TY - JOUR
T1 - Hanging by a thread? Forests and drought
AU - Brodribb, Timothy J.
AU - Powers, Jennifer
AU - Cochard, Hervé
AU - Choat, Brendan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/4/17
Y1 - 2020/4/17
N2 - Trees are the living foundations on which most terrestrial biodiversity is built. Central to the success of trees are their woody bodies, which connect their elevated photosynthetic canopies with the essential belowground activities of water and nutrient acquisition. The slow construction of these carbon-dense, woody skeletons leads to a slow generation time, leaving trees and forests highly susceptible to rapid changes in climate. Other long-lived, sessile organisms such as corals appear to be poorly equipped to survive rapid changes, which raises questions about the vulnerability of contemporary forests to future climate change. The emerging view that, similar to corals, tree species have rather inflexible damage thresholds, particularly in terms of water stress, is especially concerning. This Review examines recent progress in our understanding of how the future looks for forests growing in a hotter and drier atmosphere.
AB - Trees are the living foundations on which most terrestrial biodiversity is built. Central to the success of trees are their woody bodies, which connect their elevated photosynthetic canopies with the essential belowground activities of water and nutrient acquisition. The slow construction of these carbon-dense, woody skeletons leads to a slow generation time, leaving trees and forests highly susceptible to rapid changes in climate. Other long-lived, sessile organisms such as corals appear to be poorly equipped to survive rapid changes, which raises questions about the vulnerability of contemporary forests to future climate change. The emerging view that, similar to corals, tree species have rather inflexible damage thresholds, particularly in terms of water stress, is especially concerning. This Review examines recent progress in our understanding of how the future looks for forests growing in a hotter and drier atmosphere.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85083841135&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85083841135&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.aat7631
DO - 10.1126/science.aat7631
M3 - Review article
C2 - 32299945
AN - SCOPUS:85083841135
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 368
SP - 261
EP - 266
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6488
ER -