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Climatic drivers of tree growth

AN 1a
Hub: All
Year: 2021
Catherine Chagnon, RA

Understanding future climate dynamics is critically important to understand how adaptive management approaches can be developed and applied. However, adjusting growth projections to the new climate reality first requires identification of the key climatic variables that alter tree growth. Using a dendrochronological approach, Catherine Chagnon will utilise existing tree core databases, collected across Canadian forests, as well as new core information from Hub sites with the objective to identify the climatic events and conditions most susceptible to alter tree growth. The analysis includes the effects of both short, acute climatic events like drought, and more monotonic increases in average temperatures. Outcome (AN.1a): Identification and definition of key climate variables that affect tree growth across Canada.

Catherine Chagnon, RA at Université Laval
Main Partner: Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs (Québec)
Professor Alexis Achim

Leduc, F., Chagnon, C., Moreau, G., Dumont, S., St-Jean, É., Achim, A. (2023) American beech outgrows sugar maple at the sapling stage regardless of partial harvest intensity in northern hardwood forests. Forest Ecology and Management, 533: 121630, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121630

Chagnon, C., Wotherspoon, A.R., Achim, A. (2022) Deciphering the black spruce response to climate variation across eastern Canada using a meta-analysis approach. Forest Ecology and Management, 520: 120375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120375

Moreau, G., Chagnon, C., Achim, A., et al. (2022). Opportunities and limitations of thinning to increase resistance and resilience of trees and forests to global change. Forestry, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpac010.

Chagnon, C., Moreau, G., Bombardier-Cauffopé, C., Barrette, J., Havreljuk, F., Achim, A. (2022). Broad-scale wood degradation dynamics in the face of climate change: A meta-analysis. GCB-Bioenergy, 14(8): 941-958. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12951

Chagnon C, Moreau G, D’Orangeville L, Caspersen J, Labrecque-Foy J-P and Achim A (2023) Strong latitudinal gradient in temperature-growth coupling near the treeline of the Canadian subarctic forest. Front. For. Glob. Change 6:1181653. doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2023.1181653

Moreau, G., Chagnon, C., Cecil-Cockwell, MFL, Pothier, D., Achim, A., Bédard, S., Guillemette, F., Caspersen, J. (2023)
Simplified tree marking guidelines enhance value recovery as well as stand vigour in northern hardwood forests under selection management. Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research; cpad045. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpad045

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