Tropical trees respond to drought differently depending on their ages, according to new research led by a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Wyoming.
Mario Bretfeld, who works in the lab of UW Department of Botany Professor Brent Ewers, is the lead author of an article that appears today (Monday) in the journal New Phytologist, one of the top journals in the field of plant controls over the water cycle. The research was conducted in collaboration with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI).
Tropical trees respond to drought differently depending on their ages, according to new research led by a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Wyoming.
Mario Bretfeld, who works in the lab of UW Department of Botany Professor Brent Ewers, is the lead author of an article that appears today (Monday) in the journal New Phytologist, one of the top journals in the field of plant controls over the water cycle. The research was conducted in collaboration with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI).
“The paper provides some very interesting insights into how forest age interacts with drought to determine how much water is produced from tropical forests,” Ewers says. “This work has implications for the operation of the Panama Canal, as well as providing fundamental insights into how forests control the water cycle.”
The research team compared responses to drought in 8-, 25- and 80-year-old forest patches in the Agua Salud project, a 700-hectare land-use experiment collaboration with the Panama Canal Authority, Panama’s Ministry of the Environment and other partners. The team measured water use in 76 trees representing more than 40 different species in forests of different ages in the Panama Canal watershed during an especially extended drought resulting from El Niño conditions in 2015 and 2016.
Read more at: University of Wyoming
Image: UW postdoctoral researcher Mario Bretfeld uses a sensor to assess water flow in a tree in the Panama Canal watershed. Credit: Mario Bretfeld
