Recent Climate Change Impacts on the Boreal Forest of Alaska

The vast boreal forest biome is experiencing rapid climate warming with multiple impacts on the ecosystem which include direct vegetation changes; alterations to the ground thermal and hydrological regimes; and increases in disturbance by fire, insects, and disease. This cold biome serves as one of the major carbon storage reservoirs on this planet and there is much concern that soil warming will result in the release of massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere where it can cause a significant feedback to global climate change. Climate predictions and observations point to interior Alaska as one of the regions experiencing the most drastic warming and can thus serve as an important harbinger of ecosystem response to climate change.