Drought–mortality relationships for tropical forests

*The rich ecology of tropical forests is intimately tied to their moisture status. Multi-site syntheses can provide a macro-scale view of these linkages and their susceptibility to changing climates. Here, we report pan-tropical and regional-scale analyses of tree vulnerability to drought. *We assembled available data on tropical forest tree stem mortality before, during, and after recent drought events, from 119 monitoring plots in 10 countries concentrated in Amazonia and Borneo. *In most sites, larger trees are disproportionately at risk. At least within Amazonia, low wood density trees are also at greater risk of drought-associated mortality, independent of size. For comparable drought intensities, trees…

• GA
  Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
• SR
  Sight Research UK

  Awards: NE/D01025X/1, NE/D010306/1, NE/F005806/1, NE/F005776/1
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council

  Awards: NE/F005806/1, NE/D010306/1, NE/D01025X/1, NE/F005776/1