title: Climate change-associated trends in net biomass change are age dependent in western boreal forests of Canada.
abstract: The impacts of climate change on forest net biomass change are poorly understood but critical for predicting forest's contribution to the global carbon cycle. Recent studies show climate change-associated net biomass declines in mature forest plots. The representativeness of these plots for regional forests, however, remains uncertain because we lack an assessment of whether climate change impacts differ with forest age. Using data from plots of varying ages from 17 to 210 years, monitored from 1958 to 2011 in western Canada, we found that climate change has little effect on net biomass change in forests ≤ 40 years of age due to increased growth offsetting increased mortality, but has led to large decreases in older forests due to increased mortality accompanying little growth gain. Our analysis highlights the need to incorporate forest age profiles in examining past and projecting future forest responses to climate change.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Natural Resources Management, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 5E1, Canada.
authors.forename: Han Y H
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Natural Resources Management, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 5E1, Canada.|Canadian Forest Service (Pacific Forestry Centre), Natural Resources Canada, 506 Burnside Road West, Victoria, BC, V8Z 1M5, Canada.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, 115 Green Hall, 1530 Cleveland Ave. N., St. Paul, MN, 55108-6112, USA.|Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Reich
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Natural Resources Management, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 5E1, Canada.
authors.forename: Eric B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Searle
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Natural Resources Management, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 5E1, Canada.
authors.forename: Shekhar R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Biswas
mesh_terms: D000416:Alberta; D018533:Biomass; D057231:Climate Change; D012525:Saskatchewan; D012621:Seasons; D066188:Taiga; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Climate change; global warming; growth; net biomass change; tree mortality