What’s at risk? Implications of climate change on forests and options for adaptation

Climate change is altering forest ecosystems, with many changes expected by the end of the 21st century. Forests vary widely, and not all forests are equally at risk; vulnerabilities are strongly influenced by regional differences in climate impacts and adaptive capacity. Further, as an increasing amount of scientific information on forest vulnerability to climate change becomes available, natural resource managers are searching for ways to realistically use this information to meet specific management needs, ranging from landscape-level planning and coordination to on-the-ground implementation.