Friday, March 29, 2024
News

Earth's coldest forests are shifting northward with climate change: Study

   SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend    Print this Page   COMMENT

Washington | February 25, 2022 11:51:13 AM IST
According to a new study, rising temperatures are causing Earth's coldest forests shifting northward which is raising concerns about biodiversity. It can risk wildfires and ascend the impacts of climate change on northern communities.

The Boreal forest is a belt of cold-tolerant conifer trees that increase 9,000 miles across northern North America and Eurasia. It accounts for almost a quarter of the Earth's forest area and is the coldest-though mostly rapidly warming-forest biome.

The study was published in the journal 'Global Change Biology'.

For this study, the researchers used 40 years of moderately fine (30m) resolution satellite observations and various geospatial climate-related datasets of the boreal forest and assessed where and why vegetation greened and browned during recent decades. "Greening" indicates higher rates of vegetation growth, which can happen when climate warming promotes the growth of trees and shrubs, as was observed near the arctic and alpine tree lines. "Browning" indicates lower rates of vegetation growth and potentially vegetation death, such as when hotter and drier conditions suppress tree growth and kill trees.

Logan Berner, assistant research professor in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS) and Scott Goetz, Regents' professor and director of the GEODE Lab said, "There is emerging evidence that climate change is causing boreal trees and shrubs to expand into arctic and alpine tundra, while at the same time causing trees to become more stressed and die along the warm southern margins of the boreal forest."

"These dynamics could lead to a gradual northward shift in the geographic extent of the boreal forest biome, but the extent to which such changes are already underway has remained unclear," they added.

What they found wasn't exactly a surprise. Vegetation became greener across much of the cold northern margins of the boreal forest; warmer conditions led to increased vegetation growth and enabled trees and shrubs to expand into arctic and alpine tundra. Conversely, vegetation became browner along parts of the warm southern margins of this biome as a result of hotter, drier conditions increasing tree stress and death. Intriguingly, Berner said, "Vegetation was more likely to become greener in areas with high soil nitrogen, indicating that soil nutrient availability is an important constraint on the response of boreal vegetation to climate change."

"The boreal forest ecosystem is changing in many ways over recent decades, and those changes are often linked with increasing fire disturbance," Goetz said.

"Here we intentionally focused on areas that were not recently disturbed by fire so we could tease out the effect of climate change. Our hypotheses about what would happen were verified by this analysis--forests are getting more productive in the cooler northern and higher elevation areas, and they're getting less productive as a result of hot air masses and drying in the warmer and more southerly areas. We fully expect that will continue and probably intensify in the years to come," he added.

Changes in vegetation could affect both plant and animal biodiversity, especially species like caribou and moose, which have specific foraging preferences (e.g. deciduous shrubs and trees). These wildlife species are critical sources of food for subsistence communities in the boreal- tundra ecotone. Changes in vegetation along both the northern and southern margins of the boreal forest will impact wildfire regimes, likely increasing the risk of more and severe fires. Changes in vegetation also impact the stability of carbon-rich permafrost soils and absorption of solar energy by the land surface in ways that could accelerate climate warming. Moreover, increasing tree mortality could have widespread implications for forest products while also leading to further degradation of semi-continuous and sporadic permafrost.

These future effects are not limited to the geographical area around the forest.

"Fundamentally, greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are causing Earth's climate to warm, which in turn is leading the boreal forest to shift northward, as well as impacting other ecosystems across the planet" Berner said.

"To minimize adverse impacts of climate change, efforts are needed to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially related to fossil fuel consumption and deforestation. Furthermore, northern communities need to plan for potential changes in vegetation that could impact resource availability (e.g. wildlife, timber) and wildfire risk," he added. (ANI)

 
  LATEST COMMENTS ()
POST YOUR COMMENT
Comments Not Available
 
POST YOUR COMMENT
 
 
TRENDING TOPICS
 
 
CITY NEWS
MORE CITIES
 
 
 
MORE SCIENCE NEWS
AI technique accurately predicts deadly ...
Researchers discover new approach to tre...
Researchers discover how gene mutation r...
Climate change disrupts vital ecosystems...
Study finds how ageing reduces ability o...
Israeli researchers uncover biological p...
More...
 
INDIA WORLD ASIA
'Who is real enemy of Congress, BJP or l...
Ten dead as taxi rolls down gorge on Jam...
ASI continues survey at Bhojshala Comple...
'We need to establish some Dos and don't...
PM Modi recalls 'profound sacrifice' of ...
'A closed chapter now...': BJP leader Di...
More...    
 
 Top Stories
PM Modi to interact with Tamil Nadu... 
FTAs and new markets will increase ... 
Time to Prepare for Summers with 5 ... 
Punjab: BSF seize packet of suspect... 
BJP's candidate Kangana Ranaut hold... 
GSF Trendsetters in Transboundary E... 
Sony India Launches Alpha 9 III, Wo... 
Aditya Patel's Winners Institute: A...