Responses of biodiversity in northern forest ecosystems to global warming

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To examine whether northern forest ecosystems might respond to global warming, I conducted warming experiments and large-scale studies along a latitudinal gradient. The warming experiments showed that warming increased herbivory in canopy trees of a birch Betula ermanii (early succesional stage species) but decreased herbivory of an oak Quercus crispula (late succesional stage species). Similarly, the large-scale studies showed that herbivory of an oak Qercus serrata and a beech Fagus crenata, both of which are late succesional stage species, decreased toward low latitudes. These results suggest an implication that the responses of herbivory in canopy trees to global warming depend on succesional stages of host plants.