TY - JOUR
T1 - Remotely sensed predictors of conifer tree mortality during severe drought
AU - Brodrick, P. G.
AU - Asner, G. P.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the Carnegie Airborne Observatory staff for their assistance in data collection. Carnegie Airborne Observatory data collection and processing was funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Analysis was supported by the Avatar Alliance Foundation and the Carnegie Institution for Science. The Carnegie Airborne Observatory has been made possible by grants and donations to G P Asner from the Avatar Alliance Foundation, Margaret A Cargill Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, W M Keck Foundation, John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Mary Anne Nyburg Baker and G Leonard Baker Jr, and William R Hearst III.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.
PY - 2017/11/16
Y1 - 2017/11/16
N2 - Widespread, drought-induced forest mortality has been documented on every forested continent over the last two decades, yet early pre-mortality indicators of tree death remain poorly understood. Remotely sensed physiological-based measures offer a means for large-scale analysis to understand and predict drought-induced mortality. Here, we use laser-guided imaging spectroscopy from multiple years of aerial surveys to assess the impact of sustained canopy water loss on tree mortality. We analyze both gross canopy mortality in 2016 and the change in mortality between 2015 and 2016 in millions of sampled conifer forest locations throughout the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. On average, sustained water loss and gross mortality are strongly related, and year-to-year water loss within the drought indicates subsequent mortality. Both relationships are consistent after controlling for location and tree community composition, suggesting that these metrics may serve as indicators of mortality during a drought.
AB - Widespread, drought-induced forest mortality has been documented on every forested continent over the last two decades, yet early pre-mortality indicators of tree death remain poorly understood. Remotely sensed physiological-based measures offer a means for large-scale analysis to understand and predict drought-induced mortality. Here, we use laser-guided imaging spectroscopy from multiple years of aerial surveys to assess the impact of sustained canopy water loss on tree mortality. We analyze both gross canopy mortality in 2016 and the change in mortality between 2015 and 2016 in millions of sampled conifer forest locations throughout the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. On average, sustained water loss and gross mortality are strongly related, and year-to-year water loss within the drought indicates subsequent mortality. Both relationships are consistent after controlling for location and tree community composition, suggesting that these metrics may serve as indicators of mortality during a drought.
KW - California
KW - Sierra Nevada
KW - canopy water content
KW - forest vulnerability
KW - imaging spectroscopy
KW - progressive water stress
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U2 - 10.1088/1748-9326/aa8f55
DO - 10.1088/1748-9326/aa8f55
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85036467192
SN - 1748-9318
VL - 12
JO - Environmental Research Letters
JF - Environmental Research Letters
IS - 11
M1 - 115013
ER -