Stomatal conductance and tree growth response to multi-year droughts in fire-maintained and fire-excluded forests

In the western US, increased tree density in dry conifer forests from fire exclusion has caused tree growth declines, which is being compounded by hotter multi-year droughts. The reintroduction of frequent, low-severity wildfires reduces forest density by removing fire-intolerant trees, which can reduce competition for water and improve tree growth response to drought. We assessed how lower forest density following frequent, low-severity wildfire affected tree stomatal conductance and growth response to drought by coring and measuring competition surrounding ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa) in the Gila and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, NM, USA, that either experienced 3-5 fires following long-term fire-exclusion or remained fire-suppressed. We quantified tree growth decline to (resistance) and how quickly growth recovered (resilience) from drought to two recent multi-year droughts and compared values between trees in fire-maintained and fire-excluded forests. We assessed stomatal..., , , # Stomatal conductance and tree growth response to multi-year droughts in fire-maintained and fire-excluded forests

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d7wm37q9w](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d7wm37q9w)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data and Code for \"Trees in fire-maintained forests have similar growth responses to drought, but greater stomatal conductance than trees in fire-excluded forests\"

Created by Kevin G. Willson

### Files and variables

#### File: All\_2022\_Cores\_Q2\_6-6-24\_Tucson.TXT

**Description:** This textfile contains growth data for all tree cores collected for analysis. Columns are as follows: First column = tree core series identification, Second column = decade affiliated with growth measurements, Third-Twelth columns = tree-ring width measurements (in thousands of mm).

#### File: Atmospheric\_CO2.csv

**Description:** This dataframe contains annual average concentrations of atmospheric CO2 used to calculate eWUE in the analysis. Columns are as f...,