direct to a link that’s already given?
Even if you uncritically accept all the accusations against Wegman and all the accusations against Bradley I don’t see how it supports the conclusion that Bradley is a “more thorough” plagiarist than Wegman.
According to this post Bradley is guilty of referencing the wrong year when citing Fritts and possibly using “after” in a fashion which would make the reader think there were more changes than there were.
Wegman is accused of copying and pasting large chunks of text without any citation at all (i.e. leading the reader to believe it was original work) and altering the meaning of copied text in other instances. This is a significantly more serious charge and bears no relation to the claims against Bradley here.
“I am sure a lot of independent thinkers are now looking at widespread plagiarism in the settled science publications. Bradley made a tactical error of major proportions. Look for an avalanche of settled science issues resulting from Bradley’s PR mistake.”
I think everyone is going to regret opening this Pandora’s Box. It adds nothing to the discussion or science and threatens to consume a lot of bandwith for childish pointmaking.
I liked Watts’ collegial and mature approach to a missing citation better.
Lucy Skywalker says:
Hence in 1971 and 1976, Fritts could mention CO2, but in 1985 Bradley stealthily extracted it.
+++++++++++++++
Lucy, you have hit Tuesday’s nail on the head. The citation/attribution noise is loud but the major issue is still the missing CO2 because the whole point of the deletion was to hide the real influence of CO2 on trees. Purpose? To claim different role for CO2 with a large agenda in tow.
Personally I am not as offended by the lack of or or inaccurate citation as I am by the twisting of facts to suit a non-factual claimed role for CO2 in the atmosphere.
Of course Bradley attacks Wegman on the basis of citation! What else can he say? I suspect he did not think that the deletion of CO2 from the original source would be noticed. If all the citations are attributed correctly in the back of the textbook it means he is deliberately mis-misrepresenting the works of another, while claiming to have correctly cited it. Wow.
In other words either a) he did not really plagerise the work, presenting as he does that CO2 is not a factor in tree growth which is the original claim, or b) he does cite the author correctly but edits the quote to deviously use the stature of the author by mis-quoting him to support a different/contrary argument, or c) the charts are in fact plagerised as was the text which was edited to support his own ideas, contrary to the conclusions of the source author. Do academics have a word for that?
sharper00 says:
October 19, 2010 at 3:46 am
@Archonix
” Bradley is also a plagiarist – and a much more thorough and comprehensive plagiarist. “
Really? A much more thorough plagiarist because he references Fritts 1971 while Steve thinks Fritts 1976 is a better fit? This is a more “thorough” form of plagiarism than lifting entire paragraphs wholesale without reference and altering the meaning of others?
—…—…
???? Bradley directly profited from his plagiarism because he lifted entire sections and illustrations directly from two earlier sources!
“Attributing” a source doesn’t imply the permission to copy entire graphs, photo’s, charts, and paragraphs. That’s what a Xerox copier does – and a Xerox is apparently far better at copying than a supposed PhD.
@RACookPE1978
“???? Bradley directly profited from his plagiarism because he lifted entire sections and illustrations directly from two earlier sources!”
And each of them says where they’re from. Look at the screenshots above and you’ll see the Bradley versions have “from Fritts” or “after fritts” on all of them.
““Attributing” a source doesn’t imply the permission to copy entire graphs, photo’s, charts, and paragraphs. That’s what a Xerox copier does – and a Xerox is apparently far better at copying than a supposed PhD.”
It doesn’t which is why “John M” over on the CA thread checked to see if the appropriate permissions had been obtained and they had, see:
http://climateaudit.org/2010/10/18/bradley-copies-fritts/#comment-243664
So the images are cited and the permissions were obtained.
Steve McIntyre’s complaint centers around whether Fritts 1976 is a closer cite than is Fritts 1971 or whether the text is quite different enough for the use of “after” as a cite. It’s an extremely weak claim.
Crispin in Waterloo;
re Lucy Skywalker:
Lucy, you have hit Tuesday’s nail on the head. The citation/attribution noise is loud but the major issue is still the missing CO2 because the whole point of the deletion was to hide the real influence of CO2 on trees.>>
This one has been tickling away at the edges of my mind since this thread began, and I finaly got it. In 1971 the accurate records being kept of CO2 levels at Mauna Loa were just over a decade old. Hardly enough to show any correlation with tree rings and CO2 levels, and only a 15 ppm change to boot. For Fritts to cite CO2 levels as a factor, he would have had to have measurements of historical CO2 levels from somewhere to correlate with tree rings. If so, it would be very interesting to see what data he used over what time frame. In another thread, Englebeen dismisses Beck’s claims of a CO2 spike in the 40’s based in part on no corroborating proxy. I’d be interested in learning if Fritts data supports Beck or not, and on a larger scale, what fluctuations in CO2 Fritts correlated to and how big they were. Are they in dispute with the accepted background CO2 level of 280 ppm?
I’d fire off an email to Beck who would no doubt have responded with observations of interest, but he has, alas, passed on. Englebeen however is very much alive and active, and though he disagrees with Beck, his criticisms have been well documented, fairly presented, credibly and respectfully argued. I’d be most interested in his reading of CO2 levels as discussed by Fritts. Perhaps Anthony or one of the mods can reach out to him for a more detailed response?
