Drought stress is increasing in most parts of the world both in terms of intensity and frequency. As a result, forests which are considered one of our best tools to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are under threat. To maintain forest carbon sink activity and other services, trees need not only to survive the stress, but to recover from it and regain their ability to grow. A mechanistic understanding of the tree resilience is lacking, and this project aims to fill that knowledge gap.  We will use controlled conditions experiments, ecosystem manipulation and field study. Physiological mechanisms related to water transport, carbon assimilation, utilization and transport as well as nutrients will be measured to explain how tree growth, and hence their ability to store carbon, recovers from drought. These results will help better predict forest response to climate change, model carbon storage in forest and guide practitioners and politicians in their decision towards forest management.

2023

2027