Researchers can now predict when drought will kill a forest
Researchers have found a way to predict whether or not a forest will survive based on drought conditions – information that can help forest managers deal with climate change. The researchers from the University of California Davis looked at a drought that caused the loss of tens of millions of trees in the Sierra Nevada forest from 2012 to 2015. In the early years, the trees were doing fine, despite drought conditions. But by 2015, 80% of them were essentially dead.