TROPICAL TREE-RING NETWORK

Publications

Below we provide a list of publications coming out of our network.

Amburana cearensis tree in the Caatinga dry-forest in Brazil.
  1. Zuidema, P.A., Babst, F., Groenendijk, P., Trouet, V., et al. (2022) Tropical tree growth driven by dry-season climate variability. Nature Geoscience. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00911-8.

    In this study we used 14,000 tree-ring data series from 350 locations across the tropics to evaluate how climatic variables (rainfall, temperature, drought indices) affect the growth of tropical trees, during which season of the year these responses have the strongest effect on growth and whether there are large clusters of climatic response types.
    We found that precipitation and temperature are the main drivers of tropical tree growth variability and that climatic responses can be grouped in four main clusters.
    We also found that climate in the dry season is the main driver of tropical tree-growth variability and stem growth is reduced during years when the dry season is warmer and drier than normal. These results suggest that increasing drought and heat due to climate change may increase the sensitivity of tropical trees to climatic fluctuations.