Forests around the world are experiencing changes due to climate variability and human land use. How these changes interact and influence the vulnerability of forests are not well understood. In the eastern United States, well‐documented anthropogenic disturbances and land‐use decisions, such as logging and fire suppression, have influenced forest species assemblages, leading to a demographic shift from forests dominated by xe...

Earth's ecosystems are increasingly threatened by “hot drought,” which occurs when hot air temperatures coincide with precipitation deficits, intensifying the hydrological, physiological, and ecological effects of drought by enhancing evaporative losses of soil moisture (SM) and increasing plant stress due to higher vapor pressure deficit (VPD). Drought‐induced reductions in gross primary production (GPP) exert a major influen...