A new study at NC State University suggests that increased maple trees populations may leave forests in western North Carolina more vulnerable to extreme weather conditions like flooding and drought.  

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The southern Appalachian Mountains feature large, intact forests with frequent precipitation. This area would not typically be a place to look for the effects of climate change, but the emergence of more “thirsty” trees like maples shifts that dynamic.  And maple trees are an examples of trees which require more water to grow than trees like oaks.

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“Due to climate change, we have seen increasing dry periods across the world and regionally. We’re having more periods where it’s just not raining,” said Katherine Martin, associate professor in the North Carolina State University Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources and co-author of a paper on the study. “When you have more of these trees that need more water, it means that when it does rain, less of that water ends up in streams and the effects of the drought are magnified.”

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Naturally, trees like maples have been primarily located immediately adjacent to streams or in steep, moist coves in the southern Blue Ridge Mountain due to their vulnerability to fire, which other trees like oaks are more resistant to.

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“With climate change predicted to intensify, it will become more and more important for us to consider how these different tree species will respond,” she said. “This modeling framework could provide a tool to examine these effects globally, and better inform forest managers on how to create more resilient ecosystems in the future.”

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​Editor's note: This article was adapted from How “thirsty” trees may make forests more vulnerable to climate change" which originally appeared at https://news.ncsu.edu/2024/12/how-thirsty-trees-may-make-forests-more-vulnerable-to-climate-change/