Triggers of tree mortality under drought

By B. Choat, Tim J. Brodribb, C. Brodersen, R. Duursma, R. López, B. Medlyn. Nature, 2018

1,399 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Severe droughts have caused widespread tree mortality across many forest biomes with profound effects on the function of ecosystems and carbon balance. Climate change is expected to intensify regional-scale droughts, focusing attention on the physiological basis of drought-induced tree mortality. Recent work has shown that catastrophic failure of the plant hydraulic system is a principal mechanism involved in extensive crown death and tree mortality during drought, but the multi-dimensional response of trees to desiccation is complex. Here we focus on the current understanding of tree hydraulic performance under drought, the identification of physiological thresholds that precipitate mortality and the mechanisms of recovery after drought. Building on this, we discuss the potential application of hydraulic thresholds to process-based models that predict mortality. Because climate change is expected to intensify regional-scale droughts, it is important to identify the physiological thresholds that precipitate the mortality of trees and the mechanisms of recovery after drought.

Subfields: Atmospheric Science, Global and Planetary Change, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7330a22f5f69ec12df9cba71d601d5a94996bbfe

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Citations in the corpus

Which trees die during drought? The key role of insect host‐tree selection (2019, background): “In several recent studies (e.g. Rowland et al., 2015; Anderegg et al., 2016; Adams et al., 2017; Choat et al., 2018), hydraulic failure has received particular support as a contributor to tree mortality during drought.”
Quantifying impacts of the 2018 drought on European ecosystems in comparison to 2003 (2019, background): “…agricultural yields decline remarkably during hotter droughts while drought-induced tree mortality increases, with both effects leading to significant economic losses (Allen et al., 2010; Buras et al., 2018; Cailleret et al., 2017; Choat et al., 2018; Ciais et al., 2005; Matusick et al., 2018).”
Coupling between the terrestrial carbon and water cycles—a review (2019, background): “The combination of extremely low soil moisture and high VPD strongly limits carbon uptake and can potentially trigger vegetation mortality (Choat et al 2018, Zhou et al 2018).”