Vegetation response to accelerated climate change: A case study of the White Mountains of New Hampshire

In the next century, climate change caused by "greenhouse" warming may severely alter the world's climate patterns. Forests throughout the world will be affected by this climate change. In order to bring a better understanding to the general public of how climate change will effect their lives, this paper lays the groundwork for showing the effects of anthropogenically caused accelerated climate change on the forests of the White Mountain National Forest of New Hampshire. In order to better understand climate change effects on the forests of New Hampshire, a review of climate change scenarios and the methods used to gain knowledge of forest reactions to climate change is included. The vegetation of the White Mountains will be subject to a variety of stressors caused by climate change, most importantly, an increase in atmospheric temperature. Tree species currently growing in the White Mountains will respond to increased temperatures by moving North and to higher elevations. Some genus, such as spruce (Picea) and fir (Abies), may be forced into local extinction which will result in the temperate deciduous forest replacing spruce and fir in much of the White Mountains. This change in species composition will involve a transitional period of unknown length. The socio-economic repercussions of climate change will affect the New Hampshire economy which relies heavily on tourism and the timber industry. The timber industry of New Hampshire stands to be negatively effected by the change in the forests' species composition, and especially by the loss of spruce and fir which account for almost a quarter of harvested timber in the state.