Since the United Nations just met last week for their international convention on climate change (COP 16), I figured I’d give this controversial topic some due attention. I’m not exactly sure what was accomplished (if anything) at the 16th international meeting on climate change. After the big push and disappointment last year at COP 15, it seems a legitimate international treaty on climate change is simply a pipe dream. At least one thing was an improvement this year – the location. Instead of being held in Denmark in December, this year’s convention was held in Cancun. I would think global warming sure seems a lot more bearable while lounging on a Mexican beach chair with a margarita in hand!
In all seriousness, global climate change is a huge deal. As I sit in my living room wrapped in a blanket with some hot tea while the thermometer teeters near 30°F, and imagine how nice it is in Cancun right now, it’s easy to ignore global warming. The dire warnings of ice caps breaking off and melting in the Arctic, causing sea levels to rise and Manhattan and Long Island being covered by tidal waves, as polar bears and New Yorkers alike search in vain for a new home… It all seems rather far-fetched. Where is the proof, the scientific evidence?!
Well, my friends, the scientific evidence is already here. It’s certainly not as exciting as fantastic stories of sea level rise, or as charismatic as loveable polar bears, but it’s real and it’s right here in our own backyards. A recent study from the Northern Research Station of the federal US Forest Service found that the natural range of eastern trees that thrive at more northern latitudes is shifting due to climate change. The research station found that over 70% of northern tree species are exhibiting a northward migration. This occurs when more seeds germinate and seedlings thrive at the northern edge of the trees’ range than the southern edge. Trees such as balsam fir, paper birch, sugar maple, and northern red oak are shifting their ranges northward.
Photo: The natural range of trees such as Paper Birch is shifting northward as regional temperatures increases.
As species continue to head northward, researchers worry they may be extripated from the US, since many species’ ranges are not only shifting northward, but are also actually decreasing in the US. Imagine, New England with no sugar maples!
Not only do eastern forests show evidence of climate change, but western forests do as well. Long-term data from western old-growth forests show that background tree mortality rates have increased rapidly in recent decades. These increased tree death rates were found across elevations, tree sizes, dominant species, and past fire histories. After ruling out increased competition and attributing for tree aging, the researchers concluded that climate warming and resultant water shortages were likely the main causes of increased tree death rates. Drought stress can negatively affect trees directly and indirectly by increasing susceptibility to insects and disease. Huge outbreaks of bark beetles have ravaged whole mountainsides of western conifers, turning them into kindling wood for massive forest fires.
Photo: Dead trees in Rocky Mountain National Park as a result of the Mountain Pine Beetle, an insect that takes advantage of drought-stressed trees.
Scientific evidence has shown that our forests are changing as a result of global warming. Those concerned about climate change should be citing relatable, straight-forward facts, rather than touting calamitous predictions that only believers in the 2012 apocalypse will rally behind. If you like your maple syrup from New England, or if you don’t want to hike through a tinderbox of our National Parks, then do your small part to reduce your carbon footprint. The times they are a-changin.’
