Dear Colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to a session focused on the interaction between drought and trees at various spatial and temporal scales at WorldDendro 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. We, myself and Ricardo Villalba, invite you to submit abstracts to be a part of this session. Abstracts are due August 30th: http://www.dendro2014.com/
This session is intended to be multi-disciplinary, so being a strict dendrochronologist is not required (see description below). Therefore, we ask you to please share this announcement widely. Sincerely, Neil and Ricardo Drought and Tree Mortality: Past, Present, and Future Organized by Neil Pederson, Tree Ring Laboratory of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, [email protected] and Ricardo Villalba, Director, Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA), [email protected] Description: Since the formal organization of dendrochronology, tree ring scientists have shown that drought plays an important role in the growth of trees in different ecosystems on almost all continents. The relationship between drought stress and tree mortality, has been extended by dendroecologists in recent decades to reveal the impacts of drought on the ecology of forests at local and large scales, though in semi-arid regions at first. These revelations of drought-driven forest ecology in dry or hot regions are now being expanded into humid regions where there is significant thought that drought has little impact in areas with substantial and consistent precipitation. Recent work by plant ecophysiologists has provided improved mechanisms on how drought leads to tree death (e.g., Choat et al., 2012; McDowell et al., 2008). Cross-disciplinary work between dendrochronologists and tree physiologists preceded the classic text, Physyology of Woody Plants. The aim of proposed session here is to bring together a diversity of scholars in dendroecology, plant ecophysiology, and vegetation modelers to demonstrate and understand the past, present, and potential future impacts of drought on the ecology of forests from across the world. Dendrochronology can identify strong patterns between tree mortality and drought over centuries and, importantly, during climates that are significantly different than the period of observation. Plant ecophysiology can provide mechanisms for drought-induced mortality and gauge sensitivities to heat and a lack of precipitation between species. Vegetation modelers can then assimilate this knowledge to improve forecasts on the impact of Anthropogenic climate change on forests. References Choat, B., Jansen, S., Brodribb, T. J., Cochard, H., Delzon, S., Bhaskar, R., Bucci, S. J., et al. (2012). Global convergence in the vulnerability of forests to drought. Nature, 491(7426), 752–5. McDowell, N., Pockman, W. T., Allen, C. D., Breshears, D. D., Cobb, N., Kolb, T., Plaut, J., et al. (2008). Mechanisms of plant survival and mortality during drought: why do some plants survive while others succumb to drought? The New phytologist, 178(4), 719–39. -------- Neil Pederson Tree Ring Laboratory Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, P.O. Box 1000 61 Rt. 9W Palisades, NY 10964 http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/tree-ring-laboratory [email protected] http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~adk/ 845.365.8392
