Over the next several decades, the climate in
Canadian forests will shift northward at a rate that
will likely exceed the ability of individual tree species
to migrate. While most tree species can migrate naturally up to a few hundred metres per year via seed
dispersal, the climatic conditions in which each species
thrives may move north by several thousand metres
per year. Canada’s forests are home to well over
100 species of trees, of which 93 are commercially
important. Canada’s tree species are vulnerable to
climate change because trees are sensitive to climate,
and there is now little doubt that significant climate
change will continue over the next century.
