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Dominant forest tree species are potentially vulnerable to climate change over large portions of their range even at high latitudes

Summary

Published in PeerJ 4: e2218. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2218

Projecting suitable conditions for a species as a function of future climate provides a reasonable, although admittedly imperfect, spatially explicit estimate of species vulnerability associated with climate change. Projections emphasizing range shifts at continental scale, however, can mask contrasting patterns at local or regional scale where management and policy decisions are made. Moreover, models usually show potential for areas to become climatically unsuitable, remain suitable, or become suitable for a particular species with climate change, but each of these outcomes raises markedly different ecological and management issues. Managing forest decline at sites where climatic stress is projected to increase is likely to be the most immediate challenge resulting from climate change. Here we assess habitat suitability with climate change for five dominant tree species of eastern North American forests, focusing on areas of greatest vulnerability (loss of suitability in the baseline range) in Quebec (Canada) rather than opportunities (increase in suitability). Results show that these species are at risk of maladaptation over a remarkably large proportion of their baseline range. Depending on species, 5-21% of currently climatically suitable habitats are projected to be at risk of becoming unsuitable. This suggests that species that have traditionally defined whole regional vegetation assemblages could become less adapted to these regions, with significant impact on ecosystems and forest economy. In spite of their well-recognised limitations and the uncertainty that remains, regionally-explicit risk assessment approaches remain one of the best options to convey that message and the need for climate policies and forest management adaptation strategies.

Sector(s): 

Forests

Categorie(s): 

Scientific Article

Theme(s): 

Ecosystems and Environment, Forestry Research, Forests

Departmental author(s): 

Périé, Catherine

Author(s)

PÉRIÉ, Catherine and Sylvie DE BLOIS

Year of publication :

2016

Format :

PDF available upon request

Keywords :

adaptation aux changements climatiques, déclin en forêt boréale, Mésadaptation des espèces, évaluation du risque, écosystèmes et environnement, article scientifique de recherche forestière, Québec, ecosystems and environment, climate change adaptation, boreal forest management, forest decline, climate change, habitat suitability, species distribution model, tree species maladaptation, risk assessment

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