Canadian forests a refuge as warming creeps north
Study says higher rainfall will help some trees survive
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
In the Canadian province of Quebec, a study of more than 26,000 trees across an area the size of Spain forecasts potential winners and losers in a changing climate.
The study, published today in the journal Science, shows that boreal forests in far-northern latitudes may one day act as a climate refuge for black spruce, the foundational tree for the northwoods ecosystem - a major source of the world's paper; home to caribou, snowshoe hare, lynx, and sable; and nesting site for dozens of migratory bird species.
"During this century, the northwoods will experience some of the Earth's largest increases in temperature," says Loïc D'Orangeville, postdoctoral researcher at Université du Québec à Montréal and Indiana University, who led the collaboration of scientists from six institutions in the U.S. and Canada.
Northern boreal forests are a crucial part of the global climate puzzle, comprising nearly 30 percent of the Earth's forested area and storing at least 20 percent of its carbon. The study's tree ring analysis revealed these forests' sensitivity to changes in temperature and precipitation.
