“The cold forests are burning! Siberia is burning, Canada is burning!”
On June 9, the University of Montpellier signed a memorandum of understanding withthe University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) andthe University of Franche-Comté to launch the international research project “Cold Forests.” The goal: to model how these ecosystems function in order to better preserve them. A highly topical subject. Adam Ali, a paleoecologist atISEM and the project leader in France, explains.
This project is called “Cold Forests.” What do these terms actually mean?
Our project focuses both on forests located in high latitudes—that is, the Arctic and subarctic regions—and on high-altitude forests: mountain forests. Whether they are at high altitudes or high latitudes, these forests contain species that share common life history traits. For example, their ability to withstand freezing temperatures or to grow in very short periods of time, enabling them to thrive in these ecosystems.
What is the current issue facing these forests?
Our issue is quite simple: these forests are major carbon reservoirs. This is particularly true of the boreal forest, which encircles the Arctic Circle and constitutes one of the largest terrestrial carbon sinks, with carbon trapped primarily in centuries-old peatlands. However, in recent years, the situation has been changing, and our sink is turning into a source of carbon. This shift is linked to forest fires, which are becoming increasingly frequent, larger in scale (covering several thousand hectares), and more intense. This is one of the main focuses of our research.
Do cold forests catch fire?
Yes, it’s counterintuitive, but cold forests do burn… a lot! In fact, they’re among the ecosystems that burn the most in the world. Siberia is burning, Canada is burning! For example, in 2014, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, 385 wildfires destroyed 3.4 million hectares. It’s important to note that over the past 40 years, these northern regions have seen an average annual temperature increase of +3°C. We are seeing what is happening right now in British Columbia with an unprecedented heat dome and a fire season that started very early, resulting in the evacuation of some villages (Radio Canada 07/01/2021).
Yet there’s very little talk about it, even though the fires in Australia received a lot of media attention…
That’s true. There’s little talk about it because these fires are on a completely different scale from what happened in Australia, but also because not many people live in those areas. Except, of course, for the Indigenous peoples who live in those forests, who depend on them for their livelihood and for cultural purposes. There are issues related to First Nations in these territories. They will be the first to suffer the effects of climate change.
But how do we explain why these wildfires start spontaneously?
It’s not easy, precisely because the system is quite complex. Is it linked to ocean warming? Is it linked to atmospheric anomalies? These are what we call teleconnection processes, and they’re really not easy to grasp, but we’re currently exploring this. We’re trying to model and understand these mechanisms—or at least the factors that have led to these massive wildfires in recent years.
There is also the question of how these forests are managed?
These are anthropized ecosystems, used by humans. The idea is to guide decision-making regarding any activity that relies on the use of biological resources in these ecosystems. To move toward ecosystem-based management that ensures human disturbances ultimately remain within what we call “the range of natural variability”—a range of disturbances that the ecosystem can absorb—and thus foresters and land managers are also partners in this approach.
This is an interdisciplinary project; you yourself are a paleoecologist—what does your field contribute?
We have ecologists, climatologists, forest managers, climate modelers, and so on. I focus on the paleoecological aspect. The goal is to document how these ecosystems have functioned since the Holocene, that is, over the past 11,700 years. During this geological period, there have been major climate changes: periods of warming and cooling. We want to see how these ecosystems have responded to these climate variations.
How do you observe this?
We have open-air libraries! The lakes and their sediments, which contain charcoal and pollen grains. These two bioindicators allow us to reconstruct the history of forest fires and vegetation over time. There’s also dendrochronology…
…dendro what?
“ Dendro ” means “tree” in Greek, and it also refers to chronology and time. In wood, each growth ring corresponds to one year; it’s an archive that records everything. To put it very simply, if it’s warmer, for example, the tree will produce a much larger growth ring; if it’s colder, the ring will be smaller. It’s a valuable tool for reconstructing past temperature changes. These trees also help us date fires, which—when they don’t burn the entire tree—leave scars. These scars contain important information that allows us to date fires to within a year.
How long will the “Cold Forests” project last, and where will it take place?
It is scheduled to run for five years, renewable once. The project will be based in Quebec, where we will be hosted at the university, but we will also work in Canada’s boreal zone, in the Northwest Territories, Labrador, and Newfoundland. In mountainous regions, the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Vosges, as well as the Atlas and Rif mountains of Morocco are the targeted locations. The broader project also includes a component in the Altai Mountains, located on the border between Russia and China…
You mentioned an expanded project—what is that about?
The memorandum of understanding we signed on June 9 is an international research project (IRP) involvingthe University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), the CNRS,the University of Franche-Comté, and UM. Alongside this IRP, we have established a broader international research network (IRN) that includes Sweden, Norway, Russia, China… All these partners enable us to take a truly international approach to our research questions and develop joint projects.
What does this agreement, which the University of Montpellier has just signed, allow you to do?
This is the first time the University has adopted a tool that allows Professors free up time and mental bandwidth to pursue their research. Thanks to Muse and the program, I was able to receive a two-thirds reduction in teaching load for the entire duration of the IRP. This is a major component of the agreement on the French side. The University of Franche-Comté provides support in areas such as mobility assistance and securing project funding. On the Canadian side, there are also substantial resources, notably the Quebec Research Fund, which will contribute the equivalent of $100,000 annually. We also benefit from the creation of a research chair in historical ecology. In short, thanks to this agreement, we have five to ten years ahead of us to develop large-scale research on these fascinating ecosystems.
Adam Ali: A Passion for Cold Forests
In 2004, Adam Ali, fresh out of his PhD program, flew to Quebec and never left. The author of a dissertation on past environmental changes in alpine ecosystems, he was drawn to cold-climate forests the day he became fascinated by the study of wildfires. “Fires! That’s what sparked my passion for cold forests,” recalls the researcher. In 2008, he was recruited by the University of Montpellier 2 and joined the CBAE, the Center for Bioarcheology and Ecology, which has since merged intoISEM.
In Montpellier, where research tends to focus more on the South, few scientists work on cold regions, as Adam Ali quips: “I have a field and a scientific niche all to myself! ” His most significant collaborations, therefore, are across the Atlantic and in Quebec more specifically, particularly the one he has maintained since 2005 with Yves Bergeron, the project coordinator in Canada. “He’s an outstanding researcher; he received the Marie Victorin Prize, which is the highest scientific honor in Quebec,” notes the Frenchman. “He has an impact factor that borders on the outrageous, and on top of that, he possesses exceptional human qualities.” ” Fully committed “2000%” to this major project for the next five, or even ten, years, Adam Ali could very well, by 2023, take the plunge and settle for good near his cold forests.