The response of tropical trees to drought is dependent on tree light availability

Lucy Rowland, Antonio da Costa, Rafael Oliveira, Paulo Bittencourt, André Giles, Ingrid Coughlin, David Bartholomew, Tomas Ferreira Domingues, Raquel Miatto, Leandro Ferreira, Steel Vasconcelos, Joao Junior, Alex Oliveira, Maurizio, Mencuccini, Patrick Meir

Tropical rainforests can absorb and store substantial amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, making them vital resources to help us tackle anthropogenic climate change. However, whether tropical forests can maintain their capacity to absorb and store carbon in the future is uncertain and depends on how climate changes influence their function. Climate change projections suggest that tropical forests, particularly those in Amazonia, are likely to be subject to more intense and frequent drought events, alongside long-term declines in soil water availability. Understanding how tropical forests will respond to this drought stress is therefore of substantial interest for predicting future carbon cycle feedbacks between…