Title: Drought timing and local climate determine the sensitivity of eastern temperate forests to drought

Abstract

Abstract Projected changes in temperature and drought regime are likely to reduce carbon (C) storage in forests, thereby amplifying rates of climate change. While such reductions are often presumed to be greatest in semi‐arid forests that experience widespread tree mortality, the consequences of drought may also be important in temperate mesic forests of Eastern North America ( ENA ) if tree growth is significantly curtailed by drought. Investigations of the environmental conditions that determine drought sensitivity are critically needed to accurately predict ecosystem feedbacks to climate change. We matched site factors with the growth responses to drought of 10,753 trees across mesic forests of ENA , representing 24 species and 346 stands, to determine the broad‐scale drivers of drought sensitivity for the dominant trees in ENA . Here we show that two factors—the timing of drought, and the atmospheric demand for water (i.e., local potential evapotranspiration; PET )—are stronger drivers of drought sensitivity than soil and stand characteristics. Drought‐induced reductions in tree growth were greatest when the droughts occurred during early‐season peaks in radial growth, especially for trees growing in the warmest, driest regions (i.e., highest PET ). Further, mean species trait values (rooting depth and ψ ₅₀ ) weremore » poor predictors of drought sensitivity, as intraspecific variation in sensitivity was equal to or greater than interspecific variation in 17 of 24 species. From a general circulation model ensemble, we find that future increases in early‐season PET may exacerbate these effects, and potentially offset gains in C uptake and storage in ENA owing to other global change factors.« less

Authors:

D'Orangeville, Loïc  ^[1];

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• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-7841-7082"

Maxwell, Justin ^[2]; Kneeshaw, Daniel ^[3]; Pederson, Neil ^[4]; Duchesne, Louis ^[5]; Logan, Travis ^[6]; Houle, Daniel ^[7]; Arseneault, Dominique ^[8]; Beier, Colin M. ^[9]; Bishop, Daniel A. ^[10]; Druckenbrod, Daniel ^[11]; Fraver, Shawn ^[12]; Girard, François ^[13]; Halman, Joshua ^[14]; Hansen, Chris ^[15]; Hart, Justin L. ^[16]; Hartmann, Henrik ^[17]; Kaye, Margot ^[18]; Leblanc, David ^[19]; Manzoni, Stefano  ^[20]

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Manzoni, Stefano"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-5960-5712"

more »; Ouimet, Rock ^[5]; Rayback, Shelly ^[21]; Rollinson, Christine R.  ^[22];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Rollinson, Christine R."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0003-0181-7293"

Phillips, Richard P. ^[23] « less

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Department of Biology Indiana University Bloomington IN USA, Centre d’Étude de la Forêt Université du Québec à Montréal Montréal QC Canada
2. Department of Geography Indiana University Bloomington IN USA
3. Centre d’Étude de la Forêt Université du Québec à Montréal Montréal QC Canada
4. Harvard Forest Harvard University Petersham MA USA
5. Direction de la Recherche Forestière Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs du Québec Québec City QC Canada
6. Ouranos Climate Change Consortium Montreal QC Canada
7. Direction de la Recherche Forestière Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs du Québec Québec City QC Canada, Ouranos Climate Change Consortium Montreal QC Canada
8. Department of Biology, Chemistry and Geography Université du Québec à Rimouski Rimouski QC Canada
9. Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management SUNY‐ESF Syracuse NY USA
10. Lamont‐Doherty Earth Observatory Columbia University Palisades NY USA
11. Geological, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Rider University Lawrenceville NJ USA
12. School of Forest Resources University of Maine Orono ME USA
13. Department of Geography Université de Montréal Montréal QC Canada
14. Vermont Department of Forests, Parks &, Recreation Essex Junction VT USA
15. Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources University of Vermont Burlington VT USA
16. Department of Geography University of Alabama Tuscaloosa AL USA
17. Department of Biogeochemical Processes Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena Germany
18. Department of Ecosystem Science and Management Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences State College PA USA
19. Department of Biology Ball State University Muncie IN USA
20. Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
21. Department of Geography University of Vermont Burlington VT USA
22. The Morton Arboretum Lisle IL USA
23. Department of Biology Indiana University Bloomington IN USA

Publication Date:

Sat Mar 24 00:00:00 EDT 2018

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE

OSTI Identifier:

1429514

Resource Type:

Publisher's Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Global Change Biology

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Global Change Biology Journal Volume: 24 Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 1354-1013

Publisher:

Wiley-Blackwell

Country of Publication:

United Kingdom

Language:

English