This stresses trees, and can cause water-carrying tissues inside them to collapse - a process called “hydraulic failure.” Hot droughts not only dry out soil they also dry out the air. In many cases, conditions that have brought about the decline are known as “hot droughts.”ĭriven by above-normal temperatures, hot droughts can be far more damaging to trees than droughts that result simply from a lack of moisture. In recent years, scientists in the Pacific Northwest have linked the decline of 10 native tree species to drought. Still is part of a growing number of scientists investigating what they say is a new, woefully underestimated threat to the world’s plants: climate change-driven extreme heat.ĮDITOR’S NOTE: This story is part of a collaboration between The Associated Press and Columbia Insight, exploring the impact of climate on trees in the Pacific Northwest. It really wasn’t a drought story,” said Chris Still, professor at Oregon State University’s College of Forestry and a leading researcher on the effects of heat on trees. “A lot of this reddening and browning of leaves was just that the leaves cooked. Instead, it underwent “widespread scorching.” In a matter of a few days, the 2021 heat dome turned many of the green leaves and needles on the region’s trees to orange, red and brown.īut, as recent research suggests, tree foliage didn’t simply dry out in the heat. As this human tragedy unfolded, a lesser-known ecological tragedy was happening, one that scientists warn has grim repercussions for the world’s plants and the many animal species that depend on them.
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