Research Questions

Our project studies arctic and boreal ecosystems in Siberia to address specific uncertainties about these ecosystems worldwide, including: 1) the ability of biotic migration to keep pace with changes in climate, (2) biome resilience to interactions between climate change, disturbances and forest management, 3) the relative magnitude and direction of principal vegetative feedbacks to climate across a latitudinal gradient in Siberia, where large biome shifts are expected based on previous work in the region.

Our research builds upon an under-utilized dataset from Siberia (which is primarily available only in Russian) with our established collaboration with Dr. Shvidenko, former Director of the Forest Inventory, Monitoring and Planning Center in Russia and Dr. Shchepashchenko. This historical dataset will be scaled up in space and time using a forest landscape model (LANDIS-II, Lucash, Gustafson, Sturtevant) and a dynamic global vegetation model (CLM-FATES, Hoffman and Fu). Our work will provide insight into the magnitude and fundamental drivers of biome shifts, C stocks/fluxes and the dynamics of vegetation-climate feedbacks, creating a robust assessment of climate change and disturbance for land managers and policy-makers in this vast but extremely vulnerable biome of global importance.