[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Hydraulic traits govern opposing range shifts of montane trees under warming

Zhang et al., 2026, Nature Climate Change — Ecology

Patterns: [Distinctions](https://dsrpevidence.org/pattern/distinctions), [Relationships](https://dsrpevidence.org/pattern/relationships)

## In short

The causal effect of a single driver (warming) on an outcome (range-shift direction) is not fixed but is routed through which relationship-path a species falls on, and that routing is only visible once species are sorted into distinct trait-based categories.

## What they found (results)

Analyzing tree-ring records from over 121,000 trees across 45 species and 3,057 global forest sites, the authors found warming pushes species with efficient water-transport traits to higher, cooler elevations while driving drought-tolerant species to lower, drier elevations — opposite range-shift directions under the same warming trend.

These researchers were not testing DSRP. The finding is theirs; the correspondence to DSRP is drawn by this site.

[Source](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-026-02726-6)