Jonathon Clifford WinnelPhD student
About me
The overall aim of my PhD project is to identify and characterise climate refugia for boreal understory plant species. Climate refugia are places in the forest landscape where northern species occur and can be maintained at their southern range margin under climate change. Protecting climate refugia is a potentially important climate adaptation strategy for forest biodiversity conservation as it allows time for species to persist, adapt and disperse under climate change. My research addresses some of the important knowledge gaps that are hindering our ability to identify and understand climate refugia:
1) How are cold-favoured northern species distributed in relation to microclimate gradients at their southern range margins?
2) To what extent are potential climate refugia limited by competition from expanding southern species?
3) Could means of community climate preference be used to identify sites that could serve as climate refugia?
In the final stage of this project I will synthesise the findings of 1-3 to develop a ´climate refugia tool´. This will be in the form of a practical guide that will inform forest policy and management on how to use climate refugia to help mitigate the effect of climate change on threatened boreal species.
Kristoffer Hylander is my supervisor and my co-supervisors are Johan Ehrlén, Jonathan Lenoir and Carloine Greiser.
