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Assessing the potential for urban trees to facilitate forest tree migration in the eastern United States
Latitudinal shifts in tree species distributions are a potential impact of climate change on forest ecosystems. It has been hypothesized that some tree species may become extirpated as climate change effects may exceed their migration ability. The goal of this study was to compare tree species compositions in northern urban areas to tree compositions in forestland areas in the eastern U.S. as an indicator of the potential for urban trees to facilitate future forest tree species migration. Results indicated that a number of tree species native to eastern U.S. forests of southern latitudes are currently present in northern urban forests.
- climate change
- facilitated migration
- assisted migration
- eastern United States
- forest ecosystems