Trade-offs in functional investments and tree dieback during the 2012-2016 California drought
Natalie Queally, University of Wisconsin-Madison, queally@wisc.edu (Presenter)
Ting Zheng, University of Wisconsin-Madison, tzheng39@wisc.edu
Zhiwei Ye, UW-Madison, ye6@wisc.edu
Ryan Pavlick, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, rpavlick@jpl.nasa.gov
Fabian Schneider, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, fabian.schneider@jpl.nasa.gov
Philip Townsend, University of Wisconsin, ptownsend@wisc.edu
California experienced a severe to exceptional drought from 2012 -2016, with very low precipitation and high temperatures leading to unprecedented severity. The drought played a role in the death of more than 150 million trees across California, with causes of mortality linked to tree height, soil moisture, groundwater depletion, and insect outbreaks. We used published tree mortality data (2009-2016) for the US National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) Soaproot Saddle and Lower Teakettle sites in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in conjunction with annual foliar trait maps derived from NASA’s AVIRIS-Classic imaging spectrometer to test linkages between pre-mortality plant functional traits and drought-related dieback. Trait maps were generated for images acquired over the study area in June each year during the core of the drought (2013-2016), and were linked to mortality data from 2014 and 2016 to test whether certain traits were more or less associated with dieback as the drought progressed. Interannual trends indicate trait trade-offs throughout the drought period. On average, all trees increased foliar nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC), decreased foliar cellulose and phenolics, and maintained relatively stable leaf mass per area (LMA). Intra-annually, surviving trees had consistently higher NSC, and consistently lower cellulose, LMA, and phenolics than dead trees. This indicates higher investment in metabolic maintenance and osmoregulation (NSC), and lower investment in secondary metabolism/defense (phenolics) and leaf growth and structure (cellulose, LMA).
Associated Project(s):
Poster Location ID: 3-28
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Poster Session 3
Session Date: Thu (May 11) 3:00-5:00 PM
CCE Program: BDEC