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Title: Drought legacies are dependent on water table depth, wood anatomy and drought timing across the eastern US

Journal Article · · Ecology Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13173· OSTI ID:1481426
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [5];
  1. School of Biological Sciences University of Utah Salt Lake City UT 84112 USA, Department of Biology Indiana University Bloomington IN 47405 USA
  2. Department of Geography Indiana University Bloomington IN 47405 USA
  3. Harvard Forest Harvard University Petersham MA 10366 USA
  4. School of Biological Sciences University of Utah Salt Lake City UT 84112 USA, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management University of New Brunswick Fredericton NB E3B 5A3 Canada
  5. Department of Biology Indiana University Bloomington IN 47405 USA
+ Show Author Affiliations

Abstract Severe droughts can impart long‐lasting legacies on forest ecosystems through lagged effects that hinder tree recovery and suppress whole‐forest carbon uptake. However, the local climatic and edaphic factors that interact to affect drought legacies in temperate forests remain unknown. Here, we pair a dataset of 143 tree ring chronologies across the mesic forests of the eastern US with historical climate and local soil properties. We found legacy effects to be widespread, the magnitude of which increased markedly in diffuse porous species, sites with deep water tables, and in response to late‐season droughts (August–September). Using an ensemble of downscaled climate projections, we additionally show that our sites are projected to drastically increase in water deficit and drought frequency by the end of the century, potentially increasing the size of legacy effects by up to 65% and acting as a significant process shaping forest composition, carbon uptake and mortality.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
OSTI ID:
1481426
Journal Information:
Ecology Letters, Journal Name: Ecology Letters Vol. 22 Journal Issue: 1; ISSN 1461-023X
Publisher:
Wiley-BlackwellCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 89 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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