Data from: Tree growth rate-mediated trade-off between drought resistance and recovery in the Northern Hemisphere

The frequency and severity of drought events have increased with climate
warming. This poses a significant threat to tree growth and survival
worldwide. However, the underlying mechanism of tree growth responses to
drought across diverse geographic regions and species remains
inconclusive. Here, we used 2808 tree ring width chronologies of 32
species from 1951 to 2020 to examine the relationships between growth
rates and resistance and recovery of trees in response to drought in the
Northern Hemisphere. We found that trees with fast growth rates exhibited
lower drought resistance but higher drought recovery compared to those
with slow growth rates, which was further corroborated by the trade-off
between resistance and recovery in response to variations in leaf
photosynthetic traits. The difference in growth rates also well explained
the large variability in the drought resistance and recovery for different
geographic regions as well as for species from different clades and
successional stages. Our study provides a conclusive and uniform
perspective that tree growth rate regulates drought resistance and
recovery, shedding light on the diverse strategies employed by tree
species in response to drought stress in the Northern Hemisphere.