Project Summary
Climate change is affecting ecosystems globally, however, those at northern latitudes are experiencing changes at an increased rate. Large and deep lakes may offer climate change refugia for adjacent shorelines, creating microclimates that provide sanctuaries for species vulnerable to these changes. The bedrock shores of Lake Superior are prime examples of climate refugia given that many arctic and alpine plant species exist in disjunct populations there. Still, little is known about how the lake's cooling effect impacts forests along the shoreline. We set out to measure the impacts that the lake may have on forest structure extending inland from the shore and how this would differ depending on how exposed the shoreline was to the lake's cooling effect. We sampled 1,850 trees at 60 plots of varying distance from the shore, using diameter at breast height and abundance of species as indicators of structural differences. Our preliminary results suggest that no clear trends can be observed from our data across all species. However, Aspen and Balsam fir seem to favour unexposed shorelines compared to exposed ones. We also found that species richness was greatest at exposed sites nearest the shoreline. Our study indicates that there does seem to be a structural response to the microclimate created by the lake, however further analysis will be required to determine whether this alone is driving the response.
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