Pervasive drought legacies in forest ecosystems and their implications for carbon cycle models
Princeton University · University of Utah · +10 more institutions
Abstract
The impacts of climate extremes on terrestrial ecosystems are poorly understood but important for predicting carbon cycle feedbacks to climate change. Coupled climate-carbon cycle models typically assume that vegetation recovery from extreme drought is immediate and complete, which conflicts with the understanding of basic plant physiology. We examined the recovery of stem growth in trees after severe drought at 1338 forest sites across the globe, comprising 49,339 site-years, and compared the results with simulated recovery in climate-vegetation models. We found pervasive and substantial "legacy effects" of reduced growth and incomplete recovery for 1 to 4 years after severe drought. Legacy effects were most…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 49.13
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 64
Authors
13Topics & keywords
- Carbon cycle
- Environmental science
- Carbon sink
- Ecosystem
- Forest ecology
- Climate change
- Carbon flux
- Context (archaeology)