Thursday, August 9, 2007: 1:30 PM-5:00 PM
B3&4, San Jose McEnery Convention Center
OOS 42 - Climate-induced forest dieback as an emergent global phenomenon: Patterns, mechanisms, and projections
Evidence of climate change effects on the biosphere is accumulating rapidly, including recent examples of climate-induced forest dieback. Although relatively few examples of widespread forest dieback events have been documented to-date, some mortality events have had extensive ecological impacts. Increasing numbers of recent studies demonstrate forest stress and dieback at local to regional scales, but currently lacking is a global overview of forest dieback, and sufficient mechanistic knowledge to enable accurate modeling and predictions of climate-induced woody plant mortality. The overall goal of this organized oral session is to present a current synthesis of forest dieback as an emergent global phenomenon, which will include: (1) a globally comprehensive overview and synthesis developed from ongoing research, case studies, and existing literature; (2) continental-scale summaries of mortality patterns and processes of climate-induced dieback from around the world, including detailed case studies; (3) plant physiological perspectives on water use, carbon balance, and resistance to insect attacks, emphasizing current understanding and knowledge gaps; and (4) current and potential applications of available knowledge to regional and global scale modeling and prediction of forest dieback, key areas needed to improve current models, and existing and potential applications to assessments and mitigation of potential climate change impacts. We will evaluate the extent to which recently observed dieback events are unusual relative to historic background patterns. Our session documents climate-induced forest dieback from all forested continents, including: 1) drought impacts in Patagonia and the Amazon Basin; 2) dieback of multiple forest species in the West African Sahel; 3) dieback of several European species of Pinus and Quercus in multiple mountain ranges across Mediterranean Portugal, Spain, and France; 4) eucalyptus dieback in Australia; and 5) substantial episodes of recent forest mortality in North America from Alaska to Mexico, such as >1,000,000 ha of pinyon (Pinus edulis) dieback in the southwestern US since 2002. These case studies are highly relevant to a broad array of ecologists because they represent vegetation changes in response to climate variation and change that can span across individuals, populations, communities, and ecosystems.
Organizer:Craig D. Allen, Jemez Mountains Field Station
Co-organizer:David D. Breshears, University of Arizona
Moderator:David D. Breshears, University of Arizona
1:30 PMOOS 42-5Climate-induced forest dieback as an emergent global phenomenon: Overview and synthesis
Craig D. Allen, U.S. Geological Survey, Jemez Mountains Field Station, David D. Breshears, University of Arizona, Nathan L. Stephenson, United States Geological Survey, Phillip J. Van Mantgem, United States Geological Survey
1:50 PMOOS 42-6Drought down-under: Dieback controls of tree dynamics in Australian savanna
Roderick J. Fensham, Queensland Herbarium
2:10 PMOOS 42-7Rapid forest dieback and warm drought in Northern Patagonia, South America
Thomas Kitzberger, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, María Laura Suarez, Universidad Nacional del Comahue
2:30 PMOOS 42-8Climate-induced dieback of forest species and a shift of vegetation zones across West Africa
Patrick Gonzalez, The Nature Conservancy, Compton J. Tucker, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Hamady Sy, Réseau du Système d’Alerte Précoce contre la Famine
2:50 PMOOS 42-9Forest dieback in Europe: Climate drivers, symptoms, and physiological processes
Jorge Castro, Universidad de Granada, Carlos A. Gracia, Universidad de Barcelona, Regino Zamora, Universidad de Granada, Rafael Navarro, Universidad de Cordoba, Michel Vennetier, CEMAGREF, Claude Gadbin-Henry, Institut Méditerranéen d’Ecologie et Paléoécologie, Laurent Borgniet, CEMAGREF
3:10 PM Break
3:20 PMOOS 42-2Dieback of forests and woodlands across elevational gradients in response to global-change-type drought in the southwestern US, North America
Neil Cobb, Northern Arizona University, Kirsten Ironside, Northern Arizona University, John D. Shaw, USDA Forest Service, Kiona Ogle, University of Wyoming, Craig D. Allen, Jemez Mountains Field Station, David D. Breshears, University of Arizona, Michael Clifford, Northern Arizona University
3:40 PMOOS 42-1Causes and impacts of woody canopy dieoff in a semi-arid woodland: Role of climate, pathogens, and phenology
Amanda B. White, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Donatella Pasqualini, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Paul M. Rich, Creekside Center for Earth Observation, Nate McDowell, Los Alamos National Laboratory, David D. Breshears, University of Arizona
4:00 PMOOS 42-4Modeling the future redistribution of pinyon-juniper woodland species
Kirsten Ironside, Northern Arizona University, Kenneth L. Cole, USGS Southwest Biological Science Center, Neil Cobb, Northern Arizona University, John D. Shaw, USDA Forest Service, Phillip Duffy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
4:20 PMOOS 42-3A hydraulic framework for understanding mechanisms of woody plant survival and mortality during drought
Nate G. McDowell, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Will Pockman, University of New Mexico
4:40 PMOOS 42-10Global modeling and prediction of climate-induced forest dieback
Ronald P. Neilson, USDA Forest Service, Dominique Bachelet, The Nature Conservancy, Stephen W. Running, Numerical Terradynamics Simulation Group,

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