George Matusick

Auburn University | AU · School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences

Drought and heat‐induced forest die‐off are being increasingly reported across the planet. As vulnerable areas tend to have thin soils and poor water holding capacities, quantification of soil depth thresholds, relative to drought intensity, has global implications for identifying forest areas at risk. Measuring soil depth at forest stand or region...

Context Forest ecosystems experience compositional and structural changes as species’ environmental envelopes shift with climate change. Extreme climate events and pests/pathogens are driving these ecosystem changes. Determining which of the two potential drivers is causing a particular forest die-off can be challenging. In south-western Australia,...

The frequency and intensity of forest disturbances, such as drought and fire, are increasing globally, with an increased likelihood of multiple disturbance events occurring in short succession. Disturbances layered over one another may influence the likelihood or intensity of subsequent events (a linked disturbance) or impact response and recovery...

Many public land management programs in the southeastern United States have been restoring the longleaf pine forest for more than 20 years, which includes intensive treatment with fire, thinning, chemical control of competition, and tree planting. A shift to more passive management (prescribed burning alone) is anticipated once a critical level of...

Context Stem functional traits are critical for tree hydraulic infrastructure and have important consequences for forest function, particularly concerning vulnerability to drought. Methods Three stem traits, sapwood area, heartwood area, and bark area, were measured in two co-dominant forest species, Eucalyptus marginata Donn. Ex. Sm. and Corymbia...

Leptographium terebrantis has been implicated as a contributing factor of P. taeda decline and mortality over the past several decades. We examined the potential of L. terebrantis to cause decline symptoms and determined the relationship between pathogen spread and the formation of new sapwood. The study was undertaken in a 13-y-old P. taeda planta...

Significance Forests are experiencing growing risks of drought-induced mortality in a warming world. Yet, ecosystem dynamics following drought mortality remain unknown, representing a major limitation to our understanding of the ecological consequences of climate change. We provide an emerging picture of postdrought ecological trajectories based on...

Key message Young Pinus taeda trees may tolerate Leptographium terebrantis infection when stand conditions support new sapwood growth devoid of pathogen-induced occlusion. Abstract Leptographium terebrantis S. J. Barras and T. J. Perry is an opportunistic root pathogen that compromises the xylem function of infected trees and is commonly associate...

The attack patterns, infestation success and larval development of woodborers within living trees are complex and are largely shaped by host tree characteristics. Following a severe drought in a native eucalypt forest where outbreak densities of a native Australian beetle, the eucalyptus longhorned borer (Phoracantha semipunctata), occurred, a tree...

In recent decades, conservation objectives have driven changes to the management of some pine forests in the southeastern United States. Forest thinning and frequent burning of old‐field and plantation pine forests have resulted in an open loblolly–shortleaf pine forest community which resembles the original longleaf pine forest. It is, however, un...

Prolonged drought and intense heat‐related events trigger sudden forest die‐off events and have now been reported from all forested continents. Such die‐offs are concerning given that drought and heatwave events are forecast to increase in severity and duration as climate change progresses. Quantifying consequences to carbon dynamics and storage fr...

Globally, combinations of drought and warming are driving widespread tree mortality and crown dieback. Yet thresholds triggering either tree mortality or crown dieback remain uncertain, particularly with respect to two issues: (i) the degree to which heat waves, as an acute stress, can trigger mortality, and (ii) the degree to which chronic histori...

Globally, forest die-off from global-change-type drought events (hotter droughts) are of increasing concern, with effects reported from every forested continent. While implications of global-change-type drought events have been explored for above-ground vegetation, below-ground organisms have received less attention, despite their essential contrib...

Heat waves have profoundly impacted biota globally over the past decade, especially where their ecological impacts are rapid, diverse, and broad-scale. Although usually considered in isolation for either terrestrial or marine ecosystems, heat waves can straddle ecosystems of both types at subcontinental scales, potentially impacting larger areas an...

