Glob. Change Biol. http://doi.org/rcx (2014)

Large trees constitute an important component of forest ecosystems, providing shelter and nest sites for wildlife and contributing disproportionately to forest carbon storage. As the temperature increases, trees can suffer because of declining water availability and escalating respiration and tissue maintenance costs that cannot be matched by enhanced photosynthesis.

Using 500,000 measurements of eucalypt growth from temperate Australia, Lynda Prior and David Bowman, from the University of Tasmania, Australia, investigate the relative sensitivity of large trees to increasing temperature. They found that, compared with 11 °C, growth rates at a mean annual temperature of 21 °C were 57% lower for large eucalypt trees and 29% lower for small ones. This suggests that high temperatures impose a greater growth penalty on the larger trees. The authors argue that the reduced growth rates expected in a warmer world will impede recovery from extreme events, exacerbating the effects of increased drought stress, and more frequent fire incidence, on the tall eucalypt forests of Australia and the ecosystem services they provide.