Tropical tree growth driven by dry-season climate variability

Zuidema PA, Babst F, Groenendijk P, Trouet V, Abiyu A, Acuña-Soto R, Adenesky-Filho E, Alfaro-Sánchez R, Aragão JRV, Assis-Pereira G, Bai X, Barbosa AC, Battipaglia G, Beeckman H, Botosso PC, Bradley T, Bräuning A, Brienen R, Buckley BM, Camarero JJ, Carvalho A, Ceccantini G, Centeno-Erguera LR, Cerano-Paredes J, Chávez-Durán ÁA, Cintra BBL, Cleaveland MK, Couralet C, D’Arrigo R, del Valle JI, Dünisch O, Enquist BJ, Esemann-Quadros K, Eshetu Z, Fan ZX, Ferrero ME, Fichtler E, Fontana C, Francisco KS, Gebrekirstos A, Gloor E, Granato-Souza D, Haneca K, Harley GL, Heinrich I, Helle G, Inga JG, Islam M, Jiang Ym, Kaib M, Khamisi ZH, Koprowski M, Kruijt B, Layme E, Leemans R, Leffler AJ, Lisi CS, Loader NJ, Locosselli GM, Lopez L, López-Hernández MI, Lousada JLPC, Mendivelso HA, Mokria M, Montóia VR, Moors E, Nabais C, Ngoma J, Nogueira Júnior FdC, Oliveira JM, Olmedo GM, Pagotto MA, Panthi S, Pérez-De-Lis G, Pucha-Cofrep D, Pumijumnong N, Rahman M, Ramirez JA, Requena-Rojas EJ, Ribeiro AdS, Robertson I, Roig FA, Rubio-Camacho EA, Sass-Klaassen U, Schöngart J, Sheppard PR, Slotta F, Speer JH, Therrell MD, Toirambe B, Tomazello-Filho M, Torbenson MC, Touchan R, Venegas-González A, Villalba R, Villanueva-Diaz J, Vinya R, Vlam M, Wils T, Zhou ZK (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

DOI: 10.1038/s41561-022-00911-8

Abstract

Interannual variability in the global land carbon sink is strongly related to variations in tropical temperature and rainfall. This association suggests an important role for moisture-driven fluctuations in tropical vegetation productivity, but empirical evidence to quantify the responsible ecological processes is missing. Such evidence can be obtained from tree-ring data that quantify variability in a major vegetation productivity component: woody biomass growth. Here we compile a pantropical tree-ring network to show that annual woody biomass growth increases primarily with dry-season precipitation and decreases with dry-season maximum temperature. The strength of these dry-season climate responses varies among sites, as reflected in four robust and distinct climate response groups of tropical tree growth derived from clustering. Using cluster and regression analyses, we find that dry-season climate responses are amplified in regions that are drier, hotter and more climatically variable. These amplification patterns suggest that projected global warming will probably aggravate drought-induced declines in annual tropical vegetation productivity. Our study reveals a previously underappreciated role of dry-season climate variability in driving the dynamics of tropical vegetation productivity and consequently in influencing the land carbon sink.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Wageningen University & Research Netherlands (NL) University of Arizona United States (USA) (US) Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) / University of Campinas Brazil (BR) National Autonomous University of Mexico / Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Mexico (MX) World Agroforestry Centre Kenya (KE) Königliches Museum für Zentral-Afrika / Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika / Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale Belgium (BE) Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory United States (USA) (US) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service United States (USA) (US) Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia (UPTC) Colombia (CO) Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária Brazil (BR) Unisinos (Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos) Brazil (BR) Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) China (CN) Universidad del Cauca Colombia (CO) Centro Científico Tecnológico Mendoza Argentina (AR) Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agricolas y Pecuarias Mexico (MX) Copperbelt University Zambia (ZM) University of São Paulo / Universidade de São Paulo (USP) Brazil (BR) Federal University of Lavras / Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA) Brazil (BR) Università degli studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli Italy (IT) United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) United States (USA) (US) University of Leeds United Kingdom (GB) Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología Spain (ES) Universidade de Coimbra Portugal (PT) Universidad Continental Peru (PE) Federal University of Sergipe / Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS) Brazil (BR) Swansea University United Kingdom (GB) Universidade Regional de Blumenau (FURB) Brazil (BR) Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) Canada (CA) University of Arkansas United States (USA) (US) Universidad Nacional de Colombia Colombia (CO) Universidade da Região de Joinville (UNIVILLE) Brazil (BR) Addis Ababa University (AAU) Ethiopia (ET) Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Germany (DE) Flanders Heritage Agency Belgium (BE) University of Idaho United States (USA) (US) Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (DAI) Germany (DE) Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum - GFZ Germany (DE) Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CULS) / Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze Czech Republic (CZ) Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro Mexico (MX) IHE Delft Netherlands (NL) Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU) / Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu (UMK) Poland (PL) Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria INIA Peru (PE) South Dakota State University United States (USA) (US) Centro de Investigação e de Tecnologias Agroambientais e Biológicas CIFAB Portugal (PT) INPA - National Institute for Amazonian Research Brazil (BR) Freie Universität Berlin Germany (DE) Indiana State University United States (USA) (US) Universidade de Santiago Compostela (USC) Spain (ES) Universidad Nacional de Loja (UNL) Ecuador (EC) Mahidol University / มหาวิทยาลัยมหิดล Thailand (TH) The University of Alabama United States (USA) (US) Ohio State University United States (USA) (US) Universidad Mayor Chile (CL) Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences Netherlands (NL) Fontys University of Applied Sciences Netherlands (NL)

How to cite

APA:

Zuidema, P.A., Babst, F., Groenendijk, P., Trouet, V., Abiyu, A., Acuña-Soto, R.,... Zhou, Z.K. (2022). Tropical tree growth driven by dry-season climate variability. Nature Geoscience. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00911-8

MLA:

Zuidema, Pieter A., et al. "Tropical tree growth driven by dry-season climate variability." Nature Geoscience (2022).

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