Climate change has increased the extent of insect outbreaks through a combination of elevated plant drought stress, greater insect overwinter survival, and shortened insect development and reproduction cycles (Raffa et al. 2008). Over the course of the past decade, these factors have led to the most extensive insect outbreaks in western forests seen in the past 125 years. Warmer and drier conditions have also led to more extensive and severe wildfires. Climate has been the dominant factor controlling burned area in the 20th century, even during periods of human fire suppression (Littell et al. 2009). Collectively, these disturbances have caused widespread reductions in forest productivity, greater tree mortality, and increased opportunities for colonization by plants that initiate changes in ecosystem state (Figure 1). If trends continue, baseline tree mortality rates in western forests are projected to double every 17–29 years (van Mantgem et al. 2009).
Changes in forest productivity are not uniformly distributed in North America, nor are they always in the same direction (Figure 1). Sustained negative trends in remotely sensed vegetation indices have been detected from 1982 to 2008 on millions of hectares of boreal forests in Alaska and Canada (Beck and Goetz 2011), whereas positive trends have also been identified for some regions in the US where ecosystem productivity is less constrained by water availability (Nemani et al. 2009). For example, in the more humid eastern forests, where fire and pest outbreaks are less frequent, warming has caused a net increase in productivity (McMahon et al. 2010). Overall, climate change is a leading cause of forest change, especially in the western part of the country, although fire suppression, land-use change, and species invasions are also important factors contributing to changes in forest productivity in some regions.
Climate change has increased the extent of insect outbreaks through a combination of elevated plant drought stress, greater insect overwinter survival, and shortened insect development and reproduction cycles (Raffa et al. 2008). Over the course of the past decade, these factors have led to the most extensive insect outbreaks in western forests seen in the past 125 years. Warmer and drier conditions have also led to more extensive and severe wildfires. Climate has been the dominant factor controlling burned area in the 20th century, even during periods of human fire suppression (Littell et al. 2009). Collectively, these disturbances have caused widespread reductions in forest productivity, greater tree mortality, and increased opportunities for colonization by plants that initiate changes in ecosystem state (Figure 1). If trends continue, baseline tree mortality rates in western forests are projected to double every 17–29 years (van Mantgem et al. 2009).Changes in forest productivity are not uniformly distributed in North America, nor are they always in the same direction (Figure 1). Sustained negative trends in remotely sensed vegetation indices have been detected from 1982 to 2008 on millions of hectares of boreal forests in Alaska and Canada (Beck and Goetz 2011), whereas positive trends have also been identified for some regions in the US where ecosystem productivity is less constrained by water availability (Nemani et al. 2009). For example, in the more humid eastern forests, where fire and pest outbreaks are less frequent, warming has caused a net increase in productivity (McMahon et al. 2010). Overall, climate change is a leading cause of forest change, especially in the western part of the country, although fire suppression, land-use change, and species invasions are also important factors contributing to changes in forest productivity in some regions.
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