Tree death rates climbing across australian forests

Australia’s trees must contend with many lethal factors, from intense megafires to introduced diseases and invasive species.  But beyond these specific pressures, new research indicates the underlying natural death rate of trees in major forests across the country is rising.

This increase in tree deaths is due to higher average temperatures from climate change, according to a study published in the journal Nature Plants, and it has scientists concerned that forests will sequester less carbon dioxide in years to come.

The world’s average temperature has warmed about 1.3 degrees Celsius compared to an 1850–1900 pre-industrial baseline.

Senior study author and plant physiological ecologist Belinda Medlyn, from Western Sydney University, said the research team was “startled” to see tree death rates, from cool temperate forests in southern Tasmania up to the savannas of the tropical north, steadily increase over the past six decades.

“We [in Australia] have a much more variable climate than many other parts of the world,” she said.

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