UK forests still feeling the impacts of 1976 drought

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23419036


Many beech trees still have not recovered fully from the impacts of the drought of 1976

The sizzling summer of 1976 caused permanent changes to British forests, new research suggests.

Scientists found that the long dry spell that year - the UK's most intense drought between 1914 and 2006 - killed off many drought-sensitive beech trees.

Growth of the trees is still restricted more than 30 years later, a study in the journal Functional Ecology said.

The more drought-tolerant Sessile Oak survived better and is now dominating the beech.