Researchers, through a recently conducted study, have found that less amount of rainfall in California is causing an irreversible harm to the state’s forests. Previously it has been known that drought in the state has drained lakes and caused landslides.

A team of researchers at Stanford University’s Carnegie Institution for Science in their study concluded that up to 58 million large trees in California have faced loss of water since 2011 due to state’s historic drought.

Such a long duration of water shortage can be really life threatening for tree, said researchers. High temperature coupled with insect outbreaks including from the destructive bark beetle is increasing the risk of trees dying that would trigger widespread changes in several ecosystems.

Carnegie’s Gregory Asner, a lead author of the study, said, “California relies on its forests for water provisioning and carbon storage, as well as timber products, tourism, and recreation, so they are tremendously important ecologically, economically, and culturally”.

As per findings of the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the drought in California has put forests under a tremendous danger. Forests in the state are presently under a situation that may cause long-term changes in ecosystems and could impact animal habitats and biodiversity.

Researchers during their study found that around 41,000 square miles of forest containing up to 888 million large trees experienced measurable change in the amount of water stored in the canopy of the trees between 2011 and 2015.