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Natural migration rates of trees: Global terrestrial carbon cycle implications

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Past and Future Rapid Environmental Changes

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASII,volume 47))

Abstract

Migration of populations or species of trees (‘tree migration’) in response to climate change is of interest both to palaeoecologists who assess past vegetational responses to climate change, and to global ecologists concerned with future climate change induced by increasing greenhouse gases (GHGs). A major difference between climate-driven tree migrations in prehistory and those expected in the future is the high speed of the latter climate change. The 4–6 km which temperate-zone July isotherms are predicted to move northward annually (Solomon et al. 1984) are about an order of magnitude more rapid than prehistoric rates deduced from palaeoecological evidence. Assuming prehistoric rates of warming matched the rate of tree migration (T Webb 1986; Prentice et al. 1991), fossil pollen data allow inference of 400 m yr-1 (Davis 1983) to 800 m yr-1 (Gear & Huntley 1991) of climate change and tree migration at most. The rate may be even slower if tree migration includes the establishment and maturity of the tree population (Bennett 1986) as well as the processes of seed transport, establishment, growth and seed production, normally defined as migration (e.g. Davis 1989; MacDonald et al. 1993).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Environmental Protection Agency, 200 SW 35th Street, Corvallis, OR, 97333, USA

    Allen M. Solomon

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  1. Allen M. Solomon
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Research Centre, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Durham, South Road, DH1 3LE, Durham, UK

    Brian Huntley  & Judy R. M. Allen  & 

  2. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Telegrafenberg, P.O. Box 6012 03, D-14412, Potsdam, Germany

    Wolfgang Cramer

  3. Quaternary Sciences Institute, University of Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Alan V. Morgan

  4. Department of Systematic Botany, Lund University, Östra Vallgatan 18-20, S-223 61, Lund, Sweden

    Honor C. Prentice

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Solomon, A.M. (1997). Natural migration rates of trees: Global terrestrial carbon cycle implications. In: Huntley, B., Cramer, W., Morgan, A.V., Prentice, H.C., Allen, J.R.M. (eds) Past and Future Rapid Environmental Changes. NATO ASI Series, vol 47. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60599-4_35

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60599-4_35

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