Abstract
With climate change, heat waves are becoming increasingly frequent, intense and broader in spatial extent. However, while the lethal effects of heat waves on humans are well documented, the impacts on flora are less well understood, perhaps except for crops. We summarize recent findings related to heat wave impacts including: sublethal and lethal effects at leaf and plant scales, secondary ecosystem effects, and more complex impacts such as increased heat wave frequency across all seasons, and interactions with other disturbances. We propose generalizable practical trials to quantify the critical bounding conditions of vulnerability to heat waves. Collectively, plant vulnerabilities to heat waves appear to be underappreciated and understudied, particularly with respect to understanding heat wave driven plant die-off and ecosystem tipping points.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 32-39 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | New Phytologist |
| Volume | 231 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:DDB was supported by a Sir Walter Murdoch Distinguished Visiting Scholar scheme from Murdoch University, the US National Science Foundation (EF‐1550756, DEB‐1824796, EAR‐1331408, DEB‐1925837), USGS SW Climate Adaptation Science Center (G18AC00320), and DDB and DJL were supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture McIntire Stennis project 1016938 (ARZT‐1390130‐M12‐222). JBF was supported by Australian Research Council projects DP170101288 and LP180100741. KXR and GEStJH were additionally supported through the Centre of Excellence for Climate Change, Woodland and Forest Health, which is a partnership between private industry, community groups, universities and the Government of Western Australia. JK was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Grant (DE170100102). XF and JRB were supported by the Bridging Biodiversity and Conservation Science Program at the University of Arizona. We thank three reviewers for suggested improvements to the manuscript.
Funding Information:
DDB was supported by a Sir Walter Murdoch Distinguished Visiting Scholar scheme from Murdoch University, the US National Science Foundation (EF-1550756, DEB-1824796, EAR-1331408, DEB-1925837), USGS SW Climate Adaptation Science Center (G18AC00320), and DDB and DJL were supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture McIntire Stennis project 1016938 (ARZT-1390130-M12-222). JBF was supported by Australian Research Council projects DP170101288 and LP180100741. KXR and GEStJH were additionally supported through the Centre of Excellence for Climate Change, Woodland and Forest Health, which is a partnership between private industry, community groups, universities and the Government of Western Australia. JK was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Grant (DE170100102). XF and JRB were supported by the Bridging Biodiversity and Conservation Science Program at the University of Arizona. We thank three reviewers for suggested improvements to the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors New Phytologist © 2021 New Phytologist Foundation
Keywords
- climate change
- die-off
- drought
- extreme events
- heat waves
- mortality
- warming
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physiology
- Plant Science
