Model predicts how forests will respond to climate change

Drought could render the U.S. Northeast's mixed forests unsustainable after 2050 while Washington's Cascade Mountains may require tropical and subtropical forest species, according to researchers using a new type of mathematical model at Washington State University.

The Tolerance Distribution Model (TDM) is the first to use the tolerances of different types of forests to drought, flood and shade to determine how the forests may respond to future climate change. In contrast to existing methods, the new approach can be applied at a continental scale while maintaining a direct link to ecologically relevant stressors.
Details of the WSU team's work are available online in Global Change Biology.
Changes in Northeast, Rockies, Texas, Gulf
WSU Vancouver mathematicians Jean Liénard and Nikolay Strigul, and ecologist John Harrison, predict the Pacific Northwest's climate may be warmer and wetter, requiring the establishment of forest types seen in places like southeastern China, southern Brazil or sub-Saharan Africa


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-04-forests-climate.html#jCp