Zuidema, P.A., Groenendijk, P., Rahman, M. et al. (147 more authors) (2025) Pantropical tree rings show small effects of drought on stem growth. Science, 389 (6759). pp. 532-538. ISSN: 0036-8075
Abstract
Increasing drought pressure under anthropogenic climate change may jeopardize the potential of tropical forests to capture carbon in woody biomass and act as a long-term carbon dioxide sink. To evaluate this risk, we assessed drought impacts in 483 tree-ring chronologies from across the tropics and found an overall modest stem growth decline (2.5% with a 95% confidence interval of 2.2 to 2.7%) during the 10% driest years since 1930. Stem growth declines exceeded 10% in 25% of cases and were larger at hotter and drier sites and for gymnosperms compared with angiosperms. Growth declines generally did not outlast drought years and were partially mitigated by growth stimulation in wet years. Thus, pantropical forest carbon sequestration through stem growth has hitherto shown drought resilience that may, however, diminish under future climate change.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on Vol 389, Issue 6759 31 Jul 2025, DOI: 10.1126/science.adq6607. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC, RCUK Shared Services Centre Ltd NE/K01353X/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 29 Jul 2025 08:54 |
Last Modified: | 18 Aug 2025 12:49 |
Published Version: | https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq660... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
Identification Number: | 10.1126/science.adq6607 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:229388 |