If you build it, will they come? On the potential ecological and social benefits of assisted tree migration

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Our forests provide irreplaceable benefits and services to Canadians, and demands for these will continue to increase in the next decades. Parallel to increasing needs is a changing climate where climbing temperatures will push the optimal growth conditions of many commercial species northward. The mixedwood forest that straddles much of eastern Canada will respond to these changes and require that we develop adaptation measures to ensure its continued renewal and productivity. Our team of university and government scientists will take advantage of a large, operational-scale demonstration of assisted migration, to develop new knowledge to support provincial and national policies around forest adaptation. In 2019, eight species and three provenances (of each species) analogue to present and future climates, were planted out in mixed species plantations under different silvicultural treatments. We manipulated canopy removal (partial vs complete), control of vegetation competition (control vs no control), and herbivory of large herbivores (exclosure vs no exclosure). With a team of 4 students (3 PhD, 1 MSc), as well as substantial support from the Quebec government, we will answer four fundamental and applied questions about assisted tree migration. What kind of species interactions might be affected by different tree phenology? How will insects and amphibians respond to tree provenances planted outside their range? How will the microbial communities on leaves and roots of seedlings vary according to provenance? How do different forest users such as local communities and professional foresters perceive the assisted migration approach. The answers to these questions will inform new forest management strategies of government agencies across Canada.