Tall trees act drought-stressed just from being tall
Spennati E, Mencuccini M, Ramírez-Valiente JA, Fernández-de-Uña L
Climate Adaptation
The leaves at the top of the oak or maple shading your yard are built differently from the ones near the ground, because height itself makes water harder to lift, which helps explain why the tallest trees struggle first in dry summers.
The taller a tree grows, the harder it is to pull water up to the top. Leaves up there end up with thinner, less water-hungry builds and take in less carbon, much like a tree in a drought. Sunlight shapes how leaves differ within a single tree, while water shortage explains most of the differences between short and tall trees.
Key Findings
Analysis covered 101 species across 119 sites, comparing tall versus short trees and upper versus lower crowns within trees.
Taller trees and upper canopies showed lower midday leaf water potential, specific leaf area, mass-based photosynthesis and stomatal conductance.
Between-tree trait shifts mostly matched drought responses, within-tree specific leaf area shifts matched radiation responses, and temperature showed no apparent effect.
chevron_right Technical Summary
A global review of 101 tree species found that tall trees and upper branches behave like trees under drought: their leaves get thinner and move less water and carbon. Hotter, drier futures could make these limits worse for the tallest trees.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Functional responses to increasing tree height within and between trees and their potential drivers.
Trees adjust their traits along their vertical crown profile in response to hydraulic limitations imposed by height and/or prevailing environmental conditions. To date, it remains unclear whether t...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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