Su, YBales, RCMa, QNydick, KRay, RLi, WGuo, Q

Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences

Published date November 10, 2017

Emerging stress and relative resiliency of Giant Sequoia groves experiencing multi-year dry periods in a warming climate

  • Finds that the giant sequoia, a fixture of California’s Sierra Nevada forests for the past 2.6 million years, might be in jeopardy from the effects of drought and climate change
  • Finds that sequoia groves are showing signs of stress, suggesting even these normally resilient trees are becoming increasingly vulnerable to multi-year droughts, which are projected to continue increasing in severity because of climate change
  • Finds the 2011-2015 drought brought an unprecedented drop in grove wetness, over five times the 1985-2010 standard deviation; and wetness in  Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum, SEGI) groves dropped 50% more than in non-grove areas 
  • Overall, the wetness and greenness of SEGI groves showed a larger response to the warming climate and drought than non-grove areas