Sang et al. (2026) Shifting growth–climate limitations in Canadian forests under recent climate change

Identification

• Journal: Communications Earth & Environment
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-06-26
• Authors: Zihaohan Sang, Andreas Hamann, Martin P. Girardin, Vinícius Manvailer
• DOI: 10.1038/s43247-026-03713-7

Research Groups

• Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
• Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta
• Laurentian Forestry Center, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
• Pacific Forestry Center, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada

Short Summary

This study analyzes 38,395 tree-ring chronologies from 4,179 Canadian sites over 120 years to quantify how growth limitations respond to climate change in Canadian forests. The results show that drought sensitivity already dominates much of the boreal and sub-boreal domain.

Objective

• To analyze the response of forest growth to climate change in Canada.
• To identify the dominant climatic limitation on tree growth across different ecoregions of Canada.
• To examine how growth–climate relationships evolve through time.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Continental scale, with a focus on Canadian forests.
• Temporal Scale: 120 years, with a focus on the period from 1901 to 2020.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Dendroclimatology, using tree-ring chronologies to track forest growth and climate relationships.
• Data sources: The Canadian Forest Service tree-ring database CFS-TRenD; 13, which contains more than 40,000 chronologies from over 4,000 sites across Canada.

Main Results

• Drought sensitivity already dominates much of the boreal and sub-boreal domain in Canada.
• Growth–climate relationships evolve through time, with some regions showing persistent drought limitation, while others exhibit reversible growth–climate relationships.
• Species-specific differences reveal contrasts between ecological generalists and specialists.

Contributions

• This study provides new insights into the response of forest growth to climate change in Canada.
• The results have implications for reforestation and regeneration programs, as well as for understanding the role of Canadian forests in climate mitigation.

Funding

• Not specified.

Citation

@article{Sang2026Shifting,
  author = {Sang, Zihaohan and Hamann, Andreas and Girardin, Martin P. and Manvailer, Vinícius},
  title = {Shifting growth–climate limitations in Canadian forests under recent climate change},
  journal = {Communications Earth & Environment},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1038/s43247-026-03713-7},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03713-7}
}