24 November 17:00-18:30 CET

The Trembling State of Boreal Forests

Boreal forests—the vast green belt encircling the northern hemisphere—are undergoing rapid transformation.

Observations over the past 25 years reveal a northward shift in tree cover, signaling a large-scale biome redistribution driven by climate change. Southern boreal regions, in particular, are showing signs of instability as forests open up, increasing their vulnerability to fires and ecosystem disruption.

This webinar will explore new research on the changing dynamics of the boreal biome, what these shifts mean for global climate feedbacks, and how remote sensing helps us understand the future of one of Earth’s most important ecosystems.

Join AIMES, the Earth Commission, Future Earth, and the WCRP’s Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity for a webinar exploring the latest scientific insights on this unique and crucial ecosystem and the threats it faces. 

Agenda

  • Ronny Rotbarth (University of Freiburg): The trembling state of boreal forests - Shifting biome distributions from space
  • Isla Myers-Smith (UBC): Gradual or abrupt? How vegetation change, permafrost thaw and fire are reshaping the boreal forest and tundra
  • Followed by a moderated discussion by Christopher Reyer (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research)

A recording of the webinar will be provided afterwards.

Back to series overview.

Speakers

Ronny Rotbarth
University of Freiburg

Ronny has a background in environmental sciences and nature conservation with a focus on ecology. He is particularly interested in how forests respond to global change. He gained his PhD at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, where he got fascinated with the idea of resilience, the ability of a complex system to withstand or recover from disturbance. 

Using both field and satellite data he now works on understanding the driving forces of the resilience of temperate and boreal forests to climate change, insect outbreaks and drought. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Freiburg, Germany.

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Isla Myers-Smith
University of British Columbia

Isla Myers-Smith is a professor in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia as well as the Canada Excellence Research Chair in the Global Change Ecology of Northern Ecosystems. Prof. Myers-Smith’s research quantifies trends and impacts of Arctic vegetation change to answer why the Arctic is greening and how tundra ecosystems have responded to climate change to inform future projections. 

She uses satellite and drone-based remote sensing in combination with long-term ecological research, in partnership with international researchers, northern communities and governments, to explore processes such as increases in shrubs in tundra ecosystems and the impacts on wildlife habitats, through to abrupt permafrost thaw. Her research demonstrates a dramatic transformation of tundra ecosystems with Arctic warming and a broad spectrum of global biodiversity change during the Anthropocene.

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Christopher Reyer
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

Christopher's research focuses on climate change impacts on forests and on all other kinds of socio-ecological systems, adaptation to these impacts as well as how resilience, sustainable development and natural resource management interact with cross-sectoral climate impacts. To assess uncertainties of climate impact projections he has gained expertise in designing and analyzing model intercomparison studies.

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All you need to know

This event is part of a series of online discussions aims to advance the knowledge about tipping elements, irreversibility, and abrupt changes in the Earth system. It supports efforts to increase consistency in treatment of tipping elements in the scientific community, develop a research agenda, and design joint experiments and ideas for a Tipping Element Model Intercomparison Project (TipMip).

This discussion series is a joint activity of the Analysis, Integration, and Modeling of the Earth System (AIMES) global research project of Future Earth, the Earth Commission Working Group 1 Earth and Human Systems Intercomparison Modelling Project (EHSMIP) under the Global Commons Alliance and the Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity of World Climate Research Program (WCRP).

Organized by

Analysis, Integration, and Modeling of the Earth System (AIMES)

The Analysis, Integration, and Modeling of the Earth System (AIMES) project is an international network of Earth system scientists and scholars that seek to develop innovative, interdisciplinary ways to understand the complexity of the natural world and its interactions with human activities. AIMES is a global research project of Future Earth.

Future Earth

Future Earth is a global network of scientists, researchers, and innovators collaborating for a more sustainable planet. Future Earth initiates and supports international collaboration between researchers and stakeholders to identify and generate the integrated knowledge needed for successful transformations towards societies that provide good and fair lives for all within a stable and resilient Earth system. Future Earth is the host of the Earth Commission.

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)is an international research institute that advances systems analysis and applies its research methods to identify policy solutions to reduce human footprints, enhance the resilience of natural and socioeconomic systems, and help achieve the sustainable development goals.

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) is advancing the frontier of integrated research for global sustainability, and for a safe and just climate future. A member of the Leibniz Association, the institute is based in Potsdam, Brandenburg and connected with the global scientific community. Drawing on excellent research, PIK provides relevant scientific advice for policy decision-making. The institute’s international staff of about 400 is led by a committed interdisciplinary team of Directors.

University of Exeter, Global Systems Institute

The Global Systems Institute (GSI) is thought-leading in understanding global changes, solving global challenges and helping create a flourishing future world together, through transformative research, education and impact. GSI's aim is to work with others to secure a flourishing future for humanity as an integral part of a life-sustaining Earth system. GSI's aim to be a ‘go to’ place for global change researchers from around the world, bringing them together with industry, policymakers, students and other stakeholders to tackle shared problems, and acting as a catalyst that enables translation of this research into applications that deliver tangible and sustainable social and ecological benefit.

WCRP Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity.

The Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity is an exploration of the routes to “safe landing” spaces for human and natural systems. It will explore future pathways that avoid dangerous climate change while at the same time contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those of climate action, zero hunger, clean water and sanitation, good health and well-being, affordable and clean energy, and healthy ecosystems above and below water. The relevant time scale is multi-decadal to millennial.