May 19, 2015 05:55 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Tree mortality is accelerating in many forest biomes as a result of a warming climate, according to a recent study.

Drought and heat-induced tree mortality has significantly increased. Researchers found that tall plants with low hydraulic conductance and high leaf area are most likely to die from future drought stress. This means that tall trees in old forests are at the greatest risk, which could negatively affect the earth's carbon storage.

"The warming climate is creating a threat to global forests unlike any in recorded history," Nathan McDowell, of Los Alamos' Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, said in a statement. "Forests store the majority of terrestrial carbon and their loss may have significant and sustained impacts on the global carbon cycle."

For the study, researchers used Darcy's Law, a core principle of vascular plant physiology, to predict the characteristics of plants that will survive and die during drought in future warmer climates.

"This work is another line of evidence indicating that historic forests in general, and irreplaceable, ancient trees may be increasingly at risk from hotter droughts if global climate warms as projected," Craig Allen, coauthor of the paper, said in a statement.

The researchers suggest that today's forests should be replaced by shorter plants that require a smaller amount of moisture due to future droughts and associated wildfires, and pest attacks.

"Today's forests will see continued increases in mortality rates that will result in substantial reorganization of their structure and carbon storage," McDowell said.

The findings are detailed in the journal Nature Climate Change.

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