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Extreme climatic events such as droughts are likely to result in huge and long-lasting effects on regional ecosystem health if large numbers of foundation tree species continue to die. Although deforestation is severe in the Ethiopian highlands, some remnants of dry afromontane forests still exist. However, the resilience of these forests under climate change scenarios is unknown. Therefore, we studied (1) the extent and spatial patterns of standing dead stems along an elevational gradient and (2) the effects of dieback on forest carbon sequestration potential and aboveground carbon stocks, in Juniperus procera and Olea europaea dominated dry afromontane forest in northern Ethiopia, using allometric models combined with tree ring analysis. Juniperus procera and Olea europaea constitute 67% of the total tree population. Tree dieback affected a quarter of the total population. This loss is critical because 92.2% of …