A Practical Approach for Translating Climate Change Adaptation Principles into Forest Management Actions

Janowiak, Maria K.; Swanston, Christopher W.; Nagel, Linda M.; Brandt, Leslie A.; Butler, Patricia R.; Handler, Stephen D.; Shannon, P. Danielle; Iverson, Louis R.; Matthews, Stephen N.; Prasad, Anantha; Peters, Matthew P.

doi:10.5849/jof.13-094

Cited by 69 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…More generally, our analyses are consistent with widely discussed suggestions for forest management as it evolves with climate change (Millar et al, 2007;Heller & Zavaleta, 2009;Gillson et al, 2013;Shoo et al, 2013;Fisichelli et al, 2014;Janowiak et al, 2014;Armsworth et al, 2015). This includes conserving areas with high environmental heterogeneity and potential refugia; increasing connectivity and genetic resilience to foster migration and local adaptation; favoring species projected to fare better in future climates; controlling nonclimate stressors; and maintaining management flexibility to accommodate unexpected results.…”

Section: Management Implicationssupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Management is conducted for a variety of purposes, from the world's largest industrial timber region in the southeast (Allen et al, 2005) to small wildlife refuges and conservation areas. For example, the US Forest Service is assisting private, state, and federal agencies in the northeast to incorporate climate change impacts into management plans (Janowiak et al, 2014). For example, the US Forest Service is assisting private, state, and federal agencies in the northeast to incorporate climate change impacts into management plans (Janowiak et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vulnerability of eastern US tree species to climate change

Rogers

Jantz

Goetz

2017

Global Change Biology

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Climate change is expected to alter the distribution of tree species because of critical environmental tolerances related to growth, mortality, reproduction, disturbances, and biotic interactions. How this is realized in 21st century remains uncertain, in large part due to limitations on plant migration and the impacts of landscape fragmentation. Understanding these changes is of particular concern for forest management, which requires information at an appropriately fine spatial resolution. Here we provide a framework and application for tree species vulnerability to climate change in the eastern United States that accounts for influential drivers of future distributions. We used species distribution models to project changes in habitat suitability at 800 m for 40 tree species that vary in physiology, range, and environmental niche. We then developed layers of adaptive capacity based on migration potential, forest fragmentation, and propagule pressure. These were combined into metrics of vulnerability, including an overall index and spatially explicit categories designed to inform management. Despite overall favorable changes in suitability, the majority of species and the landscape were considered vulnerable to climate change. Vulnerability was significantly exacerbated by projections of pests and pathogens for some species. Northern and high-elevation species tended to be the most vulnerable. There were, however, some notable areas of particular resilience, including most of West Virginia. Our approach combines some of the most important considerations for species vulnerability in a straightforward framework, and can be used as a tool for managers to prioritize species, areas, and actions.

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Section: Management Implicationssupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vulnerability of eastern US tree species to climate change

Rogers

Jantz

Goetz

2017

Global Change Biology

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“…Forest communities, however, are increasingly being managed for a broader set of goals and objectives [2]. Nevertheless, there is still relatively limited information on the forest dynamics of non-commercial systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limber Pine (Pinus flexilis James), a Flexible Generalist of Forest Communities in the Intermountain West

Windmuller-Campione

Long

2016

PLoS ONE

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As forest communities continue to experience interactions between climate change and shifting disturbance regimes, there is an increased need to link ecological understanding to applied management. Limber pine (Pinus flexilis James.), an understudied species of western North America, has been documented to dominate harsh environments and thought to be competitively excluded from mesic environments. An observational study was conducted using the Forest Inventory and Analysis Database (FIAD) to test the competitive exclusion hypothesis across a broad elevational and geographic area within the Intermountain West, USA. We anticipated that competitive exclusion would result in limber pine’s absence from mid-elevation forest communities, creating a bi-modal distribution. Using the FIAD database, limber pine was observed to occur with 22 different overstory species, which represents a surprising number of the woody, overstory species commonly observed in the Intermountain West. There were no biologically significant relationships between measures of annual precipitation, annual temperature, or climatic indices (i.e. Ombrothermic Index) and limber pine dominance. Limber pine was observed to be a consistent component of forest communities across elevation classes. Of the plots that contained limber pine regeneration, nearly half did not have a live or dead limber pine in the overstory. However, limber pine regeneration was greater in plots with higher limber pine basal area and higher average annual precipitation. Our results suggest limber pine is an important habitat generalist, playing more than one functional role in forest communities. Generalists, like limber pine, may be increasingly important, as managers are challenged to build resistance and resilience to future conditions in western forests. Additional research is needed to understand how different silvicultural systems can be used to maintain multi-species forest communities.

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“…Given the types of economic logics prevalent in both countries, a potential way to include more groups of forest owners in climate change adaptation could be to include adaptation requirements in the central planning and support systems (e.g., [117,118]), such as in felling regulations, or forest certification guidelines (e.g., [119]). However, a more diverse, inclusive and successful approach to adaptation may require the creation of space for alternative thoughts and actions by various actors (cf.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation to Climate Change in Forestry: A Perspective on Forest Ownership and Adaptation Responses

Andersson

Keskitalo

Lawrence

2017

Forests

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Adaptation to climate change has often been discussed from the perspectives of social vulnerability and community vulnerability, recognising that characteristics at local level will influence the particular adaptations undertaken. However, the extent to which national-level systemic factors influence and shape measures defined as adaptations has seldom been recognised. Focusing on adaptation to climate change in forestry, this study uses the example of two countries in the northern hemisphere with different forest ownership structures, forestry industry and traditions: Sweden, with strong private, non-industrial ownership, dominant forest industry and long forestry traditions; and Scotland, with forest ownership dominated by large estates and investment forestry based on plantations of exotic conifer species. The study shows how adaptation to climate change is structurally embedded and conditioned, which has resulted in specific challenges and constraints for different groups of forest owners within these two different contexts. This produces a specific set of political spaces and policy tools by rendering climate change in relation to forestry manageable, negotiable and practical/logical in specific ways. It is recommended that the focus of future work on climate-related issues and development of adaptation measures and policy should not be primarily on climate-related factors, but on institutional analysis of structural factors and logics in target sectors, in order to critically explore concepts of agency and power within these processes.

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A Practical Approach for Translating Climate Change Adaptation Principles into Forest Management Actions

Cited by 69 publications

References 15 publications

Vulnerability of eastern US tree species to climate change

Vulnerability of eastern US tree species to climate change

Limber Pine (Pinus flexilis James), a Flexible Generalist of Forest Communities in the Intermountain West

Adaptation to Climate Change in Forestry: A Perspective on Forest Ownership and Adaptation Responses

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