OOS 36

Drought and Tree Mortality: Linking Experimental Results and Observations With Predictive Models.

Recent advances in ecological and physiological research scaling from individual plant to ecosystems and across geographic ranges from coasts to mountains, deserts to the tropics have progressed our understanding of the complex process through which trees die from drought and temperature stress. Much comparative work in drought response across species and ecosystems has occurred in the past few years. Recent and forthcoming experiments, observational and modeling studies across plant functional types have begun to illuminate the interlinked changes in tree carbon status, water relations, and biotic agent damage with the goal of improving prediction of which species and regions are likely to die in future climates. Despite recent progress, major uncertainties remain both in how trees succumb to drought and biotic agent attack and in understanding cross-species and cross-biome differences necessary to inform modeling efforts. This session seeks to capture the forefront of this exciting research area by integrating cutting-edge physiological research on single species/ecosystems with cross-system comparisons and syntheses. This session is linked with and explicitly designed to be complementary with another ESA session on non-structural carbohydrates, which will touch on carbohydrates and tree stress but not focus on mortality directly. This session covers a mix of causes and consequences of drought-induced mortality, as well as modeling, experimental and observational studies. We have confirmations from a mix of early career scientists, and established professors providing overviews of recent drought-induced mortality research. We have included a wide-range of speakers from the Americas, Australia, and Europe who will provide insights into experiments and modeling across a broad range of ecosystems. Most speakers will be presenting innovative and currently unpublished research of interest to the broader field of ecology. Several speakers will present from across a number of systems, including cross-species comparisons and meta-analysis techniques. Others will provide results from the latest, in-depth research on the physiology of drought-induced tree mortality including the effects of increased atmospheric CO2, temperature, and drought. Additionally, several speakers will address recent work applying insights from recent mortality research into models that seek to predict forest loss with climate change.