Seminar: Jianbei Huang

Reliable predictions of forest carbon balance under climate change requires a mechanistic understanding of the processes that determine changes in tree carbon balance ─ the supply via photosynthesis (i.e. source) and the demand for growth, respiration, storage, defense (i.e. sinks). However, our understanding of how drought affects allocation to storage and defense, particularly in mature trees, remains limited. In this talk, I will present a case study at Biosphere 2, with a particular focus on how drought affects allocation to nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) storage. Additionally, I will present preliminary results from a global synthesis of rainfall manipulation experiments, which examine drought impacts on tree defense mechanisms across species and biomes.