Climate Impacts from Forest Die-off
Dead trees in Alaska, seen from the top of our rapid assessment tower. Photo by S. Stark.
Plants profoundly influence local climate by altering the exchange of energy and water with the atmosphere. Changes in plant type or plant functioning can alter the local climate, but also potentially large scale climate by modifying atmospheric circulation. Tree loss is rapidly emerging as one of the most pronounced terrestrial responses to climate change, and it is critical that we understand the implications of forest loss for our climate.
Working with a team of collaborators from across the globe we have used simulation modeling and rapidly deployed ground observations to demonstrate that widespread tree loss associated with forest die-off or deforestation also has the potential to affect large-scale climate, and thus ecosystem productivity elsewhere via the process of “ecoclimate teleconnections”, where ecosystems in one location impact climate and thus ecosystems in another. Our findings suggest that forest die-off and deforestation could have significant climate impacts with implications for disparate ecosystems.
Collaborators on this research include Dave Breshears, Scott Stark, Scott Saleska, Juan Camilo Villegas, and Dave Moore.
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation Macrosystems Biology program.
