Growth and dieback of aspen forests in northwestern Alberta, Canada, in relation to climate and insects

Hogg, Edward H.; Brandt, J.P.; Kochtubajda, Bohdan

doi:10.1139/x01-152

Cited by 265 publications

(249 citation statements)

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“…The great potential for broad-scale integrated research into range changes is demonstrated by research in trembling aspen. In this species, a combination of techniques including longterm monitoring, dendroecological analyses, forest inventory data and modelling studies are being used to understand and predict range changes over broad regions of North America [7,28,48,49,72]. Remote-sensing techniques can help here, for example, with the use of indices such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which is a good estimator of total green biomass [73].…”

Section: Methodological Difficultiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent studies have documented large-scale dieback events affecting hundreds or thousands of square kilometres of forest within the lowland distribution of various North American trees, including yellow cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatentis) [46], yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) [47], the pinyon pine (Pinus edulis) [5] and trembling aspen [48,49] (Figure 2). Comparable dieback events are reported in Chilean cedar (Austrocedrus chilensis) at the forest-steppe ecotone in Northern Patagonia [50] and from European beech in Northern Eurasia [51], eucalypts in northeast Australia [52] and various trees and shrubs in the Mediterranean [53].…”

Section: Forest Dieback In Lowland Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A common factor inducing these dieback events is elevated temperature, which acts during the summer to exacerbate drought [5,24,33,[48][49][50][51]53,55] or during winter to cause a premature start to growth and subsequent winter injury [24,46,47]. Elevated temperature and drought can directly elevate mortality [4,27,30,31,48,53,55,56], increase the susceptibility of species to attack by pests and pathogens [5,28,49,57], or favour outcompetition owing to reduced reproduction and relative competitive ability [12,26,29,55].…”

Section: Forest Dieback In Lowland Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Elevated temperature and drought can directly elevate mortality [4,27,30,31,48,53,55,56], increase the susceptibility of species to attack by pests and pathogens [5,28,49,57], or favour outcompetition owing to reduced reproduction and relative competitive ability [12,26,29,55].…”

Section: Forest Dieback In Lowland Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The studies cited above [5,[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53]58] provide compelling evidence of increased mortality within the lowland distribution of various woody species, in some cases at subcontinental scales [5,47,48]. These mortality events are linked directly or indirectly to increasing temperatures, yet observed regional mass mortality remains poorly linked with the range retractions predicted to accompany current and future global temperature changes.…”

Section: Disparity Between Altitudinal and Latitudinal Range Shiftsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The altitude-for-latitude disparity in the range retractions of woody species

Jump

Mátyás

Peñuelas

2009

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

436

369

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Increasing temperatures are driving rapid upward range shifts of species in mountains. An altitudinal range retreat of 10 m is predicted to translate into a $10-km latitudinal retreat based on the rate at which temperatures decline with increasing altitude and latitude, yet reports of latitudinal range retractions are sparse. Here, we examine potential climatic, biological, anthropogenic and methodological explanations for this disparity. We argue that the lack of reported latitudinal range retractions stems more from a lack of research effort, compounded by methodological difficulties, rather than from their absence. Given the predicted negative impacts of increasing temperatures on wide areas of the latitudinal distributions of species, the investigation of range retractions should become a priority in biogeographical research.Climate change and shifting plant distribution The geographical distribution of plants is strongly influenced by climate [1]. Minimum temperatures are particularly important in limiting the poleward (see Glossary) expansion of plant species, whereas limited water availability interacts with high temperatures to exert a direct climatic limitation on their expansion in the opposite, or equatorial, direction in many regions [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Changes in climate are, therefore, predicted to alter the geographic distribution of plant species at global to local scales.Contemporary plant range shifts are most frequently reported from mountain regions, with elevational shifts of the mountain treeline being the most commonly documented response to increasing temperatures [8][9][10][11][12]. The distributions of species in mountain regions are typically restricted to relatively narrow and well-delineated altitudinal bands, in comparison with often broad and poorly defined latitudinal distributions in the lowlands. This strong altitudinal zonation of mountain vegetation, and its climatic sensitivity [13], makes mountains ideal 'natural laboratories' and favoured locations for the study of climate change impacts worldwide [13][14][15].The altitudinal compression of montane vegetation zones is due to a rapid decrease in temperature with increasing elevation ($5-6.5 8C per 1000 m) [3,14], which contrasts with a similar temperature decline occurring over $1000 km of latitude (6.9 8C at 458 N or S) [3]. An implication of this altitude-for-latitude temperature model is that general biogeographical patterns resulting from the climatic limitations imposed on plants in mountains should also be observed in neighbouring lowland regions with similar temperature and moisture regimes. Distributional shifts already observed in mountain plants [8,[16][17][18] should, therefore, be mirrored by lowland range changes occurring over distances that are several orders of magnitude larger (Figure 1).Here, we discuss the implications of the altitude-forlatitude model for shifts in plant distributions and examine why lowland range shifts, particularly range retractions, are rarely reported. We discuss potential climati...

