Future Forest: Will higher air temperatures affect Canada’s evergreen forests?
In a warmer world, we expect glaciers will melt and sea levels will rise, but what impact will higher air temperatures have on Canada’s vast – and economically vital – evergreen forests? Ingo Ensminger, a professor of biology at U of T Mississauga, is heating a patch of land at Koffler Scientific Reserve north of Toronto as part of an experiment he hopes will yield some answers. Earlier this year, Ensminger and his team planted 1,200 white pine seedlings on a dozen small plots at the U of T facility (a portion of the site is shown at left).