[MCN] Confirmed, again: Drought is tough on forests

[Lance Olsen]

UNIVERSITY OF STIRLING Public Release: 22-Feb-2017
Forests worldwide threatened by drought
Forests around the world are at risk of death due 
to widespread drought, University of Stirling 
researchers have found.
JOURNAL
Ecology Letters
FUNDER
The Leverhulme Trust

Ecology Letters First published: 21 February 2017
Tree mortality across biomes is promoted by 
drought intensity, lower wood density and higher 
specific leaf area
Sarah Greenwood et al
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"Our results illustrate the value of functional 
traits for understanding patterns of 
drought-induced tree mortality and suggest that 
mortality could become increasingly widespread in 
the future."
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Abstract
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.12748/abstract;jsessionid=B3C21B334BA77C0EB37EC34006A3B198.f02t03

Drought events are increasing globally, and 
reports of consequent forest mortality are 
widespread. However, due to a lack of a 
quantitative global synthesis, it is still not 
clear whether drought-induced mortality rates 
differ among global biomes and whether functional 
traits influence the risk of drought-induced 
mortality. To address these uncertainties, we 
performed a global meta-analysis of 58 studies of 
drought-induced forest mortality. Mortality rates 
were modelled as a function of drought, 
temperature, biomes, phylogenetic and functional 
groups and functional traits. We identified a 
consistent global-scale response, where mortality 
increased with drought severity [log mortality 
(trees trees"1 year"1) increased 0.46 (95% CI = 
0.2 0.7) with one SPEI unit drought intensity]. 
We found no significant differences in the 
magnitude of the response depending on forest 
biomes or between angiosperms and gymnosperms or 
evergreen and deciduous tree species. Functional 
traits explained some of the variation in drought 
responses between species (i.e. increased from 30 
to 37% when wood density and specific leaf area 
were included). Tree species with denser wood and 
lower specific leaf area showed lower mortality 
responses. Our results illustrate the value of 
functional traits for understanding patterns of 
drought-induced tree mortality and suggest that 
mortality could become increasingly widespread in 
the future.

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