The causes and effects of mortality in tropical Australian trees

Drought and warming increase tree mortality in tropical forests with very large impacts on the terrestrial carbon budget. The underlying physiology of mortality is not understood and this knowledge gap leads to substantial uncertainty in modelling future tropical forest-atmosphere interactions, and forest composition. This project will combine new field and glasshouse data from Queensland tree species with different modelling approaches to test the causes of mortality, focussing on hydraulic failure and carbon use. The work will advance fundamental understanding of fluid transport (water,soluble sugars) in Australian tropical trees, and help provide a mechanistic basis for improved modelling of tree mortality and its impacts during drought.