Pantropical tree rings show small effects of drought on stem growth

Zuidema PA, Groenendijk P, Rahman M, Trouet V, Abiyu A, Acuña-Soto R, Adenesky-Filho E, Alfaro-Sánchez R, Anholetto CR, Aragão JRV, Assis-Pereira G, Astudillo-Sánchez CC, Barbosa AC, Battipaglia G, Beeckman H, Botosso PC, Bourland N, Bräuning A, Brienen R, Brookhouse M, Buajan S, Buckley BM, Camarero JJ, Carrillo-Parra A, Ceccantini G, Centeno-Erguera LR, Cerano-Paredes J, Cervantes-Martínez R, Chanthorn W, Chen YJ, Cintra BBL, Cornejo-Oviedo EH, Cortés-Cortés O, Costa CM, Couralet C, Crispín-De-La-Cruz DB, D'arrigo R, David DA, De Ridder M, Valle JID, Dobner M, Doucet JL, Dünisch O, Enquist BJ, Esemann-Quadros K, Esquivel-Arriaga G, Fan ZX, Fayolle A, Fenilli TAB, Ferrero ME, Fichtler E, Finnegan PM, Fontana C, Francisco KS, Fu PL, Galvão F, Gebrekirstos A, Giraldo JA, Gloor E, Godoy-Veiga M, Granato-Souza D, Guerra A, Haneca K, Harley GL, Heinrich I, Helle G, Hornink B, Hubau W, Inga JG, Islam M, Jiang YM, Kaib M, Khamisi ZH, Koprowski M, Layme E, Leffler AJ, Ligot G, Lisi CS, Loader NJ, De Almeida Lobo F, Locosselli GM, Longhi-Santos T, Lopez L, López-Hernández MI, Lousada JLPC, Manzanedo RD, Marcon AK, Maxwell JT, Mendoza-Villa ON, Romany Nunes Menezes Í, Mokria M, Ribeiro Montóia V, Moors E, Moreno M, Muñiz-Castro MA, Nabais C, Nathalang A, Ngoma J, De Carvalho Nogueira F, Oliveira JM, Olmedo GM, Ortega-Rodriguez DR, Eugenia Rodríguez Ortíz C, Pagotto MA, Panthi S, Paredes-Villanueva K, Pérez-De-Lis G, Patricia Ponce Calderón L, Portal-Cahuana LA, Pucha-Cofrep DA, Pumijumnong N, Quadri P, Ramírez JA, Requena-Rojas EJ, Reyes-Flores J, de Souza Ribeiro A, Robertson I, Roig FA, Roquette JG, Rubio-Camacho EA, Sánchez-Salguero R, Sass-Klaassen U, Schöngart J, Scipioni MC, Sheppard PR, Silva LC, Slotta F, Soria-Díaz L, Sousa LK, Speer JH, Therrell MD, Ticse-Otarola G, Tomazello-Filho M, Torbenson MC, Tor-Ngern P, Touchan R, Van den Bulcke J, Vázquez-Selem L, Velázquez-Pérez AH, Venegas-González A, Villalba R, Villanueva-Diaz J, Vlam M, Vourlitis G, Wehenkel C, Wils T, Zavaleta ES, Zewdu EA, Zhang YJ, Zhou ZK, Babst F (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Book Volume: 389

