Assessing and understanding tree responses to changing climate from gene to canopy scale

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The consequences of global climate change, with elevated temperature, altered precipitation patterns, and the increased frequency of extreme events such as heat waves and drought, alters the function of northern trees and forests. Their response to a changing climate already impacts carbon sequestration, productivity, and survival, with potentially large effects on species distribution and the global carbon cycle. However, we currently lack a detailed understanding of how future climate will affect the physiological and molecular responses of northern trees and forests. Such data are crucial to our understanding and potentially mitigating the effects of climate change. The long-term goal of the proposed research program is to determine the sensitivity of trees and forests to environmental change, from the molecular through to the species and ecosystem levels. It will assess how climatic changes impact photosynthetic processes, carbon metabolism, water relations and productivity of Canadian tree species at various scales. This research program is centered around three closely linked areas of research, which (i) investigate intraspecific variation in transcriptome dynamics in order to understand which trees perform better in a hotter and drier world, (ii) examine how phenology, cold hardening and de-hardening are affected by increased temperatures during autumn and spring in a warming world, (iii) further develop a drone based approach to remotely assess photosynthetic phenology and performance of conifers through high-throughput precision phenotyping in natural forest stands. Research in this program involves multiple experimental scales, including the use of experimental growth chambers, the use of field experiments where we manipulate and control air temperature and water availability, and use of long-term monitoring field sites. Results from this program will reveal how tree function is modified in response to increased temperature and drought and provide high-throughput approaches to better assess adaptability and plasticity of tree species to climatic change. This will help select and breed trees that are better adapted to future climate. This research program will therefore help to sustain ecologically and economically important tree species in a future climate with benefits to the environment and the Canadian forestry sector.