Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics

Trees regulate Earth's climate by pulling carbon dioxide from the air and moving vast quantities of water between soil and atmosphere, but rising temperatures and intensifying droughts are pushing forests toward thresholds where those processes break down. Researchers studying plant water relations and carbon dynamics try to understand exactly how trees decide, through tiny pores called stomata, when to conserve water versus when to keep photosynthesizing, and at what point hydraulic failure leads to death rather than recovery. A central open question is how widespread drought-driven tree mortality will alter the global carbon balance—whether forests remain net sinks for carbon or flip into net sources as dieback accelerates. Ongoing work focuses on identifying which forest types are most vulnerable, how ecosystems recover or reorganize after large-scale mortality events, and whether models can yet capture these dynamics well enough to project future risks reliably.

Works

109,951

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3,269,855

Keywords

DroughtTree MortalityClimate ChangeEcosystem ResilienceEvapotranspirationCarbon Balance