Restoration treatments enhance tree growth and alter climatic constraints during extreme drought.

ABSTRACT: The frequency and severity of drought events are predicted to increase due to anthropogenic climate change, with cascading effects across forested ecosystems. Management activities such as forest thinning and prescribed burning, which are often intended to mitigate fire hazard and restore ecosystem processes, may also help promote tree resistance to drought. However, it is unclear whether these treatments remain effective during the most severe drought conditions or whether their impacts differ across environmental gradients. We used tree-ring data from a system of replicated, long-term (>20 years) experiments in the southwestern United States to evaluate the effects of forest restoration treatments (i.e., evidence-based thinning and burning) on annual growth rates (i.e., basal area increm

SUBMITTER: Rodman KC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11726003 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature