Pervasive drought legacies in forest ecosystems and their implications for carbon cycle models

TLDR

The response of forest ecosystems to drought is increasingly important in the context of a warming climate. Incorporating forest legacy effects into Earth system models will provide more accurate predictions of the effects of drought on the global carbon cycle. The study analyzed a tree‑ring database of 1,338 forest sites worldwide. Forests exhibit a drought legacy effect with 3–4 years of reduced growth after drought, reducing their capacity to act as a carbon sink during the post‑drought delay. Anderegg et al., Science, p.

Abstract

Drought effects on carbon cycling The response of forest ecosystems to drought is increasingly important in the context of a warming climate. Anderegg et al. studied a tree-ring database of 1338 forest sites from around the globe. They found that forests exhibit a drought “legacy effect” with 3 to 4 years' reduced growth following drought. During this postdrought delay, forests will be less able to act as a sink for carbon. Incorporating forest legacy effects into Earth system models will provide more accurate predictions of the effects of drought on the global carbon cycle. Science , this issue p. 528