Revealing heat dose thresholds in Australian forests from leaf to landscape. Forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change, but their role as reliable carbon sinks depends upon their abili

Description

Revealing heat dose thresholds in Australian forests from leaf to landscape. Forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change, but their role as reliable carbon sinks depends upon their ability to survive extreme events. This project aims to predict the limits of heat tolerance based on both temperature intensity and duration (i.e. heat dose) in well-watered and drought conditions from leaf-level to the landscape. Expected outcomes are 1) improved mechanistic understanding of hydraulic and metabolic processes during extreme heat/drought, 2) predict when tree damage can lead to tree mortality and 3) determine a species’ vulnerability to heat and water stress. Understanding the processes behind tree mortality is essential to predict when functional collapse will occur and how forest biodiversity will change.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4101 - Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation. Lead: Dr Kristine Crous