Pages Range: 532-538

Journal Issue: 6759

DOI: 10.1126/science.adq6607

Abstract

Increasing drought pressure under anthropogenic climate change may jeopardize the potential of tropical forests to capture carbon in woody biomass and act as a long-term carbon dioxide sink. To evaluate this risk, we assessed drought impacts in 483 tree-ring chronologies from across the tropics and found an overall modest stem growth decline (2.5% with a 95% confidence interval of 2.2 to 2.7%) during the 10% driest years since 1930. Stem growth declines exceeded 10% in 25% of cases and were larger at hotter and drier sites and for gymnosperms compared with angiosperms. Growth declines generally did not outlast drought years and were partially mitigated by growth stimulation in wet years. Thus, pantropical forest carbon sequestration through stem growth has hitherto shown drought resilience that may, however, diminish under future climate change.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Universidad Continental Peru (PE) Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro Mexico (MX) Swansea University United Kingdom (GB) Federal University of Lavras / Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA) Brazil (BR) Flanders Heritage Agency Belgium (BE) University of Idaho United States (USA) (US) Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (DAI) Germany (DE) Centro Científico Tecnológico Mendoza Argentina (AR) Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agricolas y Pecuarias Mexico (MX) Universidad Pablo de Olavide of Seville Spain (ES) Wageningen University & Research Netherlands (NL) Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum - GFZ Germany (DE) Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) / University of Campinas Brazil (BR) Universiteit Gent (UGent) / Ghent University Belgium (BE) National Institute for Amazonian Research / Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA) Brazil (BR) Federal University of Santa Catarina / Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) Brazil (BR) University of Arizona United States (USA) (US) University of Oregon (UO) United States (USA) (US) Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) China (CN) Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory United States (USA) (US) University of São Paulo / Universidade de São Paulo (USP) Brazil (BR) USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station United States (USA) (US) Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR) Brazil (BR) World Agroforestry Centre Kenya (KE) University of Leeds United Kingdom (GB) University of Santiago de Compostela / Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC) Spain (ES) Addis Ababa University (AAU) Ethiopia (ET) University of Maine United States (USA) (US) Freie Universität Berlin Germany (DE) Autonomous University of Tamaulipas / Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas (UAT) Mexico (MX) Federal University of Western Pará / Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA) Brazil (BR) Indiana State University United States (USA) (US) The University of Alabama United States (USA) (US) California State University / Cal State San Marcos (CSUSM) United States (USA) (US) Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango (UJED) Mexico (MX) Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) Netherlands (NL) University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz, UCSC) United States (USA) (US) Universidad Nacional de Loja (UNL) Ecuador (EC) Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (AAMU) / Alabama A&M University United States (USA) (US) Mahidol University / มหาวิทยาลัยมหิดล Thailand (TH) Universidad del Cauca Colombia (CO) Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (JGU) Germany (DE) Chulalongkorn University / จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย Thailand (TH) University of O'Higgins (UOH) / Universidad de O'Higgins Chile (CL) Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences Netherlands (NL) Shahjalal University of Science and Technology Bangladesh (BD) National Autonomous University of Mexico / Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Mexico (MX) Universidade Regional de Blumenau (FURB) Brazil (BR) Northern Forestry Centre (NoFC) Canada (CA) Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá (IDSM) Brazil (BR) Königliches Museum für Zentral-Afrika / Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika / Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale Belgium (BE) Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Germany (DE) Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária Brazil (BR) University of Western Australia (UWA) Australia (AU) Universidad de Guadalajara (UDEG) Mexico (MX) Australian National University (ANU) Australia (AU) Federal University of Sergipe / Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS) Brazil (BR) Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología Spain (ES) Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CULS) / Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze Czech Republic (CZ) University of Birmingham United Kingdom (GB) Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul Brazil (BR) Centro de Investigação e de Tecnologias Agroambientais e Biológicas CIFAB Portugal (PT) Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ) / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich Switzerland (CH) Indiana University United States (USA) (US) Autonomous University of Queretaro / Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro Mexico (MX) Universidade da Região de Joinville (UNIVILLE) Brazil (BR) Cirad France (FR) El Colegio de la Frontera Sur Mexico (MX) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service United States (USA) (US) 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) University of Liège (ULg) / Université de Liège Belgium (BE) Universidad Nacional de Colombia Colombia (CO) IHE Delft Netherlands (NL) Universidade de Coimbra Portugal (PT) National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) Thailand (TH) Copperbelt University Zambia (ZM) Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Sergipe (IFS) Brazil (BR) Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (Unisinos) Brazil (BR) Kasetsart University / มหาวิทยาลัยเกษตรศาสตร์ Thailand (TH) Università degli studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli Italy (IT)

How to cite

APA:

Zuidema, P.A., Groenendijk, P., Rahman, M., Trouet, V., Abiyu, A., Acuña-Soto, R.,... Babst, F. (2025). Pantropical tree rings show small effects of drought on stem growth. Science, 389(6759), 532-538. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adq6607

MLA:

Zuidema, Pieter A., et al. "Pantropical tree rings show small effects of drought on stem growth." Science 389.6759 (2025): 532-538.

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