Boreal and Temperate Trees in a Changing Climate

This book provides an overview of how boreal and temperate tree species have adapted their annual development cycle to the seasonally varying climatic conditions. Therefore, the frost hardy dormant phase, and the susceptible growth phase, are synchronized with the seasonality of the climate.

The volume discusses the annual cycle, including various attributes such as timing of bud burst and other phenological events, seasonality of photosynthetic capacity or the frost hardiness of the trees.

During the last few decades dynamic ecophysiological models have been used increasingly in studies of the annual cycle, particularly when projecting the ecological effects of climate change. The main emphasis of this volume is on combining modelling with experimental studies, and on the importance of the biological realism of the models.

Modelling different aspects of tree seasonality are discussed in a common framework The content will be extremely useful to modellers, and experimental tree ecophysiologists The varying degree of empirical support of the models is made transparent Pitfalls in using models in ecological climate change research are revealed Thorough explication of concepts and theories facilitate the use as a textbook at advanced level

Auteur

Heikki Hänninen was born in Laukaa, Central Finland, in 1957. He studied ecology in Jyväskylä and forest science in Joensuu, where he received his PhD in 1990. He worked in various positions at the University of Joensuu (currently part of the University of Eastern Finland) until his appointment to Professor of Terrestrial Plant Ecology at the University of Helsinki in March 1997. Professor Hänninen's main research interest is the seasonality and climatic adaptation of northern plants, with the assessment of the effects of the projected climatic change as the principal domain of application in his research work. During his early career he worked with forest trees, but after moving to Helsinki he broadened his scope to cover other plant life forms as well. Throughout his career, the combining of experimental ecophysiology with dynamic modelling has been a leading theme in Professor Hänninen's research. He is a member of the Editorial Review Board of Tree Physiology.

Contenu

1. Climatic Adaptation of Boreal and Temperate Tree Species.- 2. Dynamic Modelling of the Annual Cycle.- 3. The Annual Phenological Cycle.- 4. The Annual Cycle of Photosynthesis in Evergreen Conifers.- 5. The Annual Cycle of Frost Hardiness.- 6. Evolutionary Aspects of the Annual Cycle.- 7. Upscaling to Higher Levels of Organisation.- 8. The Annual Cycle Under Changing Climatic Conditions.- 9. Concluding Remarks.