Climate change, tree demography, and thermophilization in western US forests.

ABSTRACT: Climate change is driving widespread changes in ecological communities. Warming temperatures often shift community composition toward more heat-tolerant taxa. The factors influencing the rate of this "thermophilization" process remain unclear. Using 10-y census data from an extensive forest plot network, we show that mature tree communities of the western United States have undergone thermophilization. The mean magnitude of climate warming over the 10-y study interval was 0.32 °C, whereas the mean magnitude of thermophilization was 0.039 °C. Differential tree mortality was the strongest demographic driver of thermophilization, rather than growth or recruitment. Thermophilization rates are associated with recent changes in temperature and hydrologic variables, as well as topography and dist

SUBMITTER: Rosenblad KC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10161004 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature