From cell to landscape: a multiscale framework to study the climate change effects on forest ecosystems

Global warming is considered one of the major human-induced threats to ecosystem resilience. In particular, processes involving the adaptation capacity of forest ecosystems and the role of forest management to improve mitigation strategies still need to be understood more deeply. Hence, a multiscale framework highlighting the linkages between adaptation of forest ecosystems and mitigation strategies in forest management from cell to landscape scale is proposed, enhancing the role of forestry research within those contexts. At cellular level, the investigation includes analyses of cambial activity and cell features, as well as of synchronism between apical and lateral meristems to describe the effects of climate change on species’ response (e.g. growth rates). Findings from such research are demonstrated to support stand-scale studies on tree species’ growth rate, tree line shifting, geographical distribution at higher elevation, and stress responses of forest in a context of climate change. At landscape scale, the effectiveness of models and tools combining different data (e.g. remotely sensed, inventory, eco-physiological) was tested in order to facilitate a deeper understanding of structural traits and forest ecosystem dynamics. Scale transition (from cell to broader scale) and theoretical shifting (from adaptation to mitigation approach) represent two important peculiarities of our proposed framework.