Process oriented infrastructure for climate-driven forest migration through cities
type: CreativeWork
description: Global climate change is expected to shift the geographical distribution of tree species worldwide. Increasing empirical evidence has emerged showing that many tree species are already moving toward higher latitudes to track suitable climatic conditions. Yet, such movement cannot guarantee their survival, especially if the accessibility of suitable climates is highly constrained by species dispersal capabilities and human-created barriers. In order to assist forest migration, many efforts have been made to translocate tree species from their native ranges to locations where the climate is projected to be suitable in the future (known as assisted migration). However, there are concerns that such translocations may not be successful and may lead to unpredictable adverse consequences. This is because uncertainties in species’ distribution projections could cause a risk of moving species too far or not far enough. Within this context, this study develops a process-oriented approach to map and design urban landscapes to facilitate forest migration under climate change. The focus lies on the connectivity of urban landscapes for effective seed dispersal. Since the migration of trees is a continuing process that does not rely on their future distributions, a process-oriented approach could avoid projections of species’ future distributions and thus might be more feasible and manageable, as well as more robust to future climate change, than the current “goal-oriented” strategy of assisted migration. This study is guided by the following three research questions: (1) Why should we consider cities in the process of forest migration and what roles can urban landscapes play in the process? (2) How can forest trees migrate through urban areas, and more specifically, how can urban landscapes, as seed sources or stepping stones, contribute to the process? (3) How to design urban green infrastructure to facilitate forest migration and, more specifically, to promote seed dispersal an…
abstract: Global climate change is expected to shift the geographical distribution of tree species worldwide. Increasing empirical evidence has emerged showing that many tree species are already moving toward higher latitudes to track suitable climatic conditions. Yet, such movement cannot guarantee their survival, especially if the accessibility of suitable climates is highly constrained by species dispersal capabilities and human-created barriers. In order to assist forest migration, many efforts have been made to translocate tree species from their native ranges to locations where the climate is projected to be suitable in the future (known as assisted migration). However, there are concerns that such translocations may not be successful and may lead to unpredictable adverse consequences. This is because uncertainties in species’ distribution projections could cause a risk of moving species too far or not far enough. Within this context, this study develops a process-oriented approach to map and design urban landscapes to facilitate forest migration under climate change. The focus lies on the connectivity of urban landscapes for effective seed dispersal. Since the migration of trees is a continuing process that does not rely on their future distributions, a process-oriented approach could avoid projections of species’ future distributions and thus might be more feasible and manageable, as well as more robust to future climate change, than the current “goal-oriented” strategy of assisted migration. This study is guided by the following three research questions: (1) Why should we consider cities in the process of forest migration and what roles can urban landscapes play in the process? (2) How can forest trees migrate through urban areas, and more specifically, how can urban landscapes, as seed sources or stepping stones, contribute to the process? (3) How to design urban green infrastructure to facilitate forest migration and, more specifically, to promote seed dispersal an…
author: Han, Qiyao
language: eng
keywords: Forest migration, Climate change, Green infrastructure, Urban afforestation, Range shift
date published: 2020-7
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:55:12Z
provider: Queen's University Belfast
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Queen's University Belfast