Expected tropical tree growth response to climate variables.

a: expected growth response to the climate variable: (+) trees are expected to grow faster with high values of the climate variable, (−) trees are expected to grow slower with high values of the climate variable. b: biological processes involve in the tree growth response to a given climate variation. VPD is vapour pressure deficit, and Friction velocity (U*) is a climate variable provided by eddy flux data, which is correlated with wind speed. Relative extractable water (REW), is a daily value between 0 and 1; when , the amount of extractable water by the tree is at its maximum and when , no water is available for the trees [28].