Climate change impacts and adaptive strategies.

Abstract

Forecasted changes in Ireland’s climate will have a significant influence on the productivity of managed forests and woodlands. Given the long-term nature of forestry, the selection of suitable provenances or genotypes and adaptable management practices under future climate change scenarios are essential for sustainable forestry in Ireland. In this paper we assess potential impacts of climate change on forest productivity in order to identify and provide adaptation measures. We argue that the impacts of climate change on forest productivity are not as well characterised as expected. Despite these shortcomings, we present an ecological site classification framework to describe species responses to climatic drivers in an effort to develop adaptive strategies to address these problems.