Increasing atmospheric humidity and CO₂ concentration alleviate forest mortality risk.

ABSTRACT: Climate-induced forest mortality is being increasingly observed throughout the globe. Alarmingly, it is expected to exacerbate under climate change due to shifting precipitation patterns and rising air temperature. However, the impact of concomitant changes in atmospheric humidity and CO₂ concentration through their influence on stomatal kinetics remains a subject of debate and inquiry. By using a dynamic soil-plant-atmosphere model, mortality risks associated with hydraulic failure and stomatal closure for 13 temperate and tropical forest biomes across the globe are analyzed. The mortality risk is evaluated in response to both individual and combined changes in precipitation amounts and their seasonal distribution, mean air temperature, specific humidity, and atmospheric CO

SUBMITTER: Liu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5604008 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature