The EGU General Assembly 2019, the largest geosciences meeting in Europe, was successfully convened on 7-12 April in Vienna (Austria). This year, EGU General Assembly hosted a session, co-organized also by IAWA members, named: “Tree mortality and forest vulnerability across different biomes and climatic conditions: the need of multidisciplinary approaches at various scales”. This session co-convened by Francesco Ripullone, Giovanna Battipaglia, Veronica De Micco, Jesus Julio Camarero and Fabrizio D’Aprile, attracted scientists involved in many aspects of forest science.

The session focused on efforts to improve current understanding on forest vulnerability and resilience in the sight of global ecological, social and economic changes. Wood anatomy was recognized as a crucial discipline to evaluate plant behaviour under environmental constraints and one of the biggest challenges now is to evaluate which functional anatomical traits and hydraulic properties make some tree species or stands and tree populations more prone to environmental-induced dieback and decline than others.

During the session, the key role of wood anatomy in interdisciplinary research and the need for a combined use of complementary tools to improve the monitoring and projection of forest vulnerability and dieback was highlighted.

The success of this session confirmed that interdisciplinary research has a high potential to pursue forest health assessment and that functional wood anatomists are ready to offer their support.