Impact of climate change on forest resources: Case of Quercus rotundifolia, Tetraclinis articulata, Juniperus phoenicea, J. oxycedrus, J. thurifera and Pinus halepensis

Abstract

Forest resources in the Ourika watershed are subject to several anthropogenic and climatic degradation factors. As for the human factor, this degradation of forest resources is explained by the bad practices exercised by the local population expressed by the cutting of live wood, carbonization, and overgrazing. In terms of the climatic factor, the decrease in the amount of rainfall and the increase in temperature contribute to the exacerbation of the degradation of these resources. In order to better understand the evolution of plant cover in a changing climate context, this study highlights an assessment of the impact of climate change on forest dynamics based on a process-based model at the forest landscape scale which makes it possible to simulate the changes according to growth, succession, disturbances (fire, wind, insects, etc), forest management, and land use change. This analysis is based on the use of the LANDIS-II model and the PnET-succession extension. Projections of the dynamics of forest communities are made using climate projections from the Japanese global circulation model adopted by Morocco (model for interdisciplinary research on climate – earth system models) and this by adopting the two climate scenarios , representative concentration pathways 4.5 and 8.5. The results obtained highlight the spatial distribution of the ecosystems studied after 100 years with a quantitative evaluation of the total average biomass of these resources as a function of climatic disturbances. In general, the estimated total biomass will decline over the coming years under the joint effect of the climate change and the aging of forest stands, while on the other hand, the distribution of potential areas for species settlement remains independent of the effect of these climate changes.

Introduced plant species in the urban environment of the temperate-continental climate zone under conditions of global warming

“…Global warming in many regions of Central Europe in recent years has resulted in an increase in summer and winter temperatures, which has led to a decrease in the duration of the cold season, the number of frosty days and the severity of winters, as well as an increase in the length of the growing season (Blunden & Arndt, 2020;von Schuckman et al, 2020;Avtaeva et al, 2021;Armstrong McKay et al, 2022;Hébert et al, 2022). Such changes make it possible to test the cultivation of more thermophilic plant species in open ground conditions, the cultivation of which was questionable 30-50 years ago (Morecroft et al, 2019;Mina et al, 2021;Elmalki et al, 2022). In addition to warming, global climate change has resulted in prolonged severe droughts, which are accompanied by rising air and soil temperatures, wind erosion, lower groundwater levels, dehydration, depression, and even plant death (Lou et al, 2019;Zhang et al, 2020;Elmalki, 2022;Zhao et al, 2022;Lackóová et al, 2023).…”

Adaptation of gooseberry varieties to the changed agro-climatic conditions of Kyiv Polissia

“…In connection with climate change, the industrial cultivation of plants is losing economic attractiveness, as there is a risk of a decrease in productivity due to the consumption of plant resources for adaptation to temperature changes, moisture deficit, recovery from stress and pests (Avtaeva et al, 2021;Benabou et al, 2022;Elmalki et al, 2022).…”