Does NSC storage influence survival under drought?

Global observations of forest die-off related to drought have stimulated research interest in the physiology of tree drought mortality.  Among 13 recent studies, reduced tissue non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) content at death, relative to surviving control trees or seedlings, was observed in at least one tissue for 57% of angiosperm and 80% of conifer species.  In some experiments, individual tree survival time can be linked to NSC dynamics.  Yet these results are correlative, with mortality causes not distinguished from the symptoms of death.  Although causal data for NSC reduction remain elusive, neither can the carbon starvation hypothesis be rejected.