Overview
- Researchers published the peer-reviewed paper in Science on July 2, 2026 after fieldwork in 2022 and lab tests that directly measured water-transport traits and vulnerability to embolism.
- Field crews sampled branches, leaves and trunk cores from 38 dipterocarp trees of five species in Malaysia’s Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve to compare short and very tall individuals.
- The team found taller trees had wider xylem vessels near their bases and upper leaves that tolerate low water, traits that maintain efficient water flow and similar embolism responses across sizes.
- Growth-ring and trunk-growth records spanning the 2023–2024 El Niño drought showed no height-linked decline in growth, suggesting tall dipterocarps did not fare worse than smaller trees in that event.
- Authors and outside experts caution the result applies to dipterocarps in Borneo and does not overturn global findings that large trees can be more drought-vulnerable, so the study calls for broader tests and model updates focused on species differences.