Cary-led paper reveals an underestimated and growing threat to tropical forests and the carbon they store.
Cary-led paper reveals an underestimated and growing threat to tropical forests and the carbon they store.
Trees in tropical forests are dying at an increased rate, with consequences for biodiversity, carbon storage, and the global climate. While deforestation is the primary cause of forest loss, intact forests are also experiencing a rise in tree death. Drought, higher temperatures, and fires have been the leading suspects, but a new paper led by Evan Gora, a forest ecologist at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, identifies an underappreciated threat: thunderstorms, which are becoming more frequent with climate change.
Not to be confused with hurricanes or cyclones, these convective storms tend to be short-lived but powerful, with tree-toppling winds and lightning. In a perspective paper in Ecology Letters, Gora and colleagues lay out the case for why such storms could be a major driving force behind the rising death toll of tropical trees. As they become more common in the warming tropics, thunderstorms are a growing threat to trees and the carbon they store.
“Tropical forests have massive effects on global climate. They're like the lungs of the Earth, and we're seeing trees in them dying at higher rates than in the past, and the composition of forests is changing, too,” said Gora. “That could be really problematic for the future of not just tropical forests, but for the planet.”
Read more at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Image: Cary Institute forest ecologist Evan Gora stands near the roots of a tree knocked over by winds from a thunderstorm. (Credit: Steve Yanoviak/University of Louisville)
