Olympic Peninsula Global Climate Change Research

Principal Investigator(s):
Dr. Andrea Woodward, USGS, FRESC, OFS

High-elevation ecotones, especially the boundary between trees and meadows, are expected to be especially sensitive to global climate change. At treeline, trees are at the environmental limit of their physiological ability to establish and survive. A shift in climate is expected to result in a shift in treeline. Climate can affect the survival at all stages of the life-history of trees. This project investigates four of those stages:

1. Cone Crop. Cone production in most trees species is episodic and thought to be influenced by weather. If climate change acts to reduce or increase the frequency and size of cone crops, tree establishment in subalpine meadows might be affected. The relationship between weather, tree growth, and cone production are studied.
2. Seedling Establishment. The first few years of a seedling’s life are especially tenuous. Until a seedling has developed an adequate root system, events such as drought and snow movement can kill them. Tree seedlings that established following a large cone crop in 1991 were marked and their fate has been followed for eleven growing seasons.

3. Establishment of Trees in Meadows. Movement of trees into meadows has been observed over the century in several parts of the Pacific Northwest. How this activity relates to climate is studied across a steep environmental gradient in Olympic National Park.
4. Tree Physiology and Growth. Tree species are expected to respond independently to climate change based on their individual adaptations to environment. Tree species that currently grow together in mixed stands may no longer be able to co-exist and other associations may form due to climate change. This possibility was investigated in mixed stands including four species on two slopes of a ridge in Olympic National Park.

Project Status
The projects on cone crop and tree establishment are complete and published. After eleven growing seasons, mortality in the seedling study has nearly ceased. However, seedlings are less than 15 cm in height and it is hard to consider them established. Field work for the tree physiology project is complete, one publication has resulted, and another is long over-due.

Products or Related Links
Peterson, D., A. Woodward, E. Schreiner, and D. Hammer. 1993. Global environmental change in mountain protected areas: consequences for management, pp. 29036. In: Hamilton, L. S., D. P. Bauer and H. F. Takeuchi (eds.), Parks, Peaks and People. East-West Center, Honolulu, HI.

Rochefort, R., R. Little, A. Woodward, and D. Peterson. 1994. Changes in subalpine tree distribution in western North America: a review of climate and other causal factors. Holocene 4:89-100.

Woodward, A. 1998. Relationships among environmental variables and distribution of tree species at high elevation in the Olympic Mountains. Northwest Science 72:10-22.

Woodward, A., M. Gracz, and E. G. Schreiner. 1991. Climatic effects on establishment of subalpine fir in meadows in the Olympic Mountains. Northwest Environmental Journal 7:353-354.

Woodward, A., and J. Rugh. 1993. Subalpine meadows: A promising indicator of global climate change. Park Science 13:10-11.

Woodward, A., D. G. Silsbee, E. G. Schreiner, and J. E. Means. 1994. Influence of climate on radial growth and cone production in subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) and mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana). Canadian Journal of Forest Research 24:1133-1143.

Woodward, A., E. G. Schreiner, and D. G. Silsbee. 1995. Climate, geography, and tree establishment in subalpine meadows of the Olympic Mountains, Washington, U.S.A. Arctic and Alpine Research 27:217-225.

Partners
Olympic National Park

Acknowledgements
Thanks is due to many people for help with these projects. Seedlings for the seedling establishment project were originally marked in 1992 by Jonathan Soll for his Master’s project. Field work and lab work for the other projects were done by M. Albright, M. Bivin, S. Bohlman, S. Brace, J. Burger, D. Doss, M. Gracz, D. Horner, W. Jackman, S. Kocher, P. Maurides, L. Parker, D. Peterson, S. Prichard, L. Spier, S. Wing, and N. Zolbrod. Drs. L. Conquest and M. Arbaugh provided statistical consultation. Weather maps and interpretation were provided by E. Recker and L. Rasmussen. Funding was provided by the National Park Service Global Climate Change Project.

U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
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Last Update: July 23, 2003
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