Boreal forest, Canada

Abstract

The vast expanse of the boreal forest in Canada is home to a diversity of wide-ranging animals, from migratory land birds and waterfowl to the largest caribou herds in the world. Boreal ecosystems are likely to experience dramatic changes in this century, particularly through anticipated alteration in vegetation and wildfire regimes as a result of the greater-than-average rate of warming predicted for more northerly latitudes. Conservation efforts aimed at addressing the challenge of climate change are focused on finding win-win strategies that accomplish both mitigation and adaptation by protecting the carbon storage potential of boreal ecosystems and developing innovative tools for integrating the effects of economic land uses, natural ecosystem dynamics, and climate change into a unified approach to conservation planning in a multiuse, yet largely intact, landscape.