Assessing impacts of climate change on forests: The state of biological modeling

Conference · Tue Apr 06 04:00:00 EDT 1993

OSTI ID:10166129

Dale, V H ^[1]; Rauscher, H M ^[2]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
2. Forest Service, Grand Rapids, MI (United States). North Central Forest Experiment Station

Models that address the impacts to forests of climate change are reviewed by four levels of biological organization: global, regional or landscape, community, and tree. The models are compared as to their ability to assess changes in greenhouse gas flux, land use, maps of forest type or species composition, forest resource productivity, forest health, biodiversity, and wildlife habitat. No one model can address all of these impacts, but landscape transition models and regional vegetation and land-use models consider the largest number of impacts. Developing landscape vegetation dynamics models of functional groups is suggested as a means to integrate the theory of both landscape ecology and individual tree responses to climate change. Risk assessment methodologies can be adapted to deal with the impacts of climate change at various spatial and temporal scales. Four areas of research development are identified: (1) linking socioeconomic and ecologic models, (2) interfacing forest models at different scales, (3) obtaining data on susceptibility of trees and forest to changes in climate and disturbance regimes, and (4) relating information from different scales.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 10166129
• Report Number(s): CONF-9302127--1; ON: DE93015916
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120
540220
560300
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CHEMICALS METABOLISM AND TOXICOLOGY
CHEMICALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
CLIMATIC CHANGE
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
FORESTS
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
HABITAT
LAND USE
PLANT GROWTH
SIMULATION
WILD ANIMALS