title: FOREST ECOLOGY. Pervasive drought legacies in forest ecosystems and their implications for carbon cycle models.
abstract: The impacts of climate extremes on terrestrial ecosystems are poorly understood but important for predicting carbon cycle feedbacks to climate change. Coupled climate-carbon cycle models typically assume that vegetation recovery from extreme drought is immediate and complete, which conflicts with the understanding of basic plant physiology. We examined the recovery of stem growth in trees after severe drought at 1338 forest sites across the globe, comprising 49,339 site-years, and compared the results with simulated recovery in climate-vegetation models. We found pervasive and substantial "legacy effects" of reduced growth and incomplete recovery for 1 to 4 years after severe drought. Legacy effects were most prevalent in dry ecosystems, among Pinaceae, and among species with low hydraulic safety margins. In contrast, limited or no legacy effects after drought were simulated by current climate-vegetation models. Our results highlight hysteresis in ecosystem-level carbon cycling and delayed recovery from climate extremes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
authors.forename: W R L
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Anderegg
authors.affiliation: Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA. School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schwalm
authors.affiliation: DendroLab and Graduate Program of Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, NV 89557, USA.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Biondi
authors.affiliation: Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Avda. Montañana 1005, 50192 Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Camarero
authors.affiliation: Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Litvak
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4501, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogle
authors.affiliation: Rocky Mountain Research Station, U.S. Forest Service, Ogden, UT 84401, USA.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.affiliation: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shevliakova
authors.affiliation: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, USA.
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.affiliation: DendroLab and Graduate Program of Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, NV 89557, USA.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ziaco
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pacala
mesh_terms: D057486:Carbon Cycle; D057231:Climate Change; D055864:Droughts; D005060:Europe; D065928:Forests; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development*; D014481:United States