Summary
Drought conditions can influence forest composition directly by limiting water availability or indirectly by intensifying other stressors that affect establishment, growth, and mortality. Each tree species is uniquely adapted to coping with some level of drought, whether it is short or prolonged, low or high intensity. Exploring spatial patterns of forest composition in the eastern United States and how drought tolerance levels among species are dispersed aids in analyzing recent trends of drought conditions. Using habitat suitability models obtained from the Forest Service Climate Change Atlas, community assemblages of eastern U.S. tree species and drought tolerance characteristics assessed from literature, Forest Service scientists examined recent drought conditions in relation to the spatial distribution of species and their tolerance to drought. This research will provide land-owners and managers with information about the long-term monthly trends of drought conditions and indicate how sensitive current forest compositions are to drought.
