India, Jan. 12 -- A long-term study finds tree mortality is increasing across all major forest biomes in Australia

Researchers link the trend to rising temperatures, drought and growing climate stress rather than logging or fires

Scientists warn the decline could weaken forests' ability to absorb and store carbon

Tree mortality is accelerating across Australia's forests as a result of chronic stress caused by a warming climate, according to a new scientific study.

The research, published in the journal Nature Plants, analysed records spanning 83 years from more than 2,700 forest plots across four major forest biomes: Tropical savanna, tropical rainforest, warm temperate forest and cool temperate forest.

The study found that tree deat...