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Climate-Induced Global Forest Shifts due to Heatwave-Drought

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Ecosystem Collapse and Climate Change

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 241))

Abstract

Episodes of forest mortality attributed to extreme climate variability (e.g. droughts, heatwaves) associated with climate change are increasingly reported in most biomes. The severity and extent of the mortality are also modulated by soils and topography characteristics and the presence of other disturbances such as pests, pathogens, wildfires, windthrow, and past management. Palaeoecological and historical information show that drought-induced forests shifts have occurred in the past in many regions. However, anthropogenic causes are key determinants in current drought-induced transformations of forests to non-forested ecosystems.

The role of forest mortality leading to forest collapse is poorly understood, especially given the lack of long-term ecological surveys. In the short term, we find that an alternate set of species usually takes over the previously dominant tree species in temperate and boreal forests, through gap dynamics.

In our global review, trees are replaced by shrubs in 34% of the cases studied and by grasses in 10% of the cases, pointing to characteristics of forest collapse in the latter more extreme case. Overall these episodes promote a wide array of changes framed in a successional context, usually towards more xeric and herbaceous vegetation. The eventual forest dynamics are largely defined by the historical context and particularly by human management, in which to a large extent determines the species pool, forest structure, and regeneration patterns.

Early warning signals of ecosystem shifts based on long-term monitoring and statistics appear essential to anticipate forest collapse. Remote sensing tools constitute a powerful tool for the assessment of changes in forest functional properties. However, when analysing forest dynamics and processes based on biodiversity, the information provided by remote sensing merits further research. We find limited evidence of widespread forest collapse at the global scale, but ongoing mortality events represent a “window to the future” to understand forest resilience in light of increased frequency of climatic extremes.

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Acknowledgements

Contribution of T. Aakala, W. R.L. Anderegg, E. Aynekulu, D. P. Bendixsen, A. Bentouati, C. Bigler, C. J. Burk, J. J. Camarero, M. Colangelo, J. D. Coop, R. Fensham, M. L. Floyd, L. Galiano, J. L. Ganey, P. Gonzalez, A. L. Jacobsen, J. M. Kane, T. Kitzberger, J. C. Linares, S. B. Marchetti, G. Matusick, M. Michaelian, R. M. Navarro-Cerrillo, R. B. Pratt; M. D. Redmond, A. Rigling, F. Ripullone, G. Sangüesa-Barreda, Y. Sasal, S. Saura-Mas, M. L. Suarez, T. T. Veblen, A. Vilà-Cabrera, C. Vincke, and B. Zeeman, is recognized, by sharing information about forest regeneration after drought-induced events of forest mortality across temperate and boreal forests of the world. The authors benefited from Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BIOCLIM, CGL2015-67419-R; TIPMED CGL2017-87176-P) and AGAUR, Government of Catalonia (2017 SGR 1001) grants. The authors thank the editors (Pep Canadell and Rob Jackson) and Ernst-Detlef Schulze for their comments on previous versions of the text.

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  1. CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain

    Francisco Lloret & Enric Batllori

  2. Dept. Animal Biology, Vegetal Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biosciences, Universitat Autònoma Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain

    Francisco Lloret

  3. Faculty of Biology, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Enric Batllori

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    Josep G. Canadell

  2. Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Robert B. Jackson

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Lloret, F., Batllori, E. (2021). Climate-Induced Global Forest Shifts due to Heatwave-Drought. In: Canadell, J.G., Jackson, R.B. (eds) Ecosystem Collapse and Climate Change. Ecological Studies, vol 241. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71330-0_7

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