PARENT SESSION
Symposium 1: The boreal forest and global change
Organized by: EA Johnson, K Miyanishi, and K Ruckstuhl
Monday, August 8, 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Room 517 A, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal
The northern boreal forest in a changing climate.
Payette, Serge *,1, 1 Université Laval, Québec City, Québec, Canada
ABSTRACT- The northern boreal forest in North America forms a large ecotone with the Arctic tundra. Both forest and tundra ecosystems are fragmented to several degrees according to site conditions, altitude and latitude, and tend to increase in size and distribution because of severe disturbance events and changing climatic conditions. Different scenarios of expanding and retracting tundra and forest ecosystems will be examined in the light of recent and future changes in climate and disturbance dynamics.
Key words: forest tundra landscape, postfire succession, disturbance ecology, climate change