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regular
research paper |
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David
Reed1, Alicja Breymeyer2, Marek Degórski2,
and Reginald Noble3 |
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1
School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Michigan Technological
University, Houghton, MI 49931
USA,e-mail: ddreed@mtu.edu 2
Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences,
Warsaw, Poland
e-mail:
a.breym@twarda.pan.pl,
m.degor@twarda.pan.pl 3
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
43402 USA,
e-mail:
rnoble@bgnet.bgsu.edu
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Abstract: This brief paper describes the history and
conceptual framework underlying the research presented in the remaining papers
in this volume. This project
began in 1996 as an international effort to examine Scots pine (Pinus
sylvestris) ecosystem structure and function in one of the few accessible
areas on earth where similar forested ecosystems exist over a 20o
range in latitude. Widely
predicted climate warming leads to serious concerns about how ecosystems may
respond to stresses created by climate change.
In order to recognize evidence of warming and to predict likely future
responses, it is necessary to understand how ecosystems that are distributed
along climatic gradients accommodate wide climatic differences. Few tree species are distributed as widely as Scots pine,
which ranges over much of Europe. This
species is ideal for investigations that address questions regarding climate
change effects on forest ecosystem structure and processes.
Its distribution over comparable sites extending from temperate to
boreal zones (over more than 20o of latitude from northern Finland
to southern Poland) permits characterization of this ecosystem over a
relatively wide climatic range (covering a mean annual temperature difference
of 9oC). This transect:
1) provides information concerning numerous ecological processes over
this wide range of conditions; 2)
serves as a template for the development, testing, and evaluation of specific
ecological indicators related to climate change;
and 3) allows evaluation, comparison, and projection of ecological
properties and processes among similar ecosystems with varying climate. |
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Key words: Pinus
sylvestris, ecosystem, climate, transect study |