SynthesisNature ecology & evolution2019
Global buffering of temperatures under forest canopies.
Synthesis in Nature ecology & evolution, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 146 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
146 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 737 citations in OpenAlex.
- Widespread ecological responses and cascading effects of the 2021 western North American heatwave.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Pooled it
- Forest Densification and Pollution Rival Climate in Driving US Tree Demographic Change.Global change biology · 2026Article
- Temperature mediates variation in avian sensitivity to forest cover.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Spatiotemporal Patterns of Five Sympatric Ungulates in the Tangjiahe National Nature Reserve, Sichuan, China.Biology · 2026Article
- Present and Future Climatic Suitability ofPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Ecological Mechanisms Underlying the Effects of Forest-Medicinal Plant Agroforestry Systems on Soil Quality and the Understory Environment.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Pervasive sublethal impacts of heat exposure revealed by telomere dynamics.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2026Article
- Biogeographical Differentiation and Key Drivers of the Home-Field Advantage in Cross-Habitat Litter Decomposition: A Global Meta-Analysis.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Topographic decoupling of tree-mortality disturbances drives contrasting soil carbon fates via divergent microbial strategies.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Weather data sources influence predictive performance of disease forecasting models.International journal of biometeorology · 2026Article
- Distribution Shifts ofEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Assessing Habitat Suitability and Landscape Connectivity for the Endangered Forest Musk Deer (Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Field Margin Vegetation Structure Buffers Microclimate Extremes in Temperate Agricultural Landscapes.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Temperate Forest Floors: Ecosystem Hubs in Transition?Global change biology · 2026Review
- Different Scales, Different Rules: How Do Temperature and Radiation Across Macro- and Microclimate Shape Forest Insect Traits?Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Hemiboreal Stand Development and Living Biomass Carbon Stocks: An Ontogenetic and Typology-Based Assessment Using National Forest Inventory Data.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Grazing mediates microclimate effects on lichen performance near its warm-range margin.Annals of botany · 2026Article
- Confinement-Regulated Crystal Phase Engineering Enables Structured Semiconductor Fiber Systems for Plant Transpiration Dynamics Monitoring.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Article
- Larger forest patches have greater per-area productivity.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
86 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 8 institutions in 9 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Macroclimate warming is often assumed to occur within forests despite the potential for tree cover to modify microclimates. Here, using paired measurements, we compared the temperatures under the canopy versus in the open at 98 sites across 5 continents. We show that forests function as a thermal insulator, cooling the understory when ambient temperatures are hot and warming the understory when ambient temperatures are cold. The understory versus open temperature offset is magnified as temperatures become more extreme and is of greater magnitude than the warming of land temperatures over the past century. Tree canopies may thus reduce the severity of warming impacts on forest biodiversity and functioning.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.