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Section: Methodological Difficultiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Forest Dieback In Lowland Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Forest Dieback In Lowland Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Forest Dieback In Lowland Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Disparity Between Altitudinal and Latitudinal Range Shiftsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The altitude-for-latitude disparity in the range retractions of woody species

Jump

Mátyás

Peñuelas

2009

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

436

369

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Current and projected cumulative impacts of fire, drought, and insects on timber volumes across Canada

Boucher

Boulanger

Aubin

et al. 2018

Ecological Applications

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Canada's forests are shaped by disturbances such as fire, insect outbreaks, and droughts that often overlap in time and space. The resulting cumulative disturbance risks and potential impacts on forests are generally not well accounted for by models used to predict future impacts of disturbances on forest. This study aims at projecting future cumulative effects of four main natural disturbances, fire, mountain pine beetle, spruce budworm and drought, on timber volumes across Canada's forests using an approach that accounts for potential overlap among disturbances. Available predictive models for the four natural disturbances were used to project timber volumes at risk under aggressive climate forcing up to 2100. Projections applied to the current vegetation suggest increases of volumes at risk related to fire, mountain pine beetle, and drought over time in many regions of Canada, but a decrease of the volume at risk related to spruce budworm. When disturbance effects are accumulated, important changes in volumes at risk are projected to occur as early as 2011-2041, particularly in central and eastern Canada. In our last simulation period covering 2071-2100, nearly all timber volumes in most of Canada's forest regions could be at risk of being affected by at least one of the four natural disturbances considered in our analysis, a six-fold increase relative to the baseline period (1981-2010). Tree species particularly vulnerable to specific disturbances (e.g., trembling aspen to drought) could suffer disproportionate increases in their volume at risk with potential impacts on forest composition. By 2100, estimated wood volumes not considered to be at risk could be lower than current annual timber harvests in central and eastern Canada. Current level of harvesting could thus be difficult to maintain without the implementation of adaptation measures to cope with these disturbances.

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Regional variation in interior Alaskan boreal forests is driven by fire disturbance, topography, and climate

Roland

Schmidt

Winder

et al. 2019

Ecological Monographs

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High latitude regions are warming rapidly with important ecological and societal consequences. Utilizing two landscape‐scale data sets from interior Alaska, we compared patterns in forest structure in two regions with differing fire disturbance, topography, and summer climate norms. Our goal was to evaluate a set of hypotheses concerning possible warming‐driven changes in forest structure suggested by recent literature. We found essentially consistent habitat associations for the tree flora across two disparate study areas concomitant with considerable differences in observed patterns of forest structure and composition. Our results confirmed expected increases in broadleaved species occupancy and abundance in the warmer, more fire‐affected study region along with considerably higher tree occupancy and abundance in high elevation areas there. However, contrary to our predictions, we found no evidence of expected reductions in conifer occupancy or increases in non‐fire related tree mortality. Instead, both individual and combined tree species occupancy, density, abundance, and richness were considerably higher in the warmer, more fire‐influenced region, except in the warmest, driest areas (steep and south‐facing slopes at low elevation). Our comparison of two landscape‐scale data sets suggests that changes in tree distribution and forest structure in interior Alaska will proceed unevenly, governed by a mosaic of site‐dependent influences wherein forest community composition and species dominance will shift along different trajectories and at different rates according to variation in underlying landscape attributes. Although there were clear differences in forest structure between the two areas that were likely attributable to differences in growing season warmth and fire disturbance, we found scant support for the concept of an incipient, ongoing biome shift in interior Alaska resulting from impending diminution of boreal forest cover over the short to medium term. Indeed, we suggest that (depending on severity of disturbance dynamics and the rapidity of future warming) cooler areas of interior Alaska's forest may reasonably be expected to sustain marginal increases in forest cover with additional warming, at least in certain topographic positions (such as poorly drained basins and cool treeline sites) and/or geographic regions, prior to any landscape‐scale diminution of forest cover due to warming.

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Growth and dieback of aspen forests in northwestern Alberta, Canada, in relation to climate and insects

Cited by 265 publications

References 28 publications

The altitude-for-latitude disparity in the range retractions of woody species

The altitude-for-latitude disparity in the range retractions of woody species

Current and projected cumulative impacts of fire, drought, and insects on timber volumes across Canada

Regional variation in interior Alaskan boreal forests is driven by fire disturbance, topography, and climate

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