Disequilibrium of fire-prone forests sets the stage for a rapid decline in conifer dominance during the 21^st century.

ABSTRACT: The impacts of climatic changes on forests may appear gradually on time scales of years to centuries due to the long generation times of trees. Consequently, current forest extent may not reflect current climatic patterns. In contrast with these lagged responses, abrupt transitions in forests under climate change may occur in environments where alternative vegetation states are influenced by disturbances, such as fire. The Klamath forest landscape (northern California and southwest Oregon, USA) is currently dominated by high biomass, biodiverse temperate coniferous forests, but climate change could disrupt the mechanisms promoting forest stability (e.g. growth, regeneration and fire tolerance). Using a landscape simulation model, we estimate that about one-third of the Klamath forest lands

SUBMITTER: Serra-Diaz JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5928035 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature