Climate Change is Beginning to Thwart Tree/Vegetative Growth in America's West

Wildfires and Climate Change Push low-elevation forests across a critical climate threshold for tree Regeneration

A study released by the Academy of Science today finds that forests in California, Colorado, the northern rockies and the southwest has passed a critical threshold that will limit the regenerative ability of Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir. SAD.

Significance Per Report

Changes in climate and disturbance regimes may cause abrupt shifts in vegetation communities. Identifying climatic conditions that can limit tree regeneration is important for understanding when and where wildfires may catalyze such changes. This study quantified relationships between annual climate conditions and regeneration of Pinus ponderosa (ponderosa pine) and Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas-fir), two ecologically and economically important conifer species in low-elevation forests of western North America. We found that regeneration exhibited a threshold response to annual climate conditions and the forests we sampled crossed these climate thresholds in the past 20 years, resulting in fewer recruitment opportunities through time. In areas that have crossed climatic thresholds for regeneration, stand-replacing fires may result in abrupt ecosystem transitions to nonforest states.