Laia Andreu Hayles' research focuses on the study of the interactions between forests and the environment and on reconstructing past climate conditions using tree rings and isotopic geochemistry. Warming temperatures associated with global climate change are having dramatic and profound impacts on forests, and her research centers on assessing these changes across several key regions of the planet. She is currently conducting research in boreal, tropical, Central Asian and Mediterranean regions, which are ‘hot spots’ of current climate and environmental change.
Research interests
The impact of human activities on the environment and the climate system is indisputable. A knowledge-based understanding of such global environmental changes is paramount, and my research centers on assessing these changes across several regions of the planet. Specifically, I use tree rings and isotopic geochemistry to: (1) estimate climate conditions prior to the existence of instrumental records (i.e. paleoclimate) and (2) assess the response of forests to natural and anthropogenic changes in the climate and to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). My multidisciplinary research embraces atmospheric sciences and ecology, and has provided insights on past interactions between the climate and land ecosystems. I am currently conducting research in boreal, tropical, Central Asia and Mediterranean regions, which are ‘hot spots’ of current climate and environmental changes.
Selected publications
– Rodríguez-Morata C, Requena-Rojas EJ, Ticse-Otarola G, Morales MS, D’Arrigo R, Crispín-DelaCruz DB & Andreu-Hayles L 2025, ‘Oxygen Isotopes as a Key Proxy of Equatorial Pacific SST Variability in a Multiparametric Tree-Ring Approach in the Low-Latitude Andes‘, Paleoceanography and paleoclimatology, 40 – 9 – e2024PA005045.
– Leland C, Davi N, D’Arrigo R, Andreu-Hayles L, Pacheco-Solana A, Edwards J, Anchukaitis KJ, Porter TJ, Pisaric MFJ, Mant M, Galloway T & Oelkers R 2025, ‘Tree-ring evidence of the elusive 1959 summer cold event in northwestern North America‘, Arctic antarctic and alpine research, 57 – 1 – 2445945.
– Edwards J, Anchukaitis KJ, Molina F, Andreu-Hayles L, D’Arrigo R & von Arx G 2025, ‘Resolution and Frequency-Dependent Climate Signals in an Arctic Tree-Ring Temperature Reconstruction of the Last Millennium‘, Geophysical research letters, 52 – 20 – e2025GL117846.
Selected research activities
15/Dec/2025 – 19/Dec/2025 – Primary convener of the Global Change session ‘Climate Change, Variability, and Impacts in South America’ GC43A (I Oral), GC44A (II Oral) and GC51G (I Poster), Fall Meeting AGU 2025, New Orleans, LA, USA, 15-19 December 2025.
06/Aug/2025 – 15/Aug/2025 – Field Work: Tree collection at the Firth River, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, USA.
29/Jul/2025 – (Oral communication) Radiocarbon, wood anatomy, tree monitoring and stable isotopes supporting dendrochronological advances in the tropical Andes, 11th WorldDendro Conference, 28 July-1 August 2025, Livingstone, Zambia.