Climate and landscape drivers of tree decline in a Mediterranean ecoregion

N.C. Brouwers; J. Mercer; T. Lyons; P. Poot; E. Veneklaas; G. Hardy

doi:10.1002/ece3.437

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Climate and landscape drivers of tree decline in a Mediterranean ecoregion

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Climate and landscape drivers of tree decline in a Mediterranean ecoregion

N.C. Brouwers, J. Mercer, T. Lyons, P. Poot, E. Veneklaas and G. Hardy

Ecology and Evolution, Vol.3(1), pp.67-69

2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.437

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Abstract

Climate change and anthropogenic land use are increasingly affecting the resilience of natural ecosystems. In Mediterranean ecoregions, forests and woodlands have shown progressive declines in health. This study focuses on the decline of an endemic woodland tree species, Eucalyptus wandoo (wandoo), occurring in the biodiversity hotspot of southwest Western Australia. We determined the change in health of wandoo stands between 2002 and 2008 across its geographic and climatic range, and associated this change in health with non-biotic variables focusing on: (1) fragment metrics; (2) topography; (3) soil characteristics; and (4) climate. Only fragment metrics and climate variables were found to be significantly related to the observed change in health. Stands that were small with high perimeter/area ratios were found to be most sensitive to health declines. Recent increases in autumn temperatures and decreases in annual rainfall were negatively affecting health of wandoo most prominently in the low rainfall zone of its climatic range. Together, these results suggest the onset of range contraction for this ecologically important species, which is likely to be exacerbated by projected future changes in climate. Our results emphasize the importance of establishing monitoring programs to identify changes in health and decline trends early to inform management strategies, particularly in the sensitive Mediterranean ecoregions.

Details

Title: Climate and landscape drivers of tree decline in a Mediterranean ecoregion
Authors/Creators: N.C. Brouwers (Author/Creator) - Murdoch University
J. Mercer (Author/Creator) - Marlak Environmental Services Albany Western Australia 6331 Australia
T. Lyons (Author/Creator) - Murdoch University
P. Poot (Author/Creator) - The University of Western Australia
E. Veneklaas (Author/Creator) - The University of Western Australia
G. Hardy (Author/Creator)
Publication Details: Ecology and Evolution, Vol.3(1), pp.67-69
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Identifiers: 991005540137307891
Copyright: © 2012 The Authors
Murdoch Affiliation: Centre of Excellence for Climate Change and Forest and Woodland Health; School of Veterinary and Life Sciences
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article
Note: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Citation topics: 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology; 3.40 Forestry; 3.40.55 Forest Dynamics
Web Of Science research areas: Ecology; Evolutionary Biology
ESI research areas: Environment/Ecology