An outreach bulletin on the impacts of drought-induced forest die-off on fuels and fire potentials

Climate change is increasing the risk of drought to forested ecosystems. Although drought impacts are often anecdotally noted to occur in discrete patches of high canopy mortality, the landscape effects of drought disturbances have received virtually no study. This study characterized the landscape configuration of drought impact patches and invest...

Comma-delimited spreadsheet of the centroid coordinates, area (m2), and perimeter (m) of delineated drought impact patches. (CSV)

Mediterranean climate ecosystems (MCEs) are amongst the most heavily degraded ecosystems worldwide. Restoration efforts are challenged by high vulnerability to extreme drought, which is projected to become more frequent with future climate change. The aim of our study was to determine whether restoration efforts could be enhanced through the indivi...

Questions Climate change‐type drought (the combination of drought and heatwave) has become a widely documented driver of forest dieback yet, to date, limited measurement of post‐event forest dynamics has been reported. Can climate change‐type drought trigger structural and/or compositional changes in a forest type which is usually highly resilient...

An outreach bulletin highlighting a drought and heat-induced canopy die-off

With the increasing potential for accidental pest introductions and climate change, root disease is expected to become more severe in the future, increasing the need for accurate and efficient inoculation tests. For many root pathogens, these tests have been conducted in stems instead of roots. Since the relationship between root and stem inoculati...

Forest die-offs associated with drought and heat have recently occurred across the globe, raising concern that associated changes in fuels and microclimate could link initial die-off disturbance to subsequent fire disturbance. Despite widespread concern, little empirical data exist. Following forest die-off in the Northern Jarrah Forest, south-West...

Climate change is altering extreme temperature events, and is expected to drive changes in species composition as a result. To assess the potential for compositional shifts from low-temperature events, the effects of repeated events in 2010 and 2012 on three co-occurring eucalypts were determined in south-Western Australia. To examine the climatic...

An outreach bulletin outlining the effect of frost on a south west Australian forest

An outreach bulletin describing a newly developed fertiliser for sandy soils

An outreach bulletin outlining forest species differential responses to severe drought

An outreach bulletin outlining methods of facilitating regeneration of a key forest and woodland species

Extreme climatic events, including droughts and heatwaves, can trigger outbreaks of woodboring beetles by compromising host defenses and creating habitat conducive for beetle development. As the frequency, intensity, and duration of droughts are likely to increase in the future, beetle outbreaks are expected to become more common. The combination o...

Concern over increasing wildfire activity in the last few decades has prompted increased investment in fuels reduction treatments worldwide. Prescribed fire is a commonly used management tool for reducing fuels and modifying subsequent wildfire dynamics, yet the influence of prescribed fire on wildfire is difficult to evaluate empirically because o...

Globally, drought and heat-induced forest disturbance is garnering increasing concern. Species from Mediterranean forests have resistance and resilience mechanisms to cope with drought and differences in these ecological strategies will profoundly influence vegetation composition in response to drought. Our aim was to contrast the early response of...

Changes in climate trends and extreme climatic events are increasingly impacting on forests around the world. In order to better understand how and where major ecological and climatic changes will affect our forested ecosystems, tools based on landscape sensitivity analysis need to be developed to help inform sustainable forest management. This stu...

Key message Extreme temperatures are causing forest dieback in a Mediterranean-type forest. Topography and cold-air pooling explain the geographic distribution of frost dieback in susceptible tree species. Abstract Alterations to the frequency and intensity of extreme temperatures, predicted with climate change, pose a threat to the health of ma...

Alterations to the frequency and intensity of extreme temperatures, predicted with climate change, pose a threat to the health of many forests. Some Mediterranean climate regions are experiencing higher temperature variability, including more extreme low and high temperature events. Following one such low temperature event in autumn 2012, we conduc...

Background/Question/Methods Globally, drought-induced forest canopy collapse is an increasingly concerning issue. Little is known about the response of Mediterranean climate ecosystems to disturbances of this type and the role of drought in long-term shifts in forest structure. We investigated the pattern of response in severely affected and mini...

