Drought-induced tree mortality accelerating in forests

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/danl-dtm051915.php

Public Release: 19-May-2015
DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have found that drought and heat-induced tree mortality is accelerating in many forest biomes as a consequence of a warming climate in their paper "Darcy's law predicts widespread forest mortality under climate warming," published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

"The warming climate is creating a threat to global forests unlike any in recorded history," said Nathan McDowell, of Los Alamos' Earth and Environmental Sciences Division. "Forests store the majority of terrestrial carbon and their loss may have significant and sustained impacts on the global carbon cycle."

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