2023 - Dr. Danielle Ulrich

dozens of pine branched labeled with flags in little pots.

Protecting forests as carbon sinks under future climates requires that we be able to predict tree species distributions early enough for management actions to be taken. We need to broadly predict which trees will survive and die before the onset of a drought event. The ability of an individual to survive drought depends on its ability to recover. However, the physiological mechanisms of recovery are not fully understood. A tree’s carbohydrate dynamics may be key to understanding drought recovery mechanisms and predicting drought survival. In greenhouse and field studies, we will investigate the role of tree carbohydrate dynamics in drought recovery. We will develop the ability to remotely measure tree carbohydrate dynamics to broadly predict drought recovery and survival before drought onset and streamline measurements of tree carbohydrate dynamics.