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Climate-induced large­scale browning in Chilean Mediterranean forest

Nature Plants volume 9, pages 1785–1786 (2023)Cite this article

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We assessed climatic and productivity trends across the world’s five Mediterranean forest ecosystems and detected large-scale, abrupt forest browning in Chile. Extreme dry and warm conditions in Chile, unprecedented in the recent history of all Mediterranean-type ecosystems, are projected to arise in the second half of this century.

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Fig. 1: Decline in evergreen sclerophyllous forests in central Chile.

References

  1. IPCC. Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2021). This document reports climate projections.

  2. Garreaud, R. D., Clem, K. & Veloso, J. V. The South Pacific pressure trend dipole and the southern blob. J. Clim. 34, 7661–7676 (2021). This paper reports the climate dynamics underlying the megadrought in Chile.

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  3. Miranda, A. et al. Forest browning trends in response to drought in a highly threatened Mediterranean landscape of South America. Ecol. lndic. 115, 106401 (2020). This paper reveals the initial effects of drought on Chilean sclerophyllous forests.

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  4. Berdugo, M. et al. Global ecosystem thresholds driven by aridity. Science 367, 787–790 (2020). A review that presents proposed ecosystem thresholds in response to escalating aridity.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

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This is a summary of: Miranda, A. et al. Widespread synchronous decline of Mediterranean-type forest driven by accelerated aridity. Nat. Plants, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01541-7 (2023).

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Climate-induced large­scale browning in Chilean Mediterranean forest. Nat. Plants 9, 1785–1786 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01546-2

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