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Research frontiers for improving our understanding of drought-induced tree and forest mortality.

  • Hartmann H Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans Knöll Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.
  • Moura CF Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans Knöll Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.
  • Anderegg WRL Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA.
  • Ruehr NK Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kreuzeckbahnstr. 19, 82467, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
  • Salmon Y School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Crew Building, The Kings Buildings, Alexander Crum Brown Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3FF, UK.
  • Allen CD US Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Centre, New Mexico Landscapes Field Station, Los Alamos, NM, 87544, USA.
  • Arndt SK School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne, 500 Yarra Boulevard, Richmond, 3121, Vic., Australia.
  • Breshears DD School of Natural Resources and the Environment and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
  • Davi H INRA, URFM Ecologie des Forest Méditerranéennes, Domaine Saint Paul, Site Agroparc, 84914, Avignon Cedex 9, France.
  • Galbraith D School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
  • Ruthrof KX School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA, 6150, Australia.
  • Wunder J Insubric Ecosystems Research Group, Community Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, a Ramèl 18, CH-6593, Cadenazzo, Switzerland.
  • Adams HD Department of Plant Biology, Ecology, and Evolution, 301 Physical Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA.
  • Bloemen J Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Sternwartestraße 15, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
  • Cailleret M Forest Ecology, Department of Environmental Sciences, ETH Zürich. ETH-Zentrum, CHN G77, Universitätstrasse 16, CH-8092, Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Cobb R Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93407, USA.
  • Gessler A Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
  • Grams TEE Ecophysiology of Plants, Technical University of Munich, Von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354, Freising, Germany.
  • Jansen S Institute of Systematic Botany and Ecology, Ulm University, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89081, Ulm, Germany.
  • Kautz M Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kreuzeckbahnstr. 19, 82467, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
  • Lloret F CREAF - Centre for Ecological Research and Applied Forestry, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
  • O'Brien M Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, E-04120 La Cañada, Almería, Spain.
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  • 2018-03-01
Published in:
  • The New phytologist. - 2018
carbon-water cycling
dynamic vegetation models
insects and pathogens
monitoring network
tree death
Droughts
Forecasting
Forests
Geography
Models, Theoretical
Probability
Trees
English Accumulating evidence highlights increased mortality risks for trees during severe drought, particularly under warmer temperatures and increasing vapour pressure deficit (VPD). Resulting forest die-off events have severe consequences for ecosystem services, biophysical and biogeochemical land-atmosphere processes. Despite advances in monitoring, modelling and experimental studies of the causes and consequences of tree death from individual tree to ecosystem and global scale, a general mechanistic understanding and realistic predictions of drought mortality under future climate conditions are still lacking. We update a global tree mortality map and present a roadmap to a more holistic understanding of forest mortality across scales. We highlight priority research frontiers that promote: (1) new avenues for research on key tree ecophysiological responses to drought; (2) scaling from the tree/plot level to the ecosystem and region; (3) improvements of mortality risk predictions based on both empirical and mechanistic insights; and (4) a global monitoring network of forest mortality. In light of recent and anticipated large forest die-off events such a research agenda is timely and needed to achieve scientific understanding for realistic predictions of drought-induced tree mortality. The implementation of a sustainable network will require support by stakeholders and political authorities at the international level.
Language
  • English
Open access status
hybrid
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Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/209270
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