CABI Blogs: hand picked... and carefully sorted

Forests on the move

Studies on ‘natural’ and ‘forced’ migration of forests threatened by climate change.

A multi-European project trying to anticipate the effects of climate change on forests is taking shape. In parts of Europe, established forest trees are showing signs of vulnerability – such as drought stress - as their ‘climate niche’ changes. An ambitious long-term project hopes to work out which species will provide the best natural environments and commercial forestry prospects for the future.

Thousands of trees are being planted at 37 locations on the west Atlantic, covering a length of 1600 miles from the Azores to Scotland. Forest Research (part of the Forestry Commission), the UK partner in the ‘Reinforce’ project, is planting 30 species at various sites in England, Scotland and Wales. The species include familiar trees like English oak, Scots pine, silver birch and sweet chestnut as well as less usual species such as Atlas cedar and Macedonian, maritime and Monterey pines from the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and California.

As to the time-scale of the project, growth data and responses to climatic variables like temperature and soil water will be collected and analysed regularly, but it could be 50 years before any meaningful data can be gathered for mature trees. With climate change now evident, there’s no time for delay…

Watch a video of the research on the BBC website.

The trial coincides with the findings of a 4-year survey of 15 coniferous species in 34 different ecoregions in western Canada and the USA^(1,2). Remote sensing of large areas showed that a huge natural migration of trees has already started across much of the west due to global warming, insect attack, diseases and fire, and many tree species are projected to decline or die out in regions where they have been present for centuries, while others move in and replace them. Forests are reshaping in a visible display of ‘survival of the fittest’.

Existing species are losing their competitive edge and opportunistic species are taking over. More than half of the evergreen species were found to be experiencing a significant decrease in their competitiveness in 6 ecoregions. The study projected that in some cases, once-common species such as lodgepole pine will be replaced by other trees, with perhaps a range expansion of ponderosa pine or Douglas-fir. Other areas may shift completely out of forest into grass savannah or sagebrush desert. In central California, more than half of the species now present would not be expected to persist in the climate conditions of the future (approx. 2-4°C warmer by 2080, drier summers, and wetter spring and autumn seasons).

Some of these changes are already happening quite fast and over huge areas – at a rate fast enough to detect at the landscape level – remarkable for forests.

References

1. Waring, R. H.; Coops, N. C.; Running, S. W. Predicting satellite-derived patterns of large-scale disturbances in forests of the Pacific Northwest Region in response to recent climatic variation. Remote Sensing of Environment (2011) Vol. 115 No. 12 pp. 3554-3566.

2. Coops, N. C.; Waring, R. H. Estimating the vulnerability of fifteen tree species under changing climate in Northwest North America. Ecological Modelling (2011) Vol. 222 No. 13 pp. 2119-2129 [10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2011.03.033]

See also:
Oregon State University news

Planet under Pressure

A major international conference ‘Planet under Pressure (PUP)’ is being held in London, United Kingdom, this week, 26–29 March 2012. The meeting is being attended by scientists, industry leaders and decision makers. It will show whether science can, not only diagnose our environmental crisis, but also provide effective solutions, says David Dickson, SciDev’s editor, the official organisation providing coverage of the event. CABI is also marking its presence at Planet under Pressure. Will PUP produce real solutions for Earth's acute environmental problems?

World Water Day - 22 March 2012

Water is essential for life and an important resource to virtually all economic activities, including food production, energy and industrial outputs. Clean water is an indispensable natural resource for a healthy life for humans and for freshwater ecosystems and, therefore, demands careful management. Water has been in the forefront this month with the 6th World Water Forum, which took place in Marseille, France, last week, on the theme ‘Time for Solutions.’ Since today is World Water Day, 'Handpicked and Carefully Sorted' is focusing on water, with some important facts and figures and highlighting reports published this month, from the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

This week is climate week – 12-18 March 2012

The Met Office 2012 global temperature forecast predicts that this year will be around 0.48 °C warmer than the long-term (1961-1990) global average of 14 °C, with a predicted range of between 0.34 °C and 0.62 °C. The middle of this range would put 2012 within the top ten warmest years in a series which goes back to 1850. It seems hard to believe, but there are still people who do not believe in global warming and the imminent climate change; and there are also those who believe but do not know how to get involved in the effort to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions to slow down global warming. Climate Week is a supercharged national campaign to inspire a new wave of action on climate change. The first Climate Week, in March 2011, resulted in 3000 events, which were attended by half a million people, making it probably Britain’s biggest ever environmental occasion.

Subsidising the rich

On Monday night this week, the BBC aired a television programme in the UK on the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy’s subsidy system. Focusing on two main concerns, Samantha Poling (BBC Scotland’s investigations correspondent) looked at: (1) a loophole in the system that allows subsidy trading leading to millions of pounds of public money being paid out to businessmen who do no farming at all; and (2) the large payments (in some cases six-figure subsidies) made to wealthy individuals simply on the basis of them owning large amounts of land. In the meantime, those that the subsidies are intended to help (young, new and struggling farmers) continue to suffer economic hardship and constraints.

Pre-historic forest discovered buried under coal mine in China - Pompeii of the Permian period!

A reconstruction of the 300-million-year-old forest near Wuda, China. Image courtesy of Penn News

The swamp forest was preserved by volcanic ash around 300 million years ago, near Wuda, Mongolia, and was discovered by scientists from China and the USA, who called it the “Pompeii of the Permian period” because like Pompeii the forest was perfectly preserved by the volcanic ash, making it possible to see where each tree was.

Is three minutes exercise a week enough?

 On Tuesday evening this week, television viewers in the UK got to see a BBC programme investigating claims that just three minutes intensive exercise a week could give significant health and fitness benefits. Presented by medically-trained Michael Mosley, the research presented seems to be counter to current recommendations for "at least 150 minutes (2½ hours) of moderate intensity activity in bouts of 10 minutes or more" or "75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity spread across the week", which are the guidelines in the UK.

For a lot of people, lack of time after work and family commitments are met is either a genuine reason for not getting enough exercise, or alternatively a convenient excuse for not exercising regularly. An alternative is offered by High Intensity Training (HIT), which some researchers claim can improve aerobic fitness, burn fat and improve insulin sensitivity in just a few 20-30 second bursts of maximum effort a week.