Harnessing the Hydraulic Traits of Trees to Adapt Forest Management in the Pacific Northwest Active
Climate change impacts on forests, including drought and wildfire, are of increasing concern to managers, conservationists, researchers, and culture bearers in the Pacific Northwest. Warmer temperatures exacerbate forest stress by accelerating evaporation and drying-out of the land surface and vegetation. These hotter drought conditions have been implicated in recent tree mortality events regionally and across the globe. Managers need science-based tools to assess risks posed by droughts, heat waves, and other climate-induced stressors, as well as practical solutions for adapting current management practices. The realities of climate change have spurred interest in tailoring silvicultural practices to increase forest resilience by creating forests that can adapt to uncertain future conditions.
This work will team scientists with managers and conservationists to jointly develop new applied science for anticipating the capacity of managed forests to cope with future impacts of climate change in the Pacific Northwest. The research will be co-produced with management partners across the region, to engage practitioner perspectives in all aspects of the scientific process and development of new management and monitoring approaches. Project methods involve using and translating cutting-edge information about the hydraulic (water-related) traits of trees and forest communities to improve rapid assessments of silvicultural interventions and test assumptions about the vulnerability of managed forests to 21st century disturbances. The project team will also use physiological and ecological data to build metrics that are useful for managers to implement in the field to promote forest resilience. This trait-based approach to assessing and managing forest resilience will provide a novel toolbox of information that managers can use to predict and manage impacts of climate change in the Pacific Northwest region’s highly valued forest ecosystems.
- Source: USGS Sciencebase (id: 5f2c2a7582ceae4cb3c2ce78)
Climate change impacts on forests, including drought and wildfire, are of increasing concern to managers, conservationists, researchers, and culture bearers in the Pacific Northwest. Warmer temperatures exacerbate forest stress by accelerating evaporation and drying-out of the land surface and vegetation. These hotter drought conditions have been implicated in recent tree mortality events regionally and across the globe. Managers need science-based tools to assess risks posed by droughts, heat waves, and other climate-induced stressors, as well as practical solutions for adapting current management practices. The realities of climate change have spurred interest in tailoring silvicultural practices to increase forest resilience by creating forests that can adapt to uncertain future conditions.
This work will team scientists with managers and conservationists to jointly develop new applied science for anticipating the capacity of managed forests to cope with future impacts of climate change in the Pacific Northwest. The research will be co-produced with management partners across the region, to engage practitioner perspectives in all aspects of the scientific process and development of new management and monitoring approaches. Project methods involve using and translating cutting-edge information about the hydraulic (water-related) traits of trees and forest communities to improve rapid assessments of silvicultural interventions and test assumptions about the vulnerability of managed forests to 21st century disturbances. The project team will also use physiological and ecological data to build metrics that are useful for managers to implement in the field to promote forest resilience. This trait-based approach to assessing and managing forest resilience will provide a novel toolbox of information that managers can use to predict and manage impacts of climate change in the Pacific Northwest region’s highly valued forest ecosystems.
- Source: USGS Sciencebase (id: 5f2c2a7582ceae4cb3c2ce78)