Abstract
Drought-caused tree dieback is an issue around the world as climates change and many areas become dryer and hotter. A drought from 1998–2004 resulted in a significant tree dieback event in many of the wooded areas in portions of the Jemez Mountains and the adjacent Pajarito Plateau in northern New Mexico. The objectives of this study were to evaluate and quantify the differences in tree mortality before and after a recent drought in ponderosa pine and spruce-fir ecosystems, and to assess the effect of mechanical thinning on ponderosa pine mortality. Significant increases in mortality were observed in the unthinned ponderosa pine ecosystem. Mortality varied significantly between species and within size classes. Mechanical thinning of ponderosa pines reduced overstory mortality to non-significant levels. A lack of rainfall, snowfall, and increases in daily minimum temperature contributed most to the mortality. Adaptive management, including the use of thinning activities, appear to moderate the impact of climate change on ponderosa pine forests in this region, increasing the long-term health of the ecosystem. The impact of climate change on the spruce-fir ecosystems may accelerate successional changes.
Highlights
Prolonged below-normal precipitation and above-normal temperatures from 1998–2004 led to drought over an extensive swath of the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes, with a significant tree dieback in many of the wooded areas in the American Southwest
The only size classes that were found to be significantly different with respect to mortality pre and post-drought in spruce-fir were the diameter at breast height (DBH) size classes of 20–30 and 30–40 cm (Table 1), with greater mortality recorded post-drought
While tree dieback is a natural occurrence, human involvement in the management of forested areas has changed the interaction between the vegetation and its environment [20]
Summary
Prolonged below-normal precipitation and above-normal temperatures from 1998–2004 led to drought over an extensive swath of the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes, with a significant tree dieback in many of the wooded areas in the American Southwest. A similar event occurred in northern New Mexico in the 1950s when the ecotone between semiarid ponderosa pine forest and piñon-juniper woodland shifted location extensively (2 km or more) and rapidly (
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