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Satellite Observations Reveal a Positive Relationship Between Trait-Based Diversity and Drought Response in Temperate
Isabelle S Helfenstein1, Joan T Sturm1, Bernhard Schmid1
1Remote Sensing Laboratories, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Global Change Biology
|February 3, 2025
Summary
Forest functional diversity enhances drought resistance and resilience. Greater trait richness improved responses, while trait evenness showed mixed effects, indicating complementarity and dominance are key for forest drought adaptation.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Forest Science
- Remote Sensing
Background:
- Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme events like droughts.
- Forest ecosystem functions and services are threatened by these climate extremes.
- Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) experiments show biotic factors, like tree species composition, influence drought response, but large-scale validation is lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between remotely sensed functional diversity and forest drought responses in temperate mixed forests.
- To assess how functional richness and evenness of canopy traits relate to forest resistance, recovery, and resilience during drought.
- To bridge the gap between experimental BEF findings and large-scale, non-experimental forest dynamics.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Sentinel-2 satellite data to quantify functional diversity based on physiological canopy traits (chlorophyll, carotenoid/chlorophyll ratio, equivalent water thickness).
- Assessed forest drought response (resistance, recovery, resilience) from 2017-2020 for temperate mixed forests in Switzerland.
- Analyzed relationships between functional diversity metrics (richness, evenness) and drought response at various aggregation levels.
Main Results:
- Higher trait richness in forest stands correlated positively with drought resistance and resilience.
- Trait evenness exhibited a hump-shaped relationship with resistance and a negative relationship with resilience.
- These findings suggest both complementarity (richness) and dominance (evenness) effects contribute to forest drought adaptation.
Conclusions:
- Forest functional diversity, quantifiable via remote sensing, plays a crucial role in mitigating drought impacts at large scales.
- The study links ecosystem functioning and biodiversity in non-experimental settings, supporting BEF theory.
- Results provide insights for forest management and conservation strategies under increasing climate extremes.
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