A new study finds that trees that have lived through many wet years struggle to cope with dry spells.
A new study finds that trees that have lived through many wet years struggle to cope with dry spells.
The findings come from a 20-year study of trees in the Rhône River Valley in the Swiss Alps. For the study, scientists irrigated Scots pines growing in a mature forest, comparing them with plots nourished by rainfall alone. Researchers found that in irrigated plots, Scots pines grew faster.
Eleven years into the study, scientists stopped delivering water to half of each irrigated plot. The formerly irrigated pines, they said, looked like they were going through the drought of the century.
Read More: Yale Environment 360
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