This Friday, Darwyn Coxson from the University of Northern British Columbia will talk about temperate rainforestes and the interactions between climate change and forestry practices.
Title: Inland Temperate Rainforest Ecosystem at Risk? – Interactions between Climate Change and Forestry Practices in Northern British Columbia.
Time & place: Friday May 7th, 12:15 in S124 in Sørhellinga.
Background: Inland mountain ranges in western North America support a unique wet-temperate rainforest ecosystem on their windward slopes. On first impression these forests, which historically were dominated by old-growth western red-cedar and hemlock, seem closely related to coastal wet-temperate rainforests. Old stands support rich canopy lichen communities, including many taxa from wet maritime forests.
In contrast, many of the plants growing on the forest floor are boreal species, consistent with the location of these stands more than 800 km inland from the ocean. This presents a paradox for the development of this ecosystem. By most measures, the climate of these sites is too dry and continental to support wet-temperate rainforests.
One approach for examining this paradox is to look at site factors associated with the development of old forest associated lichen communities. This analysis suggests that the development of inland temperate rainforest ecosystems is closely associated with topographic position. Ecosystem characteristics are best developed in wet “toe-slope” positions at the base of mountain slopes, where soil moisture is sustained by melt from high-elevation snowpack.
This forest ecosystem is now threatened at multiple scales. Changes in winter climate are bringing earlier snowmelt, potentially threatening hydrological linkages that sustain this ecosystem. These impacts are compounded by the legacy of past forestry practices, resulting in an uncertain future for this unique ecosystem.
