Research summary
Forests cover more than 65% of Canada’s land mass and supply a host of services, such as wood production, recreation, water filtration and regulation, and carbon sequestration. The future health of our forests depends on their ability to adapt to global changes. As Canada Research Chair in Forest Resilience to Global Changes, Dr. Christian Messier’s aim is to promote forest resilience in the face of global change.
He and his research team are establishing an international network of researchers and forest plots to study how introducing new tree species affects forest ecosystem functioning. They will work with this network to collect new data and perform meta-analyses from previously published data to answer questions about assisted tree species migration. Their research will provide crucial information about the potential advantages and drawbacks of introducing new trees species as a way to increase forest resilience and adaptability.