Locosselli, GM, Brienen, R orcid.org/0000-0002-5397-5755, Leite, MDS et al. (8 more authors) (2020) Global tree-ring analysis reveals rapid decrease in tropical tree longevity with temperature. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117 (52). pp. 33358-33364. ISSN 0027-8424
Abstract
Forests are the largest terrestrial biomass pool, with over half of this biomass stored in the highly productive tropical lowland forests. The future evolution of forest biomass depends critically on the response of tree longevity and growth rates to future climate. We present an analysis of the variation in tree longevity and growth rate using tree-ring data of 3,343 populations and 438 tree species and assess how climate controls growth and tree longevity across world biomes. Tropical trees grow, on average, two times faster compared to trees from temperate and boreal biomes and live significantly shorter, on average (186 ± 138 y compared to 322 ± 201 y outside the tropics). At the global scale, growth rates and longevity covary strongly with temperature. Within the warm tropical lowlands, where broadleaf species dominate the vegetation, we find consistent decreases in tree longevity with increasing aridity, as well as a pronounced reduction in longevity above mean annual temperatures of 25.4 °C. These independent effects of temperature and water availability on tree longevity in the tropics are consistent with theoretical predictions of increases in evaporative demands at the leaf level under a warmer and drier climate and could explain observed increases in tree mortality in tropical forests, including the Amazon, and shifts in forest composition in western Africa. Our results suggest that conditions supporting only lower tree longevity in the tropical lowlands are likely to expand under future drier and especially warmer climates.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 Published under the PNAS license. This is an author produced version of a journal article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | climate change; carbon cycle; forest dynamics; dendrochronology |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) > Ecology & Global Change (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/S008659/1 Royal Society ICA\R1\180100 Met Office DN373701/ BLZ1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 18 Dec 2020 10:22 |
Last Modified: | 14 Jun 2021 00:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | National Academy of Sciences |
Identification Number: | 10.1073/pnas.2003873117 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:169055 |