Species- To Community-Level Responses to Climate Change in Eastern U.S. Forests

Jonathan A Knott, Purdue University

Abstract

Climate change has dramatically altered the ecological landscape of the eastern U.S., leading to shifts in phenological events and redistribution of tree species. However, shifts in phenology and species distributions have implications for the productivity of different populations and the communities these species are a part of. Here, I utilized two studies to quantify the effects of climate change on forests of the eastern U.S. First, I used phenology observations at a common garden of 28 populations of northern red oak (Quercus rubra) across seven years to assess shifts in phenology in response to warming, identify population differences in sensitivity to warming, and correlate sensitivity to the productivity of the populations. Second, I utilized data from the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis Program to identify forest communities of the eastern U.S., assess shifts in their species compositions and spatial distributions, and determine which climate-related variables are most associated with changes at the community level. In the first study, I found that populations were shifting their spring phenology in response to warming, with the greatest sensitivity in populations from warmer, wetter climates. However, these populations with higher sensitivity did not have the highest productivity; rather, populations closer to the common garden with intermediate levels of sensitivity had the highest productivity. In the second study, I found that there were 12 regional forest communities of the eastern U.S., which varied in the amount their species composition shifted over the last three decades. Additionally, all 12 communities shifted their spatial distributions, but their shifts were not correlated with the distance and direction that climate change predicted them to shift. Finally, areas with the highest changes across all 12 communities were associated with warmer, wetter, lower temperaturevariable climates generally in the southeastern U.S. Taken together, these studies provide insight into the ways in which forests are responding to climate change and have implications for the management and sustainability of forests in a continuously changing global environment.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Fei, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Climate Change|Forestry|Wood sciences

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