Impact of Severe Drought during the Strong 2015/2016 El Nino on the phenology and survival of secondary dry dipterocarp species in Western Thailand

Journal article

Authors/Editors

AMNAT CHIDTHAISONG

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Publication Details

Author list: Kaewthongrach R., Vitasse Y., Lamjiak T., Chidthaisong A.

Publisher: MDPI AG

Publication year: 2019

Volume number: 10

Issue number: 11

ISSN: 1999-4907

eISSN: 1999-4907

URL: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85075373491&doi=10.3390%2ff10110967&partnerID=40&md5=576837cc9b23a0999e484f3b4cf6e7ab

Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)

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Abstract

Secondary forest areas are increasing worldwide and understanding how these forests interact with climate change including frequent and extreme events becomes increasingly important. This study aims to investigate the effects of the strong 2015/2016 El Ni๑o-induced drought on species-specific leaf phenology, dieback and tree mortality in a secondary dry dipterocarp forest (DDF) in western Thailand. During the 2015/2016 El Ni๑o event, rainfall and soil water content were lower than 25 mm and 5% during 5-6 consecutive months. The dry season was 3-4 months longer during the El Ni๑o than during non-El Ni๑o events. We found that this prolonged drought induced the earlier shedding and a delay in leaf emergence of the DDF. The deciduousness period was also longer during the El Ni๑o event (5 months instead of 2-3 months during non-El Ni๑o event). We found that the DDF species showed different phenological responses and sensitivities to the El Ni๑o-induced drought. The leaf phenology of stem succulent species Lannea coromandelica (Houtt.) Merr. and a complete deciduous species with low wood density. Sindora siamensis Teijsm. ex Miq. was only slightly affected by the El Ni๑o-induced drought. Conversely, a semi-deciduous species such as Dipterocarpus obtusifolius Teijsm. ex Miq. showed a higher degree of deciduousness during the El Ni๑o compared to non-El Ni๑o events. Our results also highlight that dieback and mortality during El Ni๑o were increased by 45 and 50%, respectively, compared to non-El Ni๑o events, pointing at the importance of such events to shape DDF ecosystems. ฉ 2019 by the authors.

Keywords

Dieback, El Ni๑o, Microclimate, Mortality