A new study published in Nature Climate Change reveals a more complex reality: some tree species are moving uphill, while others are shifting downhill, and the key to understanding these contrasting responses lies in how trees manage water.
A new study published in Nature Climate Change reveals a more complex reality: some tree species are moving uphill, while others are shifting downhill, and the key to understanding these contrasting responses lies in how trees manage water.
In one of the largest analyses of its kind, an international team of researchers integrated tree-ring records from more than 121,000 trees representing 45 species, climate-growth data from 3,057 forest sites worldwide, hydraulic trait information, and global observations of elevational range shifts across 102 mountain tree species. Their findings show that a tree species' hydraulic traits, physiological characteristics that regulate water transport, drought tolerance, and growth, are powerful predictors of how forests reorganize under climate change.
A co-author of the paper, Tim Rademacher, Director of UVM’s Proctor Maple Research Center, describes the significance of their findings: “This research explains why some tree species move uphill with climate warming while others do not, improving our ability to forecast future forest distributions and identify conservation priorities. Understanding how trees balance growth and drought resistance helps explain their responses to climate change and offers a roadmap for predicting tomorrow's forests.”
Read More: University of Vermont
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