A 50-year study shows trees in Australia's tropical rainforests are experiencing chronic stress, and mortality rates began climbing in the 1970s.
One of the longest-running scientific studies of tropical forests has revealed rainforest trees are dying twice as fast as they were in the 1970s.Scientists have found mortality rates increased in the 1980s across tropical rainforests in Far North QueenslandBoth of these factors are believed to have been driven by climate change
She said they compared it with local climate conditions and found decreases in air moisture and rising temperatures were likely to be the main culprits, driven by climate change. "You don't find 50-year data sets, anywhere … who would have thought that there might be issues with climate change and things like that 50 years back?" Professor Huete said.What does it mean?
"Rather than sort of those later, mature phase rain forest species, which actually make up most of the tree diversity," Professor Laurance said.
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