Juvenile Tree Mortality from Extreme Heat and Drought
Tree loss is increasing rapidly due to drought- and heat-related mortality and intensifying fire activity. Consequently, the fate of many forests depends on the ability of juvenile trees to withstand heightened climate and disturbance anomalies. Extreme climatic events, such as droughts and heatwaves, are increasing in frequency and severity, and trees in mountainous regions must contend with these landscape-level climate episodes. Recent research focuses on how mortality of individual tree species may be driven by drought and heatwaves, but how juvenile mortality under these conditions would vary among species spanning an elevational gradient—given concurrent variation in climate, ecohydrology, and physiology–remains unclear. We address this knowledge gap by implementing a growth chamber study, imposing extreme drought with and without a compounding heatwave, for juveniles of five species that span a forested life zones in the Southwestern United States.
Find Related Datasets
Search by Tags
Click any tag below to search for similar datasets
Complete Metadata
| @type | dcat:Dataset |
|---|---|
| accessLevel | public |
| bureauCode |
[ "010:12" ] |
| contactPoint |
{ "fn": "Alexandra Lalor", "@type": "vcard:Contact", "hasEmail": "mailto:allielalor@gmail.com" } |
| description | Tree loss is increasing rapidly due to drought- and heat-related mortality and intensifying fire activity. Consequently, the fate of many forests depends on the ability of juvenile trees to withstand heightened climate and disturbance anomalies. Extreme climatic events, such as droughts and heatwaves, are increasing in frequency and severity, and trees in mountainous regions must contend with these landscape-level climate episodes. Recent research focuses on how mortality of individual tree species may be driven by drought and heatwaves, but how juvenile mortality under these conditions would vary among species spanning an elevational gradient—given concurrent variation in climate, ecohydrology, and physiology–remains unclear. We address this knowledge gap by implementing a growth chamber study, imposing extreme drought with and without a compounding heatwave, for juveniles of five species that span a forested life zones in the Southwestern United States. |
| distribution |
[ { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "Digital Data", "format": "XML", "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.5066/P13SNWRS", "mediaType": "application/http", "description": "Landing page for access to the data" }, { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "Original Metadata", "format": "XML", "mediaType": "text/xml", "description": "The metadata original format", "downloadURL": "https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/metadata/USGS.af3a60f9-dcbf-42d1-b6ca-92ff148d4e04.xml" } ] |
| identifier | http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_af3a60f9-dcbf-42d1-b6ca-92ff148d4e04 |
| keyword |
[ "Forests", "Picea engelmannii", "Pinus edulis", "Pinus flexilis", "Pinus ponderosa", "Pseudotsuga menziesii", "Tree Mortality", "USGS:af3a60f9-dcbf-42d1-b6ca-92ff148d4e04", "Woodlands", "biota", "climate change", "forest ecosystems" ] |
| modified | 2026-05-28T00:00:00Z |
| publisher |
{ "name": "U.S. Geological Survey", "@type": "org:Organization" } |
| spatial | -107.4023, 34.7236, -104.4141, 36.9850 |
| theme |
[ "geospatial" ] |
| title | Juvenile Tree Mortality from Extreme Heat and Drought |
