The potential impacts of climate change and variability on forests and forestry in theMid-Atlantic Region

Climate Research

Anantha M. Prasad¹  David R. DeWalle¹  Louis R. Iverson¹  Mary McKenney-Easterling¹  Anthony R. Buda¹ 

关键词: Forests;    Climate change;    Species distribution;    Forest management;    Mid-Atlantic Region;   

DOI  :  10.3354/cr014195

来源: Inter-Research Science Publishing

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT: As part of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Assessment, an evaluation is being made of the impacts of climate variability and potential future climate change on forests and forestry in the Mid-Atlantic Region. This paper provides a brief overview ofthe current status of forests in the region, and then focuses on 2 components of this evaluation: (1) modeling of the potential impacts of climate change on tree species¹ distributions, and (2) a survey of how extreme weather events affect forests andforest land management in the region. The tree distribution modeling indicates that climate change may result in large increases in the amount of forest dominated by oak and pine, and large decreases in maple/beech/birch forest, assuming that trees areable to migrate in pace with climate change. The forest management survey results suggest that the major impacts of severe weather on forest operations currently are related more to extreme precipitation and high wind events than to temperature extremes.The implications of these results for future climate change are discussed.

【 授权许可】

Unknown