Scientists Warn Climate Change is Threatening World's Most Expansive Temperate Rainforests

ASHLAND, Ore., Feb. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- International climate change and rainforest experts warned that without drastic and immediate cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and new forest protections, the world's most expansive stretch of temperate rainforests from Alaska to the coast redwoods will experience irreparable losses. 
Using global climate models, researchers assessed changes in temperature and precipitation from recent to future climatic conditions projected toward the end of the century if emissions from burning fossil fuels and deforestation continue to rise.   
According to the lead researcher, Dr. Dominick A. DellaSala, Chief Scientist of Geos Institute, "In the Pacific Northwest, the glass is half empty as the climate may no longer support rainforest communities like coast redwood, while on the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska the glass is half full as cooler, moister conditions may prevail as a refuge for rainforest communities that can migrate in time."
Applied climate models predicted the future distribution of eight rainforest conifers of commercial value and broad rainforest communities across a 2,200-mile stretch of coastal rainforests in the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and Alaska. Published by Science Direct in the online global reference "Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences," key findings include:
  • Coast redwood could lose up to 23% of its current distribution as the climate changes more drastically in the southern rainforest region.
  • Alaska yellow-cedar could lose up to 21% of its current distribution and already is experiencing extensive dieback from warming and reduced snow pack.
  • Entire rainforest communities in southern Oregon and northern California may contract, while in southeast Alaska and British Columbia rainforests may expand upward in elevation as glaciers recede. 
  • Most of the region's parks and wilderness areas do not include localized pockets of relatively stable vegetation and climate suitable for rainforest species to find refuge from a warming climate.
Dr. Marni Koopman, Climate Change Scientist, Geos Institute, stated, "Our results provide the first comprehensive assessment of climate change shifts likely to affect commercially valuable conifers and rainforest communities across two countries (US and Canada) and four states (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California)."  
The study concluded that there is still time to act by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting rainforest vegetation. Priority areas include north-facing slopes with older forests in the Pacific Northwest, which are likely to maintain cooler conditions in a warmer and drier climate, and extensive old-growth rainforests on the Tongass National Forest where rainforest communities could find refuge despite declines in some species (e.g., yellow-cedar).
DellaSala added, "The Tongass is our best hope for holding onto the verdant rainforest web-of-life that has sustained native peoples for millennia and supported the subsistence economy of southeast Alaska but only if the old-growth forests are protected for their climate and wildlife benefits."
Dr. Patric Brandt of the Research Program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), which specializes in global warming research, participated in the study, adding, "We know from studies around the world that if rainforests are stressed by the combined impacts of climate change and land-disturbances, there is little hope in maintaining their ecosystem benefits for people or wildlife over the long term."
North Pacific coastal rainforests represent 35% of the world's total temperate rainforests. Globally, most of Europe's temperate rainforests and the coast redwoods are already gone due to logging and development, while temperate rainforests on the Tongass and Great Bear (British Columbia), Tasmania, Russia, and Chile remain relatively intact.
The impacts of human-caused climate change are scientifically indisputable andAlaska is already experiencing some of the most rapid and severe changes in the world. During the past thirty years, Alaska has experienced sharp reductions in snow-cover, shorter river- and lake-ice seasons, melting glaciers, sea-ice and permafrost retreat, increased depth of summer thaw, and displacement of aboriginal villages from traditional lands. Actions taken now should explicitly address such issues to avoid exacerbating consequences for Alaska's natural resource-based economies as temperatures are projected to increase by another 4 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit by mid-century.
Contact: 
Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph.D.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Global warming could drive world temperatures up 7 degrees by 2100

Another piece of the  global warming  puzzle has been revealed. According to new research published on Jan. 1 in the journal  Nature , increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will reduce the number of clouds that form. This, in turn, will cause temperatures to rise much higher than previous climate-change models have predicted. According to this new research, global temperatures could rise 4 degrees Celsius or 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100, and twice that by 2200. Lead researcher Steven Sherwood at the Climate Change Research Center at Australia's University of New South Wales, told  The Guardian  that this level of climate change would be "catastrophic rather than simply dangerous. For example, it would make life difficult, if not impossible, in much of the tropics, and would guarantee the eventual melting of the Greenland ice sheet and some of the Antarctic ice sheet."   In a  news release , Sherwood said this new research is not an
Read more

Climate Change Skeptics Lash Out At New Global Warming ‘Hiatus’ Study That Questions Ocean Temperature Measurements

Image
Share on facebook 227 Share on twitter 22 Share on linkedin Share on google_plusone_share More Sharing Services 128 An estimated 35,000 walruses are pictured crowding on a beach near Point Lay, Alaska, because of a lack of sea ice in this September 2014 photo. A study published June 4, 2015, refuting the notion that the Earth’s temperature rise has been interrupted since 1998 was lambasted by the usual skeptics and their supporters.  Corey Accardo/NOAA/NMFS/AFSC/NMML/Via Reuters A new climate study was released Thursday that refutes the claim that there’s been a slowdown, or “hiatus” in the rate the Earth is warming, but some conservative-leaning media sites skipped covering the study itself and chose instead to promote the views of the minority of climate change deniers, such as  Christopher Monckton . For example, the Drudge Report, an immensely popular headline aggregator operated by conservative Matthew Drudge, prominently di
Read more

Why Is Critical Technology to Stop Global Warming Stalled?

Image
Pumping CO2 underground can help fight climate change but remains untested for the most part March 12, 2015  | By  Howard J. Herzog  and  The Conversation US Injection of CO2 and other gases into geological formations has been practiced for many years.  Credit:  SaskPower There are many uncertainties with respect to global climate change, but there is one thing about which I have no doubts: we will not solve climate change by running out of fossil fuels. Understanding this leads to three posible pathways we can follow to lower greenhouse gas concentrations, and explains why I’ve chosen to focus  my research  on carbon capture and storage. We can: continue to burn fossil fuels with little or no restrictions. We will blow by atmospheric CO2 concentrations of 450 parts per million (ppm), the level many scientists think is dangerous to exceed, and we will keep on going. We have enough fossil fuels to easily go above 1,000 ppm. The impact will be significant, perhaps catastro
Read more