Collaborative Research: Climate and the Expansion of the Boreal Forest at a Latitudinal Treeline: A Field-and Model-Based Investigation

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ABSTRACT OPP-9731717 OPP-9732017 LLOYD, ANDREA FASTIE, LLOYD MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING OPP-9732057 STARFIELD, ANTHONY UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA The project will examine the role of northward movement of boreal forests in response to warmer climates under a global change scenario. The expansion of forests into areas currently covered by tundra will cause climate feedbacks due to the greater uptake of carbon, water, and energy by trees compared to tundra. Therefore a climate shift to warmer temperatures resulting from an increased concentration of carbon dioxide could result in an expansion of forests that mitigate the increase by absorbing a greater amount of the carbon dioxide than the tundra replaced by the forest. The investigators will examine the ecological response of treeline to the post-glacial warming as an example of a warming response. They also will examine the ecological response time of forestation following forest fires in order to determine the pace of forest regeneration as a proxy for treeline movement.