Tropical Montane Cloud Forests Have High Resilience to Five Years of Severe Soil Drought
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT Tropical montane cloud forests (TMCFs) are globally important ecosystems, acting as large carbon sinks and supporting exceptional biodiversity. However, climate‐driven declines in rainfall threaten these forests, but their responses to long‐term soil moisture deficit remain poorly understood. We implemented a 5‐year throughfall exclusion (TFE) experiment in a Peruvian TMCF, reducing soil moisture by 69.1% across a 0.09 ha plot. We compared the full carbon cycle budget, and surveyed tree physiological traits linked to hydraulics, metabolism and nutrients in the TFE plot and an adjacent, unmodified control (CON) plot. Soil drought reduced gross primary productivity by 4.24 ± 1.97 Mg C ha −1 year −1 but did not change net primary productivity because of an equivalent 3.38 ± 1.42 Mg C ha −1 year −1 decline in autotrophic respiration. Net ecosystem exchange also remained unchanged over 5 years of soil drought. Trees did not change xylem conductivity, hydraulic safety margins or photosynthetic capacity in the TFE, but did have 0.027 ± 0.011 g cm −3 denser wood and 4.58% ± 1.03% higher trunk starch concentrations. These results suggest that trees in TMCF avoid hydraulic failure and carbon starvation under sustained soil moisture drought via metabolic downregulation, resource conservation and non‐structural carbohydrate storage. However, reduced uptake of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium) and 90.6% ± 29.8% decline in fruit production may impact future growth and demography. Our findings demonstrate surprising resilience of TMCFs to sustained, severe soil drought but highlight potential impacts on nutrient cycling and reproduction under climate change. Understanding the impacts of soil drought in conjunction with other climatic changes (e.g., fog reduction, temperature increases) is needed to fully assess the resilience of TMCFs to climate change.
Source: Global Change Biology
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.70670
Authors: David C. Bartholomew, Paulo R. L. Bittencourt, Darcy Galiano Cabrera, Roxana Sacatuma Cruz, Jimmy R. Chambi Paucar, Daniela Corrales Alvarez, Eric Cosio, Blanca Espinoza Otazu, Darwin Manuel Mamani, Patrick Meir, George A. Muñoz Hermoza, Rafael S. Oliveira, Beisit L. Puma Vilca, Aida Rosalai, Carlos Salas Yupayccana, Norma Salinas, José Sanchez Tintaya, Jhon A. Yuca Palomino, Daniel B. Metcalfe
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,550
Awards: Cloud forests without clouds: understanding the climate sensitivity of a global biodiversity hotspot., G2440570196, Extending and enhancing a unique "cloud reduction experiment" to assess the impacts of future climate change on tropical cloud forest ecology., G5878278088, The importance of clouds for tropical cloud forest biodiversity, hydrology and carbon sequestration., G8877066236, The impact of the 2015 El-Niño event on tropical forests: immediate effects and long-term recovery.
OpenAlex ID: W7118945116