Increased water deficit decreases Douglas fir growth throughout western US forests

Changes in tree growth rates can affect tree mortality and forest feedbacks to the global carbon cycle. As air temperature increases, evaporative demand also increases, increasing effective drought in forest ecosystems. Using a spatially comprehensive network of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 113; no. 34; pp. 9557 - 9562
Main Authors Restaino, Christina M., Peterson, David L., Littell, Jeremy
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 23.08.2016
Subjects
Biological Sciences
Climate
Drought
Droughts - statistics & numerical data
Ecosystem
Forests
Models, Statistical
Northwestern United States
Physical Sciences
Plant growth
Plant Transpiration - physiology
Pseudotsuga - growth & development
Pseudotsuga - metabolism
Pseudotsuga menziesii
Temperature
Trees
Water
Water - metabolism
United States > US
dendrochronology
actual evapotranspiration
Douglas fir
drought
vapor pressure deficit
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Changes in tree growth rates can affect tree mortality and forest feedbacks to the global carbon cycle. As air temperature increases, evaporative demand also increases, increasing effective drought in forest ecosystems. Using a spatially comprehensive network of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) chronologies from 122 locations that represent distinct climate environments in the western United States, we show that increased temperature decreases growth via vapor pressure deficit (VPD) across all latitudes. Using an ensemble of global circulation models, we project an increase in both the mean VPD associated with the lowest growth extremes and the probability of exceeding these VPD values. As temperature continues to increase in future decades, we can expect deficit-related stress to increase and consequently Douglas fir growth to decrease throughout its US range.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
Author contributions: C.M.R., D.L.P., and J.L. designed research; C.M.R. and J.L. performed research; C.M.R. and J.L. analyzed data; and C.M.R., D.L.P., and J.L. wrote the paper.
Edited by Monica G. Turner, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, and approved June 28, 2016 (received for review February 11, 2016)
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1602384113