California’s ongoing drought threatens nearly 60 million large trees
▻http://news.mongabay.com/2015/12/californias-ongoing-drought-threatens-nearly-60-million-large-trees
Now a study by researchers at the Washington, D.C.-based Carnegie Institution for Science has found that up to 58 million large trees in California — some of Earth’s oldest and most massive trees — have experienced severe canopy water loss between 2011 and today, putting them at severe risk.
The Carnegie researchers, whose findings were published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, write that the impacts of this “millennial-scale event” on the health of forests has been relatively unknown until now.
A report by the U.S. Forest Service released earlier this year found that as many as 12 million trees have been killed by the drought in California, but did not identify how many more trees were vulnerable due to the dry conditions.
Progressive forest canopy water loss during the 2012–2015 California drought
▻http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/12/22/1523397113.abstract?sid=50594317-96a2-4a6f-a6f8-5d6f29bf475d
#sécheresse #Californie #eau #arbres #canopée
