The critical amplifying role of increasing atmospheric moisture demand on tree mortality and associated regional die-off
Abstract
Drought-induced tree mortality, including large-scale die-off events and increases in background rates of mortality, is a global phenomenon (Allen et al., 2010) that can directly impact numerous earth system properties and ecosystem goods and services (Adams et al., 2010; Breshears et al., 2011; Anderegg et al., 2013). Tree mortality is particularly of concern because of the likelihood that it will increase in frequency and extent with climate change (McDowell et al., 2008, 2011; Adams et al., 2009; McDowell, 2011; Williams et al., 2013). Recent plant science advances related to drought have focused on understanding the physiological mechanisms that not only affect plant growth and associated carbon metabolism, but also the more challenging issue of predicting plant mortality thresholds (McDowell et al., 2013). Although some advances related to mechanisms of mortality have been made and have increased emphasis on interrelationships between carbon metabolism and plant hydraulics (McDowell et al., 2011), notably few studies have specifically evaluated effects of increasing atmospheric demand for moisture (i.e., vapour pressure deficit; VPD) on rates of tree death. In this opinion article we highlight the importance of considering the key risks of future large-scale tree die-off and other mortality events arising from increased VPD. Here wemore »
- Authors:
-
- Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Univ. of Technology Sydney (Australia)
- Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater, OK (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1396111
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-13-25096
Journal ID: ISSN 1664-462X
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Plant Science
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 1664-462X
- Publisher:
- Frontiers Research Foundation
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Biological Science; Earth Sciences
Citation Formats
Breshears, David D., Adams, Henry D., Eamus, Derek, McDowell, Nate G., Law, Darin J., Will, Rodney E., Williams, A. Park, and Zou, Chris B. The critical amplifying role of increasing atmospheric moisture demand on tree mortality and associated regional die-off. United States: N. p., 2013.
Web. doi:10.3389/fpls.2013.00266.
Breshears, David D., Adams, Henry D., Eamus, Derek, McDowell, Nate G., Law, Darin J., Will, Rodney E., Williams, A. Park, & Zou, Chris B. The critical amplifying role of increasing atmospheric moisture demand on tree mortality and associated regional die-off. United States. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2013.00266
Breshears, David D., Adams, Henry D., Eamus, Derek, McDowell, Nate G., Law, Darin J., Will, Rodney E., Williams, A. Park, and Zou, Chris B. Fri .
"The critical amplifying role of increasing atmospheric moisture demand on tree mortality and associated regional die-off". United States. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2013.00266. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1396111.
@article{osti_1396111,
title = {The critical amplifying role of increasing atmospheric moisture demand on tree mortality and associated regional die-off},
author = {Breshears, David D. and Adams, Henry D. and Eamus, Derek and McDowell, Nate G. and Law, Darin J. and Will, Rodney E. and Williams, A. Park and Zou, Chris B.},
abstractNote = {Drought-induced tree mortality, including large-scale die-off events and increases in background rates of mortality, is a global phenomenon (Allen et al., 2010) that can directly impact numerous earth system properties and ecosystem goods and services (Adams et al., 2010; Breshears et al., 2011; Anderegg et al., 2013). Tree mortality is particularly of concern because of the likelihood that it will increase in frequency and extent with climate change (McDowell et al., 2008, 2011; Adams et al., 2009; McDowell, 2011; Williams et al., 2013). Recent plant science advances related to drought have focused on understanding the physiological mechanisms that not only affect plant growth and associated carbon metabolism, but also the more challenging issue of predicting plant mortality thresholds (McDowell et al., 2013). Although some advances related to mechanisms of mortality have been made and have increased emphasis on interrelationships between carbon metabolism and plant hydraulics (McDowell et al., 2011), notably few studies have specifically evaluated effects of increasing atmospheric demand for moisture (i.e., vapour pressure deficit; VPD) on rates of tree death. In this opinion article we highlight the importance of considering the key risks of future large-scale tree die-off and other mortality events arising from increased VPD. Here we focus on mortality of trees, but our point about the importance of VPD is also relevant to other vascular plants.},
doi = {10.3389/fpls.2013.00266},
journal = {Frontiers in Plant Science},
number = ,
volume = 4,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Aug 02 00:00:00 EDT 2013},
month = {Fri Aug 02 00:00:00 EDT 2013}
}
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Figures / Tables:
FIGURE 1 : A conceptual figure illustrating the effect of increased VPD on the biophysical factors that influence tree physiology,drought stress, and survival. Higher temperatures increase VPD non-linearly (A), higher VPD will generally both deplete soil moisture (B) and increase plant stress though changes in transpiration [C; based on datamore »
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