Drought-mortality relationships for tropical forests.
*The rich ecology of tropical forests is intimately tied to their moisture status. Multi-site syntheses can provide a macro-scale view of these linkages and their susceptibility to changing climates. Here, we report pan-tropical and regional-scale analyses of tree vulnerability to drought. *We assembled available data on tropical forest tree stem mortality before, during, and after recent drought events, from 119 monitoring plots in 10 countries concentrated in Amazonia and Borneo. *In most sites, larger trees are disproportionately at risk. At least within Amazonia, low wood density trees are also at greater risk of drought-associated mortality, independent of size. For comparable drought intensities, trees in Borneo are more vulnerable than trees in the Amazon. There is some evidence for lagged impacts of drought, with mortality rates remaining elevated 2 yr after the meteorological event is over. *These findings indicate that repeated droughts would shift the functional composition of tropical forests toward smaller, denser-wooded trees. At very high drought intensities, the linear relationship between tree mortality and moisture stress apparently breaks down, suggesting the existence of moisture stress thresholds beyond which some tropical forests would suffer catastrophic tree mortality.
Phillips
Oliver L
OL
Ecology and Global Change, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK. o.phillips@leeds.ac.uk
van der Heijden
Geertje
G
Lewis
Simon L
SL
López-González
Gabriela
G
Aragão
Luiz E O C
LE
Lloyd
Jon
J
Malhi
Yadvinder
Y
Monteagudo
Abel
A
Almeida
Samuel
S
Dávila
Esteban Alvarez
EA
Amaral
Iêda
I
Andelman
Sandy
S
Andrade
Ana
A
Arroyo
Luzmila
L
Aymard
Gerardo
G
Baker
Tim R
TR
Blanc
Lilian
L
Bonal
Damien
D
de Oliveira
Atila Cristina Alves
AC
Chao
Kuo-Jung
KJ
Cardozo
Nallaret Dávila
ND
da Costa
Lola
L
Feldpausch
Ted R
TR
Fisher
Joshua B
JB
Fyllas
Nikolaos M
NM
Freitas
Maria Aparecida
MA
Galbraith
David
D
Gloor
Emanuel
E
Higuchi
Niro
N
Honorio
Eurídice
E
Jiménez
Eliana
E
Keeling
Helen
H
Killeen
Tim J
TJ
Lovett
Jon C
JC
Meir
Patrick
P
Mendoza
Casimiro
C
Morel
Alexandra
A
Vargas
Percy Núñez
PN
Patiño
Sandra
S
Peh
Kelvin S-H
KS
Cruz
Antonio Peña
AP
Prieto
Adriana
A
Quesada
Carlos A
CA
Ramírez
Fredy
F
Ramírez
Hirma
H
Rudas
Agustín
A
Salamão
Rafael
R
Schwarz
Michael
M
Silva
Javier
J
Silveira
Marcos
M
Slik
J W Ferry
JW
Sonké
Bonaventure
B
Thomas
Anne Sota
AS
Stropp
Juliana
J
Taplin
James R D
JR
Vásquez
Rodolfo
R
Vilanova
Emilio
E
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D018533:Biomass; D001938:Brazil; D055864:Droughts; D017753:Ecosystem; D008954:Models, Biological; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000254:growth & development; D011891:Rain; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013997:Time Factors; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development*; D014329:Tropical Climate; D014867:Water; D014934:Wood / Q000254:growth & development
D014867:Water