Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Recent increase in tree damage and mortality and their spatial dependence on drought intensity in Mediterranean forests

Rebollo, Pedro ; Moreno-Fernández, Daniel ; Cruz-Alonso, Verónica ; Gazol, Antonio ; Rodríguez-Rey, Marta ; Astigarraga, Julen LU orcid ; Zavala, Miguel A. ; Gómez-Aparicio, Lorena ; Andivia, Enrique and Miguel-Romero, Sofía , et al. (2024) In Landscape Ecology 39(3).
Abstract

Context: Global change is leading to more frequent and intense tree damage and mortality events. Drought-induced tree mortality is occurring worldwide leading to broad-scale events, but the spatial patterns of tree damage and mortality, their underlying drivers and their variation over time is largely unknown. Objectives: We investigated the spatial patterns of tree damage and mortality across Mediterranean forests of the Iberian Peninsula, the underlying effects of stand structure and climate, and how the spatial patterns and relationships with underlying drivers changed over time. Methods: We used the Spanish Forest Inventory to analyse the autocorrelation in tree damage and mortality across forest types, hurdle-gamma models to... (More)

Context: Global change is leading to more frequent and intense tree damage and mortality events. Drought-induced tree mortality is occurring worldwide leading to broad-scale events, but the spatial patterns of tree damage and mortality, their underlying drivers and their variation over time is largely unknown. Objectives: We investigated the spatial patterns of tree damage and mortality across Mediterranean forests of the Iberian Peninsula, the underlying effects of stand structure and climate, and how the spatial patterns and relationships with underlying drivers changed over time. Methods: We used the Spanish Forest Inventory to analyse the autocorrelation in tree damage and mortality across forest types, hurdle-gamma models to quantify the effect of stand structure and climate on tree damage and mortality, and cross-correlograms to assess their spatial dependence and its change over time. Results: We observed a greater magnitude and a stronger autocorrelation in tree damage than mortality, with positive aggregation up to 20 kms. There was a spatial dependence between tree damage and mortality with their drivers, with spatial aggregation increasing with water availability, drought intensity and stand structure. The spatial dependence of tree damage and mortality with the underlying drivers increased over time, particularly for drought intensity. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the combined effect of intense competition and drought could favour more extensive die-off and tree mortality events, providing key information for identifying vulnerable areas and the planning of adaptation measures.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Climate change, Cross-correlation, Forest structure, Spanish Forest Inventory, Spatial autocorrelation, Temporal variations
in
Landscape Ecology
volume
39
issue
3
article number
38
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85185329522
ISSN
0921-2973
DOI
10.1007/s10980-024-01837-9
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.
id
89e9a8a7-a7d2-4395-bf8e-6e76de3b3426
date added to LUP
2025-03-25 13:19:52
date last changed
2025-05-20 15:31:41
@article{89e9a8a7-a7d2-4395-bf8e-6e76de3b3426,
  abstract     = {{<p>Context: Global change is leading to more frequent and intense tree damage and mortality events. Drought-induced tree mortality is occurring worldwide leading to broad-scale events, but the spatial patterns of tree damage and mortality, their underlying drivers and their variation over time is largely unknown. Objectives: We investigated the spatial patterns of tree damage and mortality across Mediterranean forests of the Iberian Peninsula, the underlying effects of stand structure and climate, and how the spatial patterns and relationships with underlying drivers changed over time. Methods: We used the Spanish Forest Inventory to analyse the autocorrelation in tree damage and mortality across forest types, hurdle-gamma models to quantify the effect of stand structure and climate on tree damage and mortality, and cross-correlograms to assess their spatial dependence and its change over time. Results: We observed a greater magnitude and a stronger autocorrelation in tree damage than mortality, with positive aggregation up to 20 kms. There was a spatial dependence between tree damage and mortality with their drivers, with spatial aggregation increasing with water availability, drought intensity and stand structure. The spatial dependence of tree damage and mortality with the underlying drivers increased over time, particularly for drought intensity. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the combined effect of intense competition and drought could favour more extensive die-off and tree mortality events, providing key information for identifying vulnerable areas and the planning of adaptation measures.</p>}},
  author       = {{Rebollo, Pedro and Moreno-Fernández, Daniel and Cruz-Alonso, Verónica and Gazol, Antonio and Rodríguez-Rey, Marta and Astigarraga, Julen and Zavala, Miguel A. and Gómez-Aparicio, Lorena and Andivia, Enrique and Miguel-Romero, Sofía and Ruiz-Benito, Paloma}},
  issn         = {{0921-2973}},
  keywords     = {{Climate change; Cross-correlation; Forest structure; Spanish Forest Inventory; Spatial autocorrelation; Temporal variations}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Landscape Ecology}},
  title        = {{Recent increase in tree damage and mortality and their spatial dependence on drought intensity in Mediterranean forests}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01837-9}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10980-024-01837-9}},
  volume       = {{39}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}