Revista Cubana de Ciencias Forestales (Mar 2021)
Ecophysiological response of tropical trees to climate change: drought and temperature
Abstract
This review organizes the existing and current knowledge of the ecophysiology of tropical trees, related to the processes of response to global climate change, with emphasis on water relations, due to the increase in temperature and droughts. The intertropical zone is characterized by a strip with an exuberant biodiversity. Given the current scenario of climate change, the conservation of tropical forests is of vital importance for its intervention in the global carbon cycle, in addition to providing guidelines for carrying out the necessary restoration actions in areas degraded by deforestation, being a source of carbon capture and, in turn, one of the components that will help in mitigating climate change. The methodology of information search was made because of the relevance of the topic, in pertinence with previous and current researches, which contributed solid arguments to the basic understanding of tropical trees ecophysiology. This is a very complex subject and, although there are advances, it is necessary to know the answers and adaptations that trees have developed throughout time. It was inquired to possess in context, the panorama of some species of the tropic, with respect to the mechanisms of survival and the capacity to support drastic changes in its area of distribution. From the review analysis, it can concluded that the knowledge and importance of these studies in the tropical zone is not null. However, more research are needed to know and to understand the behavior of some tropical trees of economic and ecological importance for the society and that, they will be affected by own environmental factors of their geographic region bordering on the extinction.