——–
sharper00,
Thank you for your reply.
I need to be short with my response since I am out and about with my BB.
Charges against Bradley? I know of no lawsuit regarding his Fritts related scholarship activities.
Your implication, a day into looking at Bradley, is that anything found is just false. Right? Wait a few days. Also, things found will not always be revealed by the discoverer until consideration is given about what to do with it. I think we had this conversation before regarding Cuccinelli & Mann.
John
You can tell that the science has run out when you are left to scrape the barrel with plaguerism jibes.
From my quick review of this article, it appears that Bradley has attributed material to the author but for the main part merely cited the wrong reference. A mistake for sure, but not exactly earth shattering.
Wegman’s omissions are at first glance more serious. However, one must take into account the nature of the document and what analysis was to be expected of Wegman. Background, is often considered to be common knowledge and I doubt that Wegman was intending to pass off his backgound summary as if it were his own original work and I doubt that any reader of the report would consider the background summary to be that of Wegman’s original work. That said, the background summary should have been attributed, or in some other way made cleafr that this was (largely) lifted from Bradley’s paper upon which the report was commenting upon.
As far as I am concerned, the most interesting aspect of all of this is the deletion (or omission -whether negligent, inadvertent or delibberate) by Bradley of CO2 as one of the factors that influence tree growth. Any one possessing an ounce of commonsense would readily appreciate that this is a factor relavent to plant/tree growth and hence the deletion/omission of this by Bradley does suggest that his scientific nouse and knowledge is severely lacking and leaves much to be desired.
PS: Usual forensic scruiting by SM which is most impressive.
Sharperoo: Do you perhaps agree that editing out the references in Fritts’ works to CO2 while claiming to have cited them (as you show above) constitutes a factual misrepresentation of the known role of atmospheric CO2 on the growth of tree rings?
The core message from Bradley et al is that CO2 is not a contributing factor and that temperature is the major one. It seems clear to me that Bradley is misusing the works of Fritts, perhaps attributed correctly and cited selectively, in order to misrepresent reality: that CO2 is an important factor in the width of tree rings.
You can see from http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/~hal/halmodel.html that Fritts repeatedly notes that ‘available carbon’ is an important and indeed limiting factor in the size of tree rings. I have been reading on this topic for years and it surprises me to find out now that Bradley knew from the work of Fritts that CO2 was important and that he deleted that critical information while simultaneously proffering scientific claims for the dominant role of temperature, and further, by omission, the unimportance of the CO2 level in the atmosphere in the science of dendochronology. Later, others took up that cudgel and directly attacked the importance of CO2 on tree ring growth. I am interesting in ther motivation for doing so, given that the importance of CO2 was standard fare.
While I expect a lot of bleating and beating around the academic bush, the principal sin to me is the manipulating of the original reference with the intention of making CO2 seem to be a primary driver of climate. I mean, call a spade a spade: he had an agenda.
When you checked for the permission to cite Fritts, did you see any note that gave Bradley permission to edit chart notes and mis-quote Fritts on the issue of CO2 while attributing the notes to the original source?
Does Bradley make it clear in the midst of the cited works of Fritts (whether referenced correctly or not) that he differs with him on the issue of the importance of CO2 in tree ring growth theory, and that he had edited Fritts’ chart note to reflect his own opinion?
If Bradley did not make it clear he was doing this, does it not mean Bradley was trying to use Fritts’ standing as an expert dendochronologist to support his (Bradley’s) own opinion, while actually hiding the fact that Fritts’ original works do not? According to Fritts, there is no way to ‘hide the decline’ in the importance of temperature on tree ring growth if CO2 is considered a growth factor. Call it a ‘dimuition of relevance’ if you like. Bradley, in my view, tried to expurgate that knowledge from the cited works and substitute an inferior understanding that is at variance with established fact which are: CO2 has a strong influence on tree ring growth and available carbon is a limiting growth factor, as has been continuously reported by Fritts over the past 39 years. If Bradley wished to establish that Fritts is incorrect on these matters, he should not have edited Fritt’s science when trying to do so, all the while claiming to have been citing his works.
Why “our man McIntyre” is not revered as a rock star like Mick Jagger is beyond me. He has almost singlehandedly saved humanity from the ravages of the global elite who wanted a one world government ushered in by a global CO2 tax.
Given the number of trolls operating here and shouting “you’re wrong” I suspect there is some fire here after all.
Perhaps widening the search to other team authors would reveal some interesting stuff.
The arm-waving from various accusers of Wegman have unwittingly (or witlessly) allowed the sharp intellect of Lucy Skywalker and others to highlight Bradley’s devious and stealthy removal of the references to CO2, that excellent plant food, from Fritt’s work while transferring it to his own textbook.
This is academic banditry on Bradley’s part and it probably would have remained hidden without the silly arm-waving that some have reckoned to be an intelligent response to all that has been laid bare by Mr McIntyre’s investigation..
Crispin in Waterloo says:
That was one of the clearest discussions of the prime issue I’ve seen. thank you.