Trees ‘remember’ times of water abundance and scarcity

New research helps explain why drought kills some trees whereas others survive

An aerial view of a forest with a stark contrast between dead trees and patches of green, healthy foliage under a partly cloudy sky.

Norway spruce trees are highly sensitive to drought, as was demonstrated by large-scale die-offs during a 2018 drought in Germany.

Olaf Kolle and Henrik Hartmann

How trees fare under drought depends heavily on their past experiences.