Abstract
Globally, drought and heat-induced forest disturbance is garnering increasing concern. Species from Mediterranean forests have resistance and resilience mechanisms to cope with drought and differences in these ecological strategies will profoundly influence vegetation composition in response to drought. Our aim was to contrast the early response of two co-occurring forest species, Eucalyptus marginata and Corymbia calophylla, in the Northern Jarrah Forest of southwestern Australia, following a sudden and severe drought event. Forest plots were monitored for health and response, three and 16 months following the drought. Eucalyptus marginata was more susceptible to partial and complete crown dieback compared to C. calophylla, three months after the drought. However, resprouting among trees exhibiting complete crown dieback was similar between species. Overall, E. marginata trees were more likely to die from the impacts of drought, assessed at 16 months. These short-term differential responses to drought may lead to compositional shifts with increases in frequency of drought events in the future.
Highlights
Climatic changes are expected to drastically modify growing conditions for forest trees in the coming decades [1], primarily driven by changes in the frequency, intensity and duration of extreme events [2].Reports of forest dieback associated with drought and heat events are becoming increasingly common and have been reported from a wide variety of forest types [3]
Further examples of drought-induced forest dieback have recently emerged from southwestern United States [4,5], the Mediterranean Basin [6] and from southwestern Australia [7,8]
E. marginata had a higher probability of tree mortality after 16 months (F = 7.53, p = 0.0063) as more of this species experienced dieback at the outset
Summary
Climatic changes are expected to drastically modify growing conditions for forest trees in the coming decades [1], primarily driven by changes in the frequency, intensity and duration of extreme events [2].Reports of forest dieback associated with drought and heat events are becoming increasingly common and have been reported from a wide variety of forest types [3]. Climatic changes are expected to drastically modify growing conditions for forest trees in the coming decades [1], primarily driven by changes in the frequency, intensity and duration of extreme events [2]. Further examples of drought-induced forest dieback have recently emerged from southwestern United States [4,5], the Mediterranean Basin [6] and from southwestern Australia [7,8]. Assessing the impacts of drought-induced mortality has been recently recognized as a research priority for Mediterranean ecosystems [10]. Extreme drought and heat waves have the potential to cause catastrophic ecosystem type changes, transforming forest composition, structure and ecosystem functioning on a sub-decadal timescale [11]
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