Drought duration effects on trees

Global climate change has led to and is continuously resulting in increases in not only drought intensity but also frequency and duration of drought events (Bradford, 2000; Spinoni et al. 2015). Previous studies focused mainly on the effects of drought intensity on trees or plants, and little attention has been paid to the effects of drought duration and drought frequency on trees' physiology in relation to mortality. Understanding tree functional responses to repeated drought events with various duration is, therefore, particularly critical for tree survival and sustainability of forests under future climate.