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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Compound climate extremes driving recent sub-continental tree mortality in northern Australia have no precedent in recent centuries
Scientific Reports, Vol.11, pp.1-11
15/09/2021
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Abstract
Compound climate extremes (CCEs) can have significant and persistent environmental impacts on ecosystems. However, knowledge of the occurrence of CCEs beyond the past ~ 50 years, and hence their ecological impacts, is limited. Here, we place the widespread 2015–16 mangrove dieback and the more recent 2020 inland native forest dieback events in northern Australia into a longer historical context using locally relevant palaeoclimate records. Over recent centuries, multiple occurrences of analogous antecedent and coincident climate conditions associated with the mangrove dieback event were identified in this compilation. However, rising sea level—a key antecedent condition—over the three decades prior to the mangrove dieback is unprecedented in the past 220 years. Similarly, dieback in inland forests and savannas was associated with a multi-decadal wetting trend followed by the longest and most intense drought conditions of the past 250 years, coupled with rising temperatures. While many ecological communities may have experienced CCEs in past centuries, the addition of new environmental stressors associated with varying aspects of global change may exceed their thresholds of resilience. Palaeoclimate compilations provide the much-needed longer term context to better assess frequency and changes in some types of CCEs and their environmental impacts.
Details
- Title
- Compound climate extremes driving recent sub-continental tree mortality in northern Australia have no precedent in recent centuries
- Creators
- Kathryn J. Allen - University of TasmaniaDanielle C. Verdon-Kidd - University of NewcastleJames Z. Sippo - Southern Cross UniversityPatrick J. Baker - University of Melbourne
- Publication Details
- Scientific Reports, Vol.11, pp.1-11
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Grant note
- KA was supported by FT200100102 and PB was supported by FT120100715.
- Identifiers
- 991012968483802368
- Copyright
- Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. © The Author(s) 2021
- Academic Unit
- School of Environment, Science and Engineering; Faculty of Science and Engineering; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article