Planning for Forest Conservation and Restoration under Climate Change

Dear Colleagues, 

Climate change is projected to dramatically affect forests across the globe over the next 50–100 years. In most cases, temperatures are expected to rise, leading to altered species distributions. Projected changes to precipitation exhibit significantly more regional variability, with some regions anticipated to experience greater annual precipitation, others expected to receive less annual precipitation, and most areas projected to experience increasingly frequent intense rain events. Changes to precipitation regimes will likely negatively affect forests by increasing drought stress and erosion risks. Thus, combined projected changes to precipitation and temperature are likely to increase forest tree stress, with significant associated shifts to forest ecosystem structure and function.

With reference forests experiencing such tremendous shifts and stresses, forest conservation and restoration will be increasingly difficult. The climatic conditions that structure forests will make it nearly impossible to try to conserve forests exactly as they have been, and will certainly impact the success of forests planted as part of restoration efforts. Conservation and restoration efforts will be more successful if they are informed, as much as possible, by an understanding of how forests are likely to change over the next 50–100 years. Forward-thinking conservation and restoration, rather than swimming against the current of climate change, will make these efforts more successful at ensuring forest health and resilience into the future.

This Special Issue is concerned with both conserving existing forests under projected climate change conditions and planting new forests, mindful of climate change projections. Suggested topics include:

• Priorities for conservation of existing forests
• Management activities promoting forest resilience to climate change
• Conservation of forest species especially threatened by climate change projections
• Priorities for forest restoration under climate change—sites, species selection, approaches

Prof. Dr. Christopher D. Barton
Dr. Kenton Sena
Dr. Jacob Muller
Guest Editors

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• Reforestation
• Forest health
• Species range shifts
• Biodiversity
• Wildlife conservation
• Assisted migration
• Forest resilience