Climate change impacts

Summary

Introduction

The climate is changing, and we need to understand the impacts this is having now and will have in the future on our trees and woodlands, in Britain and elsewhere. Some of the effects are direct (e.g. warmer temperatures affecting the growth and development of plants and animals); some are indirect (e.g. through the need for more tree planting to increase the carbon sequestration).

Our research is improving our understanding of how woodlands will respond to the many environmental drivers associated with climate change (temperature, rainfall, wind, sunshine, humidity, both average change, and extreme events like droughts and floods), and their impacts. This knowledge is being used to assess future changes to tree growth and the functioning of woodland ecosystems, and to develop guidance on how best to adapt woodland management and forestry to these challenges. The impacts of climate change are relevant to almost all areas of forest and woodland research, as the example current and previous projects listed below show.

The development of guidance on climate change impacts and adaptation uses a number of approaches, including impact studies, process and empirical model development and the interpretation of forest monitoring data.

Current research projects

• Integrated Forest Monitoring
• Climate Change Adaptation
• Climate Change Adaptation Demonstration
• Tree stability and wind risk to forests
• Probabilistic modelling of drought risk for forests (PRAFOR)
• Modelling wind risk and growth of pine forests (FOSPREF -Wind)
• Climate Matching Tool for forestry
• Adapting European Atlantic forests to climate change (REINFFORCE)
• Testing different tree provenances in Kent
• Mitigating climate change with forests and woodlands
• ClimateXChange (CXC): supporting forestry in Scotland becoming more resilient
• Urban trees and greenspace in a changing climate Urban trees and greenspace in a changing climate

Publications

Climate change impacts and adaptation in England’s woodlands

Climate change: impacts and adaptation in Scotland

Impacts of climate change on forestry in Wales