This paper will provide a review of scientific literature, and look at solutions to problems, resulting from of impacts of climate change on the boreal forest region of Canada, as projected into the late 21st century. It will look at the problem from a number of intersecting areas: forest management and silviculture, human use, sustainability, government proposals, and the science and ecology of climate change as it is currently being investigated. The goal is to find ways, if possible, to mitigate the potential impact of climate change throughout the remainder of the century upon people, animals, and the forests themselves.As Shandra (2007) writes, forests world-wide are key to climate control, as they regulate the removal of carbon dioxide which heats the planet. (Shandra: 5) Forests, additionally, are home to 50% of the world's species diversity internationally. Destruction of forests will lead to a decrease in biodiversity. (Shandra: 5) Trees are important in preventing erosion of soils, flooding and desertification. (Shandra: 6) As Shandra notes globalization presents contradictory problems in relation to deforestation. It creates the context for international management of environmental problems, which is positive, but at the same time the greater economic integration of the world economy, which is described as commodity concentration, which increases deforestation rates. (Shandra: 22)
[...] (Wulder et al: 136) Climate change on its own may be contributing to the severity of forest fires in recent years; but there is also a human factor to be considered the way we manage and use our forests can increase the extent and destructiveness of fires if we don't understand how to manage forests that are dealing with the crisis of man-made temperature changes. Similarly, the forestry industry's response or lack of response to sustainable forestry practices has often taken into account ways in which natural fires versus fires that are part of silviculture decisions, may maximize possibilities for regeneration and growth, and sustainability of the forest ecology. [...]
[...] (2007) "The reduction of organic-layer depth by wildfire in the North American boreal forest and its effect on tree recruitment by seed.” Canadian Journal of Forest Research, Vol no pp 1010-1024 Kronberg, B.I. and Watt, M.J. (2000) precariousness of north American boreal forests” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol pp 261- 272 Kronberg, B.I. et al, (1996) “Forest-Climate Interactions in the Quetico- Superior Ecotone (Northwest Ontario and Northern Minnesota” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol 50, pp 173-187 Luckai, Nancy and Larocque, Guy, (2002) “Challenges in the application of existing process-based models to predict the effect of climate change on C pools in forest ecosystems” Climate Change, Vol pp 39-60 Mitchell, R.J., J.K. [...]
[...] To cope with an increase in disturbance levels and to understand the interaction between boreal forest and the climate system, monitoring the Canadian boreal forest becomes necessary.” (Wulder et al: 124) The need of new technological monitoring applications has to do with the extent of the forest, and the inability of close direct monitoring due to topographical factors. Just as rain forests are so important to the entire world-ecosystems functioning, such as weather patterns and biodiversity, so too are the Canadian boreal forests of central importance. [...]
[...] Bibliography Bala,G., et al, (2006) Biogeophysical effects of CO2 fertilization on global climate” Tellus, Vol pp 620-627 Barbier, Stephane, Gosselin, Frederic, and Balandier, Philippe,(2008) “Influence of tree species on understory vegetation diversity and mechanisms involved critical review for temperate and boreal forests”, Forest Ecology and Management, Vol 254, pp 1-15 Bourgeau-Chavez et al.,(2007) “Remote monitoring of spatial and temporal surface soil moisture in fire disturbed boreal forest ecosystems with ERS SAR imagery” International Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol No pp 2133-2162 Easterling, William, and Apps, Michael, (2005) “Assessing the Consequences of Climate Change for Food and Forest Resources: A View from the Climate Change, Vol pp 165-189 Greene, David F., S. [...]
[...] (Luckai and Larocque: 40) Luckai and Larocque suggest utilization of process-based models, examining in particular in their study, the possible climate change effect on black spruce, which is a very common boreal tree species found in North-Western Ontario, and of use both in forest industry and as a sink for CO2. (Luckai and Larocque: 40) Process based models include the CENTURY model, developed by Parton et al. (1987). It “simulates the long-term dynamics of carbon water, nitrogen phosphorus and sulphur in the soil and vegetation for grassland, agricultural, savanna and forest ecosystems.” (Luckai and Larocque: 42 Among the variables measured in this model are plant respiration and chemistry (e.g., nutrient and lignin contents), above- and belowground carbon pools, soil respiration, chemistry, temperature and moisture levels as well as amounts of nutrients mineralized, immobilized and taken up by plants. [...]
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