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Boreal Forest, Canada

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Climate and Conservation

Abstract

The vast expanse of the boreal forest in Canada is home to a diversity of wide-ranging animals, from migratory land birds and waterfowl to the largest caribou herds in the world. Boreal ecosystems are likely to experience dramatic changes in this century, particularly through anticipated alteration in vegetation and wildfire regimes as a result of the greater-than-average rate of warming predicted for more northerly latitudes. Conservation efforts aimed at addressing the challenge of climate change are focused on finding win-win strategies that accomplish both mitigation and adaptation by protecting the carbon storage potential of boreal ecosystems and developing innovative tools for integrating the effects of economic land uses, natural ecosystem dynamics, and climate change into a unified approach to conservation planning in a multiuse, yet largely intact, landscape.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography at Simon Fraser, University in British Columbia, Canada

    Meg Krawchuk (assistant professor)

  2. University of Alberta, Canada

    Kim Lisgo (ecologist on the BEACONs Project)

  3. Research Council of Canada, University of Ottawa, Canada

    Shawn Leroux (Natural Science and Engineering)

  4. University of Alberta, Canada

    Pierre Vernier (spatial analyst)

  5. Canada Research Chair in Boreal Ecosystems Modelling, Université Laval, Québec, Canada

    Steve Cumming

  6. Northern Environmental and Conservation Sciences Program, University of Alberta, Canada

    Fiona Schmiegelow (professor)

Authors
  1. Meg Krawchuk
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  2. Kim Lisgo
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  3. Shawn Leroux
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  4. Pierre Vernier
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  5. Steve Cumming
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  6. Fiona Schmiegelow
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Berkeley, USA

    Jodi A. Hilty (director) (director)

  2. environmental politics at Brandeis University and the Fletcher School at Tufts University, USA

    Charles C. Chester (assistant professor) (assistant professor)

  3. Wildlife Conservation Society, USA

    Molly S. Cross (coordinator) (coordinator)

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Krawchuk, M., Lisgo, K., Leroux, S., Vernier, P., Cumming, S., Schmiegelow, F. (2012). Boreal Forest, Canada. In: Hilty, J.A., Chester, C.C., Cross, M.S. (eds) Climate and Conservation. Island Press/Center for Resource Economics. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-203-7_6

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