![]() ![]() Forest Service aerial survey program manager, who observed the phenomenon from an airplane. It was quite disturbing,” said co-author Daniel DePinte, U.S. “Basically, it was like a sunburn across the entire forest. Still’s argument includes the observation that “foliage scorch” was primarily found on the southern and western sides of trees and forests - a pattern that follows the track of the sun across the summer sky. “But I think with events like the 2021 heat wave becoming more common and intense, it’s important to look at the response of trees and other plants to these events and not just at drought, which has been the dominant paradigm.” ![]() “I’m not trying to say that drought is not a huge and important factor,” said Still. In a paper earlier this year in the journal Tree Physiology, Still made the case that damage to the region’s trees during the heat dome was triggered primarily by direct damage from heat and solar radiation rather than indirectly by drought caused by the extreme heat. This stresses trees, and can cause water-carrying tissues inside them to collapse - a process called “hydraulic failure.” Hot droughts not only dry out soil they also dry out the air. In many cases, conditions that have brought about the decline are known as “hot droughts.”ĭriven by above-normal temperatures, hot droughts can be far more damaging to trees than droughts that result simply from a lack of moisture. In recent years, scientists in the Pacific Northwest have linked the decline of 10 native tree species to drought. ![]()
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