Traits to stay, traits to move: a review of functional traits to assess sensitivity and adaptive capacity of temperate and boreal trees to climate change

Aubin, Isabelle; Munson, Alison D.; Cardou, Françoise; Burton, Philip J.; Isabel, Nathalie; Pedlar, John H.; Paquette, Alain; Taylor, Anthony R.; Delagrange, Sylvain; Kebli, Hedi; Messier, Christian; Shipley, Bill; Valladares, Fernando; Kattge, Jens; Boisvert‐Marsh, Laura; McKenney, Daniel W.

doi:10.1139/er-2015-0072

Cited by 166 publications

(188 citation statements)

References 303 publications

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“…Consistent with the performance filtering hypothesis and functional diversity theory (Aubin et al., ; Mouillot et al., ), we found evidence that disturbance (particularly fire) affected particular functional groups of birds (and therefore the composition of the bird assemblage). Birds which nested at greater heights in the vegetation, or were larger, or were less mobile were more likely to be associated with unburned forest.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

From unburnt to salvage logged: Quantifying bird responses to different levels of disturbance severity

Lindenmayer

McBurney

Blair

et al. 2018

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Forests world‐wide are increasingly subject to natural and human disturbances, including wildfires and logging of varying intensity and frequency. Understanding how biodiversity responds to different kinds and combinations of natural and human disturbance is critical to enhanced forest management. We completed an 8‐year study of bird responses across a spectrum of disturbance types in Australian mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forests following wildfires in 2009. We found evidence of a gradient in bird species richness over the study duration. It was highest in unlogged and unburned (least disturbed) sites, decreasing through burnt unlogged forest (subject to high or low intensity fire), lower still in logged forest, and lowest in the most disturbed sites (subject to salvage logging without island retention). Retention of uncut islands within logged areas increased bird species richness above that found in areas that had been clearcut. The greatest rate of increase per year after disturbance in bird species richness was on sites burnt by high‐severity fire but which were not subject to any form of logging. The level of disturbance affected the composition of the bird assemblage. Sites that were unlogged and unburned were more likely to support species that were larger, more mobile, and nested at greater heights above the ground. Synthesis and applications. All forms of logging on burned sites impaired recovery in bird species richness relative to sites subject to high‐severity fire. Alterations in stand structure and plant species composition (and hence modification in bird habitat suitability) due to logging are the most likely reasons for reduced bird species richness and delayed patterns of recovery. This study highlights the importance for native bird species of retaining patches of unlogged forest not only within otherwise clearcut forest, but also in areas that are burned and subject to salvage logging. We therefore suggest that the adoption of retention harvesting be expanded to include stands disturbed by wildfires.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

From unburnt to salvage logged: Quantifying bird responses to different levels of disturbance severity

Lindenmayer

McBurney

Blair

et al. 2018

Journal of Applied Ecology

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“…This is in accordance with our results showing that contrary to the expectation that dispersal traits should be correlated with range dynamics, both seed mass and a qualitative measure of seed spread rate were not related to tree species northern range expansion. We emphasize that the analysis employed by Zhu et al (2012) and which is adopted here is clearly an initial foray into understanding the role of dispersal in range shifts and what traits can predict species dispersal capacities (Aubin et al, 2016). We emphasize that the analysis employed by Zhu et al (2012) and which is adopted here is clearly an initial foray into understanding the role of dispersal in range shifts and what traits can predict species dispersal capacities (Aubin et al, 2016).…”

Section: Understanding Drivers Of Change In Tree Species Rangesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree range expansion in eastern North America fails to keep pace with climate warming at northern range limits

Sittaro

Paquette

Messier

et al. 2017

Global Change Biology

107

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Rising global temperatures are suggested to be drivers of shifts in tree species ranges. The resulting changes in community composition may negatively impact forest ecosystem function. However, long-term shifts in tree species ranges remain poorly documented. We test for shifts in the northern range limits of 16 temperate tree species in Quebec, Canada, using forest inventory data spanning three decades, 15° of longitude and 7° of latitude. Range shifts were correlated with climate warming and dispersal traits to understand potential mechanisms underlying changes. Shifts were calculated as the change in the 95th percentile of latitudinal occurrence between two inventory periods (1970-1978, 2000-2012) and for two life stages: saplings and adults. We also examined sapling and adult range offsets within each inventory, and changes in the offset through time. Tree species ranges shifted predominantly northward, although species responses varied. As expected shifts were greater for tree saplings, 0.34 km yr , than for adults, 0.13 km yr . Range limits were generally further north for adults compared to saplings, but the difference diminished through time, consistent with patterns observed for range shifts within each life stage. This suggests caution should be exercised when interpreting geographic range offsets between life stages as evidence of range shifts in the absence of temporal data. Species latitudinal velocities were on average <50% of the velocity required to equal the spatial velocity of climate change and were mostly unrelated to dispersal traits. Finally, our results add to the body of evidence suggesting tree species are mostly limited in their capacity to track climate warming, supporting concerns that warming will negatively impact the functioning of forest ecosystems.

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“…(), which uses a single variable (mean annual temperature or mean annual precipitation). We used multi‐model inference and model averaging for all four predictions to estimate the relative importance of abiotic and biotic variables for explaining expansion and contraction rates of taxa across multiple time periods. The selected variables were climate velocity, mycorrhizal traits (specifically mycorrhizal type, as defined by Moora (), and mycorrhizal receptivity, newly defined here), and four plant traits hypothesized to directly or indirectly moderate distribution dynamics (Aubin et al ., ): seed mass, maximum height, shade tolerance and cold sensitivity (Table S1). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Below‐ground biotic interactions moderated the postglacial range dynamics of trees

et al. 2018

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Tree range shifts during geohistorical global change events provide a useful real-world model for how future changes in forest biomes may proceed. In North America, during the last deglaciation, the distributions of tree taxa varied significantly as regards the rate and direction of their responses for reasons that remain unclear. Local-scale processes such as establishment, growth, and resilience to environmental stress ultimately influence range dynamics. Despite the fact that interactions between trees and soil biota are known to influence local-scale processes profoundly, evidence linking below-ground interactions to distribution dynamics remains scarce. We evaluated climate velocity and plant traits related to dispersal, environmental tolerance and below-ground symbioses, as potential predictors of the geohistorical rates of expansion and contraction of the core distributions of tree genera between 16 and 7 ka bp. The receptivity of host genera towards ectomycorrhizal fungi was strongly supported as a positive predictor of poleward rates of distribution expansion, and seed mass was supported as a negative predictor. Climate velocity gained support as a positive predictor of rates of distribution contraction, but not expansion. Our findings indicate that understanding how tree distributions, and thus forest ecosystems, respond to climate change requires the simultaneous consideration of traits, biotic interactions and abiotic forcing.

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Traits to stay, traits to move: a review of functional traits to assess sensitivity and adaptive capacity of temperate and boreal trees to climate change

Cited by 166 publications

References 303 publications

From unburnt to salvage logged: Quantifying bird responses to different levels of disturbance severity

From unburnt to salvage logged: Quantifying bird responses to different levels of disturbance severity

Tree range expansion in eastern North America fails to keep pace with climate warming at northern range limits

Below‐ground biotic interactions moderated the postglacial range dynamics of trees

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