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Tom Pugh

Thomas Pugh

Senior lecturer

Tom Pugh

Towards a global understanding of tree mortality

Author

  • Cornelius Senf
  • Thomas A.M. Pugh
  • William R.L. Anderegg
  • Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira
  • Gabriel Arellano
  • Mirela Beloiu Schwenke
  • Barbara J. Bentz
  • Hans Juergen Boehmer
  • Ben Bond-Lamberty
  • Kauane Maiara Bordin
  • Francis Q. Brearley
  • Filippo Bussotti
  • Maxime Cailleret
  • J. Julio Camarero
  • Gherardo Chirici
  • Flavia R.C. Costa
  • Ricardo Dalagnol
  • Hendrik Davi
  • Stuart J. Davies
  • Sylvain Delzon
  • Bishnu Prasad Dhakal
  • Renato A. Ferreira de Lima
  • Marco Ferretti
  • Joseph B. Fontaine
  • Matteo Garbarino
  • André Luís de Gasper
  • Arthur Gessler
  • Gregory S. Gilbert
  • John L. Godlee
  • Francisco Maiato Pedro Gonçalves
  • Leen Govaere
  • Alvaro G. Gutiérrez
  • Ernesto Gómez Cardozo
  • William M. Hammond
  • Henrik Hartmann
  • Martina L. Hobi
  • Andrés Holz
  • Jürgen Homeier
  • Mark Joseph Hovenden
  • Cho ying Huang
  • Bruno Hérault
  • Toby Jackson
  • Tommaso Jucker
  • Alistair S. Jump
  • Samuli Junttila
  • Teja Kattenborn
  • Joice Klipel
  • Martyna M. Kotowska
  • Adriane Esquivel Muelbert
  • Kamil Král
  • Nicola La Porta
Show all

Summary, in English

Rates of tree mortality are increasing globally, with implications for forests and climate. Yet, how and why these trends vary globally remain unknown. Developing a comprehensive assessment of global tree mortality will require systematically integrating data from ground-based long-term forest monitoring with large-scale remote sensing. We surveyed the metadata from 466 865 forest monitoring plots across 89 countries and five continents using questionnaires and discuss the potential to use these to estimate tree mortality trends globally. Our survey shows that the area monitored has increased steadily since 1960, but we also identify many regions with limited ground-based information on tree mortality. The integration of existing ground-based forest inventories with remote sensing and modelling can potentially fill those gaps, but this requires development of technical solutions and agreements that enable seamless flows of information from the field to global assessments of tree mortality. A truly global monitoring effort should promote fair and equitable collaborations, transferring funding to and empowering scientists from less wealthy regions. Increasing interest in forests as a natural climate solution, the advancement of new technologies and world-wide connectivity means that now a global monitoring system of tree mortality is not just urgently needed but also possible.

Department/s

  • LU Profile Area: Nature-based future solutions
  • MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science

Publishing year

2025-03

Language

English

Pages

2377-2392

Publication/Series

New Phytologist

Volume

245

Issue

6

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Topic

  • Physical Geography
  • Forest Science

Keywords

  • disturbance
  • forest inventory
  • forest monitoring
  • remote sensing
  • tree dieback

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0028-646X