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Inspire Session

Session: : Remote Sensing of Plant Biodiversity, Physiological Stress and Ecosystem Function in a Rapidly Changing World

INS 16-5 - Trade-offs in functional investments and tree dieback during the 2012-2016 California drought

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

3:30 PM – 5:00 PM PDT

Location: 254

Presenting Author(s)

NQ

Natalie Queally

PhD Student
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin, United States

Co-author(s)

TZ

Ting Zheng

University of Wisconsin-Madison
ZY

Zhiwei Ye

University of Wisconsin-Madison
RP

Ryan P. Pavlick

NASA JPL
FS

Fabian Daniel Schneider

Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California, United States
PT

Phil PA Townsend, Ph.D.

Professor
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, Wisconsin, United States

California experienced an exceptional drought from 2012 -2016, which contributed to the death of more than 150 million trees. We used published tree mortality data (2009-2016) for two NEON sites in the Sierra Nevada mountains in conjunction with foliar trait maps derived from NASA’s AVIRIS-Classic imaging spectrometer to test linkages between pre-mortality functional traits and drought-related dieback. Surviving trees had higher nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC) and lower cellulose, leaf mass per area (LMA), and phenolics than trees that eventually died. This indicates survivors invested more in maintenance (NSC), and less in secondary metabolism/defense (phenolics) and leaf growth and structure (cellulose, LMA).