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Forests in flux as climate varies

How do changes in climate affect forest ecosystems? A study of temperate forests in the United States has assessed alterations in biomass and tree-species composition across a 20-year period of climate variability.
  1. Sebastiaan Luyssaert

    1. Sebastiaan Luyssaert is in the Department of Ecological Science, Faculty of Science, VU Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

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  2. J. Hans C. Cornelissen

    1. J. Hans C. Cornelissen is in the Department of Ecological Science, Faculty of Science, VU Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

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Documenting and understanding changes induced by climate in the composition and function of vegetation is essential for planning adaptation strategies, because chances to intervene do not arise often for forests that contain trees with long lifespans. Moreover, most of the effects exerted by climate change on the composition and biomass of vegetation probably occur incrementally rather than abruptly1, which makes their detection a challenge. In a paper in Nature, Zhang et al.2 report an analysis of changes in forest biomass in the eastern United States over two decades, during a time when some regions became drier and others became wetter.

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Nature 556, 35-37 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-02858-6

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