Our research focuses around a central question:

What is the future of Earth’s forests in a changing climate? Massive forest mortality events of many tree species in the last two decades prompt concerns that drought, insects, and wildfire may devastate forests in the coming decades. We study how drought and climate change affect forest ecosystems, including tree physiology, species interactions, carbon cycling, and biosphere-atmosphere feedbacks. This research spans a broad array of spatial scales from xylem cells to ecosystems and seeks to gain a better mechanistic understanding of how climate change will affect forests around the world.

*********What’s New*********

• 9/2022: Media coverage of our global climate risk assessment for Earth’s forests in Science.
• 8/2022: Ongoing great coverage of our study linking climate change to increases in US pollen seasons.
• 5/2022: Two new lab papers – published in Science and Ecology Letters – just came out and feature in some excellent media coverage.
• 1/2022: Cool new paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on forest and shrubland water use efficiency in the current mega-drought in the Southwestern US.
• 10/2021: We have an important and policy-relevant paper out on California’s forest carbon offset program, which was a major part of a recent ProPublica in-depth analysis.
• 2/2021: A new paper out in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on climate change impact on US pollen seasons and some great coverage in the media.