Taller forests are globally more drought-resistant

Taller forests are globally more drought-resistant | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Taller forests are globally more drought-resistant Jing Chen, Xingmin Zhao, Zhaoying Zhang, Weimin Ju, Pierre Gentine, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5150701/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Droughts exert a critical impact on forest growth, posing great challenges for forest sustainability globally. However, the mechanistic role of forest height (H) in modulating drought resistance remains poorly understood. Utilizing spaceborne observations of H and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence as a proxy for photosynthesis, here we show that taller forests consistently demonstrate higher resistance to drought stress globally, across varying levels of drought severity. This suggests that taller forests maintain higher stability under fluctuating climatic conditions. By synthesizing global forest root data, we found that this enhanced stability is closely tied to the deeper rooting systems of taller forests. Our findings underscore the critical role of H in forest ecosystem functioning and advocate for its inclusion as a key trait in ecosystem models to improve simulations of forest responses to climate change. Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Forest ecology Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Climate change/Climate-change impacts Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files ZhaoXMHResistanceSISubmV1.0.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5150701","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":362187239,"identity":"aa779304-b838-4710-8e44-c9bc932270fb","order_by":0,"name":"Jing 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