Study Shows How Aspen Forests Maintain the Diversity Needed to Adapt to Changing Environments
Published:14 Oct.2021 Source:University of Wisconsin-Madison
Watching paint dry has nothing on watching a forest grow That achingly long wait has always made it challenging to study how forests adapt to environmental fluctuations -- making it that much harder to predict how they'll fare in a changing climate or under new pest pressures.
But a new decade-long study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers reveals how aspen stands change their genetic structure over the years as trees balance defending themselves from pests with growth to compete for sunlight. Aspen is the most broadly distributed tree species in North America, and a bellwether species for how forests will adapt to an onslaught of human-influenced environmental changes.