In this topic, we will introduce the concept of the ecological niche of species, including fundamental niches and realized niches. We will also discuss how climate change causes the mismatch between the climate that a species has been historically adapted to and the climate that the species will face in the future. Finally, we will introduce how niche-based models can help to develop forest adaptive strategies to mitigate the impact of climate change.
By the end of this topic, you should be able to
Define ecological niches, including fundamental niche and realized niche;
Describe the impact of climate change on spatial distributions of the climatic niche of a species;
Distinguish the models built based on occurrence data and provenance test data;
Select appropriate modeling approach for forest adaptation at species and population levels.
Topic Readings
Required Readings
None
Optional Readings
Wang, T.; O’Neill, G.A.; Aitken, S.N. Integrating environmental and genetic e_ects to predict responses of tree populations to climate. Ecol. Appl. 2010, 20, 153–163.
Wang T, Wang G, Innes J, Nitschke C, Kang H (2016) Climatic niche models and their consensus projections for future climates for four major forest tree species in the Asia–Pacific region. For Ecol Manage 360:357–366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2015.08.004Links to an external site.
Wang, T., A. Hamann, A. Yanchuk, G. A. O’Neill, and S. N. Aitken (2006). Use of response functions in selecting lodgepole pine populations for future climate. Global Change Biology 12:2404–2416.
Fundamental Concepts
Self Check (For certificate learning only)
After reading for this topic, take 5 minutes to take an online self-check quiz for the topic. The main purpose of the quiz is for you to self-check how well you grasp the contents for this topic. It will cover contents of the lecture(s) for the topic. Five attempts are allowed and highest mark will be saved to show your achievement.
When you are ready, click the link Self-check Quiz 4.1 to start taking the quiz.
Online discussions are much like face-to-face discussions. Students are required preparation and active participation in order to the learning objectives. The online discussion will be asynchronous (i.e., students can participate at different times) and will be closed at the end of the week. This discussion accounts for 2 marks graded based on participation and quality of the posts. Each student is required to have at least one post. Everyone is encouraged to rate each post. The first post account for 70%, the second one for 20% and third one for 10% of the participation, respectively. The first post with at least five sentences is considered as the “first post”. A simply “Yes or No” post is not considered as a post. The quality is graded by both Instructor (50%) and peer rating (50%).
Discussion Topics:
Fundamental niches vs. realized niches of a tree species
Mismatches in climate niche of species caused by climate change.
Fundamental niche and realized niche are important concepts in ecology, particularly in the context of climate change. Climate change is causing shifts in spatial distributions of ecological niches of many tree species while existing forests will mostly remain in their current locations. Thus, the existing forests might be left out their climate niche and suffer from maladaptation. We introduced how niche-based models can help to develop forest adaptive strategies to mitigate the impact of climate change.
Topic Self-review (For self learning)
Please use the reflection questions below as study guide to conduct self-review for the topic:
What is the ecological niche of a plant species?
What are the differences between the fundamental niche and the realized niche of a species?
What does a species occurrence based niche model predict, a realized niche or a fundamental niche?
Will the ecological niche of a tree species change in a short term?
what is essential to assess the impact of climate change on a tree species?