Place: 4274 Chamberlin (refreshments will be served)
Speaker: Brian Harvey, UW Department of Zoology
Abstract: The direct and indirect consequences of climate change on forests of North America are only beginning to unfold. Tree health will be directly affected by changing temperature and precipitation patterns. However, just as important are the effects of a changing climate on many of the natural disturbance processes such as wildfire and insect outbreaks that have shaped forest ecosystems for millennia. As trees are relatively long-lived organisms, climate-driven changes to forest ecosystems may be subtle until a disturbance catalyzes change and sends the system along a new trajectory. This talk will include a look into what we can expect in western forests under new climatic and disturbance regimes.<br>