Going by a new study by the UC Berkeley scientists, the iconic redwood trees of the California region will apparently on the verge of being endangered largely because of a gradual decrease in summer fog, over the past century or so, along the California coast.

The findings of the study - published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - have been based on a comprehensive analysis of the fog levels over 110 years, by the two co-authors of the study - Todd E. Dawson and James A. Johnstone, both from Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management.

It was noted by the study authors that, out of 122 summer days, there were only 13 fog-less summer evenings along the redwood coast in 1951. However, in 1997, the number of fog-less summer evenings rose to 62.

Elaborating that the coast redwood species is “highly dependent on fog as a source of water during the summer when water in the ground is scarce,” Dawson added: “Foggy nights are needed to re-hydrate the trees that can't tolerate long droughts.”

Dawson further said that while the steadily-diminishing summer fog will not actually result in the loss of the mature redwood trees; it will certainly cause fewer seeds to germinate, take root, and become full-fledged mature redwood trees.