Response of unmanaged forests to CO2-induced climate change: available information, initial tests and data requirements
The scientific literature is reviewed to determine how tree recruitment, growth, and mortality are related to climate directly and indirectly through climate's modulation of plant competition, succession, and migration. The resulting potential responses of forest communities to climate changes expected under increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations are described. Empirical data sets, containing measurements of climate variables and tree densities in the eastern United States, are evaluated for their potential use in statistical projections of forest responses to climate change. Also evaluated for projection purposes is a forest-stand simulation model based on many of the processes which determine forest dynamics. A model experiment simulated responses of forests at those 21 locations to a scenario in which climate responds to doubling and quadrupling of CO2. The implications of the forest simulations are discussed in terms of internal forest dynamics and requirements for specified information from climate projections, as well as for additional model developments that could address remaining ecological uncertainties.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5177193
- Report Number(s):
- N-85-21817; TR-009
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Forest response to increased disturbance in the central Amazon and comparison to western Amazonian forests
Forest regeneration within Earth system models: current process representations and ways forward