Global land use and ongoing climate change highlight the importance of ecological restoration as an emerging discipline and underscore the need for successful revegetation techniques. To link mechanistic drivers of seedling establishment with techniques to increase revegetation success, we undertook field-based experiments in degraded peri-urban wo...

The complex problems associated with global change processes calls for close collaboration between science disciplines to create new, integrated knowledge. In the wake of global change processes, forests and other natural environments have been rapidly changing, highlighting the need for collaboration and integrative research development. Few tools...

Drought and heat-induced forest dieback and mortality are emerging global concerns. Although Mediterranean-type forest (MTF) ecosystems are considered to be resilient to drought and other disturbances, we observed a sudden and unprecedented forest collapse in a MTF in Western Australia corresponding with record dry and heat conditions in 2010/2011....

Root feeding bark beetles in the family Curculionidae and the ophiostomatoid fungi they vector contribute to root disorders of Pinus species around the world. In the southeastern United States root feeding beetles in the genus Hylastes (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), including Hylastes salebrosus and Hylastes tenuis, are associated with stands of Pinu...

Loblolly pine decline, characterized by deteriorating root systems leading to shortening and thinning of foliage, has been observed throughout portions of the south‐eastern United States. Several root‐inhabiting ophiostomatoid fungi, including Leptographium procerum, Leptographium terebrantis, Leptographium serpens, and Grosmannia huntii are associ...

Mediterranean regions are under increasing pressure from global climate changes. Many have experienced more frequent extreme weather events such as droughts and heatwaves, which have severe implications for the persistence of forest ecosystems. This study reports on a landscape-scale assessment investigating potential associated factors of crown di...

Ecosystems in Mediterranean climate regions are projected to undergo considerable changes as a result of shifting climate, including from extreme drought and heat events. A severe and sudden dieback event, occurring in regionally significant Eucalyptus gomphocephala woodland in Western Australia, coincided with extreme drought and heat conditions i...

Restoration of longleaf pine-dominated uplands is common on many public and private lands throughout the southeastern United States. The once dominant longleaf pine ecosystem is important to many now-threatened and endangered plant and animal species, and land managers are increasing efforts to reestablish this fire-dependent forest. Unfortunately,...

Ophiostomatoid fungi have been implicated in root disease of pines in the southeastern United States. To understand more about their virulence, inoculation studies were conducted on loblolly (Pinus taeda), longleaf (Pinus palustris), and slash pine (Pinus elliotii). One-year-old bareroot seedlings, after being planted and established for 11 weeks,...

In southeastern USA, insect vectors transfer pathogenic ophiostomatoid fungi that cause disease in southern pines. During 2007 and 2008, potted longleaf pines (P. palustris Mill.), of similar ages ranging in height from 58 to 198 cm, were inoculated with the following fungi to assess their pathogenicity (and virulence): Grosmannia huntii, Leptograp...

Root-feeding beetles, particularly of the curculionid subfamilies Scolytinae and Molytinae, are known to be effective vectors of Ophiostomatoid fungi. Infestation by these insects and subsequent infection by the Ophiostomatoid fungi may play an important role in accelerating symptom progression in pine declines. To examine the relationship between...

Beech scale, Cryptococcus fagisuga Lindinger, is a non-native invasive insect associated with beech bark disease. A quantitative method of measuring viable scale density at the levels of the individual tree and localized bark patches was developed. Bark patches (10 cm(2)) were removed at 0, 1, and 2 m above the ground and at the four cardinal direc...

Matusick, G., Eckhardt, L. G., and Enebak, S. A. 2008. Virulence of Leptographium serpens on longleaf pine seedlings under varying soil moisture regimes. Plant Dis. 92:1574-1576. Recently, Leptographium serpens has been recovered from the roots of declining and dead long- leaf pine (Pinus palustris) in stands associated with various abiotic stresse...

Leptographium serpens, a known pathogen of Pinus spp throughout the world, has recently been recovered from longleaf pine roots (Pinus palustris). Initial observations in stands of longleaf pine indicate that L. serpens may contribute to decline and premature tree mortality. The relationship between Leptographium serpens and longleaf pine is unknow...