Spatial and topographic trends in forest expansion and biomass change, from regional to local scales

Global Change Biology
Brian Buma, Tara M Barrett

Abstract

Natural forest growth and expansion are important carbon sequestration processes globally. Climate change is likely to increase forest growth in some regions via CO2 fertilization, increased temperatures, and altered precipitation; however, altered disturbance regimes and climate stress (e.g. drought) will act to reduce carbon stocks in forests as well. Observations of asynchrony in forest change is useful in determining current trends in forest carbon stocks, both in terms of forest density (e.g. Mg ha(-1) ) and spatially (extent and location). Monitoring change in natural (unmanaged) areas is particularly useful, as while afforestation and recovery from historic land use are currently large carbon sinks, the long-term viability of those sinks depends on climate change and disturbance dynamics at their particular location. We utilize a large, unmanaged biome (>135 000 km(2) ) which spans a broad latitudinal gradient to explore how variation in location affects forest density and spatial patterning: the forests of the North American temperate rainforests in Alaska, which store >2.8 Pg C in biomass and soil, equivalent to >8% of the C in contiguous US forests. We demonstrate that the regional biome is shifting; gains exceed loss...Continue Reading

References

Jul 11, 2006·Journal of Environmental Quality·Richard BirdseyAlan Lucier
Sep 12, 2008·Nature·Sebastiaan LuyssaertJohn Grace
Jan 24, 2009·Science·Phillip J van MantgemThomas T Veblen
Apr 28, 2009·Nature·Shilong PiaoTao Wang
Jun 26, 2009·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Heather KeithDavid B Lindenmayer
Jul 19, 2011·Science·Yude PanDaniel Hayes
Nov 16, 2013·Science·M C HansenJ R G Townshend

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