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Education

B.S. University of Barcelona (Spain), 1984
Ph.D. University of Barcelona (Spain), 1992

Courses Taught

Plant Physiology (BIOO 433, 434)

Physiological Plant Ecology (BIOO 524)

Introduction to Botany (BIOO 105)

Research Interests

We are broadly interested in the physiological basis of plant performance in nature.  A strong emphasis of our research is the study of resource dynamics in trees and implications on life history strategies and on responses to stress (drought, fire and bark beetles). Lately, we have been particularly interested in understanding the role of non-structural carbohydrate storage on plant water relations.  

Field of Study

Plant physiological ecology

Tree Physiology

Forest Ecology

Selected Publications

Recent and Selected Publications

Potkay A, Cabon A, Peters RL, Fonti P, Sapes G, Sala A, Stefanski A, Butler E, Bermudez R, Montgomery R, Reich PB, Feng X. 2025. Generalized stomatal optimization of evolutionary fitness proxies for predicting plant gas exchange under drought, heatwaves, and elevated CO₂. Global Change Biology 31:e70049. .

Groover A, Holbrook NM, Polle A, Sala A, Medlyn B, Brodersen C, Pittermann J, Gersony J, Sokolowska K, Bogar L, McDowell N, Spicer R, David-Schwartz R, Keller S, Tsachaplinski TJ, Presiler Y. 2025. Tree drought physiology: critical research questions and strategies for mitigating climate change effects on forests. New Phytologist 245:1817-1832.

Bunn R, Corrêa A, Joshi J, Kaiser C, Lekberg Y, Prescott CE, Sala A, Karst J. 2024. What determines transfer of carbon from plants to mycorrhizal fungi? New Phytologist 244:1199-1215. doi: 10.1111/nph.20145

Moss WE, Crausbay SD, Rangwala I, Wason JW, Trauernicht C, Stevens-Rumann CS, Sala A, Rottler CM, Pederson GT, Miller BW, Magness DR, Littell JS, Frelich LE, Frazier AG, Davis KT, Coop JD, Cartwright JM, Booth RK. 2024. Drought as an emergent driver of ecological transformation in the twenty-first century. BioScience biae050,

Silvestro R et al. (62 authors, including Sala A) 2024. Partial asynchrony of coniferous forest carbon sources and sinks at the intra-annual time scale. Nature Communications. 15: 6169.

Blumstein M, Gersony J, Martínez-Vilalta J, Sala A. 2023. Global variation in nonstructural carbohydrate stores in response to climate. Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16573. Journal Commentary.

Blumstein M, Sala A, Weston DJ, Holbrook NM, Hopkins R, 2022. Plant carbohydrate storage: intra- and inter-specific tradeoffs reveal a major life history trait. New Phytologist. 235: 2211-2222. doi: 10.1111/nph.18213

McDowell N, Sapes G, [including Sala A] et al. 2022. Mechanisms of woody-plant mortality under rising drought, CO2 and vapour pressure deficit. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00272-1

Sapes G and Sala A. 2021. Relative water content consistently predicts drought mortality risk in seedling populations with different morphology, physiology, and times to death. Plant Cell and Environment. doi: 10.1111/pce.14149. Outstanding Student Paper Award.

Sapes G, Demaree P, Lekberg Y, Sala A. 2021. Plant carbohydrate depletion impairs water relations and spreads via ectomycorrhizal networks. New Phytologist 229:3172–3183. doi: 10.1111/nph.17134

Sapes G, Roskilly B, Dobrowski S, Maneta M, Anderegg WRL, Martinez-Vilalta J, Sala A. 2019. Plant water content integrates hydraulics and carbon depletion to predict drought-induced seedling mortality. Tree Physiology 39: 1300-1312. doi:10.1093/treephys/tpz062

Roskilly B, Keeling E, Hood S, Giuggiola A, Sala A. 2019. Conflicting functional effects of xylem pit structure relate to the growth-longevity tradeoff in a conifer species. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 116: 15282-15287. doi/10.1073/pnas.1900734116

Davis KT, Dobrowski SZ, Higuera PE, Holden ZA, Veblen TT, Rother MT, Parks SA, Sala A, Maneta M. 2019. Wildfires and climate change push low-elevation forests across a critical climate threshold for tree regeneration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 116: 6193–6198. doi:10.1073/pnas.1815107116

Martínez-Vilalta J*, Anderegg WRL*, Sapes G, Sala A*. 2019. Greater focus on water pools may improve our ability to understand and anticipate drought-induced mortality in plants. New Phytologist. 223: 22–32 *Equal Contribution

Davis KT*, Higuera PE*, Sala A*. 2018. Anticipating fire-mediated impacts of climate change using a demographic framework. Functional Ecology 32:1729–1745. Equal Contribution.

De la Mata R, Hood S, Sala A. 2017. Insect outbreak shifts the direction of selection from fast to slow growth rates in the long-lived conifer Pinus ponderosa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 114:7391–7396. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1700032114

Martínez-Vilalta* J, Sala A*, Asensio D; Galiano L, Hoch G, Palacio S, Piper FI, Lloret F. 2016. Dynamics of non-structural carbohydrates in terrestrial plants: a global synthesis. Ecological Monographs 86:495-516. *equal contribution

Hood S, Baker S, Sala A. 2016. Fortifying the Forest: Thinning and Burning Increase Resistance to a Bark Beetle Outbreak and Promote Forest Resilience. Ecological Applications. 26: 1984-2000. doi: 10.1002/eap.1363. Featured in The Economist (May 26, 2016).

Hood S, Sala A, Heyerdahl EK, Boutin M. 2015. Low-severity fire increases tree defense against bark beetle attacks. Ecology 96: 1846-1855. doi: 10.1890/14-0487.1. Led to US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources testimony. May 2016, Washington D.C.

Dietze M, Sala A, Carbone M, Czimczik C, Mantooth JA, Richardson AD, Vargas R. 2014. Nonstructural Carbon in Woody Plants. Annual Review of Plant Biology 65:667–87

Sala A. Hopping K, McIntire EJB, Delzon S, Crone EE. 2012. Masting in whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) depletes stored nutrients. New Phytologist 196: 189–199. Faculty of 1000 Biology.

Sala A, Woodruff DW, Meinzer FR. 2012. Carbon dynamics in trees: feast or famine? Tree Physiology 32: 764-775.

Lloret F, Keeling EG. Sala A. 2011. Components of tree resilience: effects of successive low-growth episodes in old ponderosa pine forests. Oikos 120:1909-1920.

Sala A, Piper F, Hoch G. 2010. Physiological mechanisms of drought-induced tree mortality are far from being resolved. New Phytologist 186:274-281. Selected for the virtual issue to mark the publication of the 200^th volume of New Phytologist.