The 2012-2015 drought has left California with severely reduced snowpack, soil moisture, ground water, and reservoir stocks, but the impact of this estimated millennial-scale event on forest health is unknown. We used airborne laser-guided spectroscopy and satellite-based models to assess losses in canopy water content of California's forests between 2011 and 2015. Approximately 10.6 million ha of forest containing up to 888 million large trees experienced measurable loss in canopy water content during this drought period. Severe canopy water losses of greater than 30% occurred over 1 million ha, affecting up to 58 million large trees. Our measurements exclude forests affected by fire between 2011 and 2015. If drought conditions continue or reoccur, even with temporary reprieves such as El Niño, we predict substantial future forest change.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4720336 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1523397113 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Mind the Data Gap: Using a Multi-Measurement Synthesis for Identifying the Challenges and Opportunities in Studying Plant Drought Response and Recovery.
Plant Cell Environ
January 2025
Civil, Environmental, and Mining Engineering, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Understanding and predicting plant water dynamics during and after water stress is increasingly important but challenging because the high-dimensional nature of the soil-plant-atmosphere system makes it difficult to identify mechanisms and constrain behaviour. Datasets that capture hydrological, physiological and meteorological variation during changing water availability are relatively rare but offer a potentially valuable resource to constrain plant water dynamics. This study reports on a drydown and re-wetting experiment of potted Populus trichocarpa, which intensively characterised plant water fluxes, water status and water sources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStrong legacies of emerging trends in winter precipitation on the carbon-climate feedback from Arctic tundra.
Sci Total Environ
January 2025
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA.
Changes in winter precipitation accompanying emerging climate trends lead to a major carbon-climate feedback from Arctic tundra. However, the mechanisms driving the direction, magnitude, and form (CO and CH) of C fluxes and derived climate forcing (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLow impact of Zostera marina meadows on sediment and water microbiota under brackish conditions.
Environ Microbiome
January 2025
Biological Oceanography, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), 18119, Rostock, Germany.
Background: Zostera marina is an important ecosystem engineer influencing shallow water environments and possibly shaping the microbiota in surrounding sediments and water. Z. marina is typically found in marine systems, but it can also proliferate under brackish conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe influence of subtidal Laminaria canopies on local environmental conditions and the structure of understorey communities.
Mar Environ Res
January 2025
Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, PlySmouth, PL1 2PB, UK. Electronic address:
Understanding the role of species interactions (e.g. competition and facilitation) in structuring communities is a fundamental goal of ecology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPotential of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System with Multispectral and Thermal Sensors to Monitor Vineyard Characteristics for Precision Viticulture.
Plants (Basel)
January 2025
AirTech UAV Solutions Inc., Inverary, ON K0H 1X0, Canada.
Grapevines are subjected to many physiological and environmental stresses that influence their vegetative and reproductive growth. Water stress, cold damage, and pathogen attacks are highly relevant stresses in many grape-growing regions. Precision viticulture can be used to determine and manage the spatial variation in grapevine health within a single vineyard block.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!