New paper published in New Phytologist

The letter by Vandegehuchte et al. (2015) claims that woody tissue photosynthesis in tree stems and branches can play a crucial role in the local production of carbohydrates, compen-sating for the reduced long-distance ca rbohydrate transport from the leaves to the sinks under drought-induced tree mortaltiy. As this type of photosynthesis has received little to no attention in the tree mortality debate, the authors encourage researchers to investigate the role of woody tissuephotosynthesis during drought stress and mortality events,especially for young trees as these can be expected to have lesscarbon storage reserves, and are more adapted to efficiently recycle CO2 given their green shoot tissues and thinner barklayer.