The Scots Pine is a prominent tree species found across Europe to which its presence is currently under huge threat from climate change and global warming. With an increase in global temperatures, the mortality rate for Scots Pine is increasing (Archambeau et al., 2020) however this negative impact is very much impacted on location and latitude with some regions actually having a positive effect on Scots Pine. It is a very sensitive tree species with small fluctuations in air temperature and precipitation having huge impacts on the tree size (European Commission, 2025). It is a wood that is harvested frequently and used for a variety of resources. It is also a pioneer species (Haberstroh et al., 2022) helping to change the soil structure to provide valuable nutrients to other tree species in the forest. The role this native species has to the forest ecosystem is incredibly important for both forest species as well as humans and therefore its existence in a warming world needs to be properly managed and protected.

Over the last few decades, forest managers have been adapting their forests to shift the focus to climate adaptability helping to reverse the changes of an increasing warming climate (Busca et al., 2025). Part of this is understanding how various tree species react and cope with changing climatic conditions as they each respond differently and therefore there cannot be one management method for all forests (Young et al., 2017). In arid conditions, Scots Pine conserves water quite notably compared to other conifer species by controlling the stomata that allows transpiration to occur. Closed stomata does not allow the Scots Pine to absorb carbon forcing it to utilise stored carbon. This can slowly lead to the death of the tree (Busca et al., 2025). The effects of drought may not be visible in trees for up to four years (Young et al., 2017) as there could be a delay whilst the tree is utilising its stored reserves. This can be visible in Scots Pine through needle defoliage in the crown of the tree as the tree sheds its leaves in order to conserve its water supply.

In a report by Archambeau et al. (2020), it was noted that mortality of Scots Pine in drought conditions was impacted by both climatic conditions and also basal area (i.e neighbouring competition) with the worse mortality rates seen in the ecotone region of Southern France. The report suggests limiting the amount of competition in these instances through forest thinning to allow the Scots Pine to absorb more water. Scots Pine is not a very competitive tree species and therefore removing competition gives the tree space to absorb the necessary water it needs. Archambeau et al. (2020) mentioned how competition was more important than drought-related variables in terms of Scots Pine chances of survival. The height of Scots Pine in the Mediterranean region was measured to understand how it would respond under various climatic conditions in a report by Hallingback et al. (2021) to which the results showed tree height could vary between a 100 cm height loss to a 100 cm height gain. It was only the southernmost area of Spain that showed a significant tree height loss with other areas in Spain being incredibly varied however the height difference being substantially small.  

However in Scandinavian regions, the predicated mortality rate of Scots Pine lowers as the latitude location of the tree gets progressively higher (Archambeau et al., 2020). Ogana et al. (2024) highly relates the success of Scots Pine to latitude however also indicates the species ability to recover better from drought in lower latitudes compared to higher latitudes. This really plays into the concept of Suzanne Simard that older ‘mother trees’ are crucial in an ecosystem as they pass on their learnings and teachings to other connected seedlings. Ogana et al. (2024) conclude that there are increased rates of Scots Pine mortality in lower latitudes however there are simultaneously greater rates of climate adaptation in the same regions that cannot be identified in higher latitude regions. It concludes that Scots Pine are heavily adapting to a changing climate at differing rates based on location however what is currently unclear is if the rate of adaptability will keep up with the rate of climatic warming.