Scattered tree death contributes to substantial forest loss in California
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Scattered tree death contributes to substantial forest loss in California. / Cheng, Yan; Oehmcke, Stefan; Brandt, Martin Stefan; Rosenthal, Lisa; Das, Adrian ; Vrieling, Anton; Saatchi, Sassan; Wagner, Fabien; Mugabowindekwe, Maurice; Verbruggen, Wim; Beier, Claus; Horion, Stéphanie.
I: Nature Communications, Bind 15, Nr. 1, 641, 2024, s. 1-13.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Scattered tree death contributes to substantial forest loss in California
AU - Cheng, Yan
AU - Oehmcke, Stefan
AU - Brandt, Martin Stefan
AU - Rosenthal, Lisa
AU - Das, Adrian
AU - Vrieling, Anton
AU - Saatchi, Sassan
AU - Wagner, Fabien
AU - Mugabowindekwe, Maurice
AU - Verbruggen, Wim
AU - Beier, Claus
AU - Horion, Stéphanie
N1 - .
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - In recent years, large-scale tree mortality events linked to global change have occurred around the world. Current forest monitoring methods are crucial for identifying mortality hotspots, but systematic assessments of isolated or scattered dead trees over large areas are needed to reduce uncertainty on the actual extent of tree mortality. Here, we mapped individual dead trees in California using sub-meter resolution aerial photographs from 2020 and deep learning-based dead tree detection. We identified 91.4 million dead trees over 27.8 million hectares of vegetated areas (16.7-24.7% underestimation bias when compared to field data). Among these, a total of 19.5 million dead trees appeared isolated, and 60% of all dead trees occurred in small groups ( ≤ 3 dead trees within a 30 × 30 m grid), which is largely undetected by other state-level monitoring methods. The widespread mortality of individual trees impacts the carbon budget and sequestration capacity of California forests and can be considered a threat to forest health and a fuel source for future wildfires.
AB - In recent years, large-scale tree mortality events linked to global change have occurred around the world. Current forest monitoring methods are crucial for identifying mortality hotspots, but systematic assessments of isolated or scattered dead trees over large areas are needed to reduce uncertainty on the actual extent of tree mortality. Here, we mapped individual dead trees in California using sub-meter resolution aerial photographs from 2020 and deep learning-based dead tree detection. We identified 91.4 million dead trees over 27.8 million hectares of vegetated areas (16.7-24.7% underestimation bias when compared to field data). Among these, a total of 19.5 million dead trees appeared isolated, and 60% of all dead trees occurred in small groups ( ≤ 3 dead trees within a 30 × 30 m grid), which is largely undetected by other state-level monitoring methods. The widespread mortality of individual trees impacts the carbon budget and sequestration capacity of California forests and can be considered a threat to forest health and a fuel source for future wildfires.
KW - Faculty of Science
KW - tree mortality
KW - droughts
KW - deep learning
KW - earth observations
KW - climate extremes
KW - carbon
KW - California
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-024-44991-z
DO - 10.1038/s41467-024-44991-z
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 38245523
VL - 15
SP - 1
EP - 13
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
SN - 2041-1723
IS - 1
M1 - 641
ER -
ID: 380148533