Open Collections

Xu, Wenhuan

University of British Columbia

Forest ecosystems cover almost a third of the earth's land area and are vital for providing ecological services, such as supplying habitats, cleaning the air, and mitigating climate change. However, climate change is rapidly altering the environmental conditions necessary for the survival and productivity of forest tree species. My PhD research project is focused on using ecological niche models (ENMs) to assess the impacts of climate change on forest ecosystems and develop climate-smart forestry strategies. In the second chapter, I conducted a comprehensive review of recent advancements in ENMs, including advances in machine learning algorithms, the data sources being used, and their applications in forestry. This review explored how ENMs are applied at various ecological scales and how they advance our understanding of the impacts of climate change on forest tree species’ suitable habitats. Chapter 3 developed an innovative approach by incorporating soil variables and interspecific competition into climate niche models (CNMs), using an endangered species Chamaecyparis formosensis (red cypress) as a case study, to predict climate change impacts and suitable habitats more accurately. Chapter 4 is focused on examining common drivers for species niche distribution, and identifying biodiversity hotspots through building niche models for 100 key tree species in China. The impact of climate change on the distributions of suitable habitats of the species and the shift of biodiversity hotspots were also assessed under various future climate scenarios. In Chapter 5, I developed a site-based climate-smart tree species selection tool to help foresters identify species best suited to future climate conditions at any given specific planting site in China, aiming to enhance the effectiveness of forestation efforts and improve the ecological resilience of plantations. Finally, Chapter 6 synthesized the major findings of the research, highlighting the implications of my study for forest management and ecosystem restoration in the context of climate change. The study filled critical knowledge gaps and proposed a pathway for adaptive forest management, including species selection, assisted migration, and conservation, to mitigate climate change's impacts on forest ecosystems.

Text

2025-02-13

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90361

Forestry

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/