Zihaohan Sang

Climatic risk assessment of seed transfers to address climate change

Zihaohan is a PhD student in the Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta. She joined the CoAdapTree project in January 2019. Zihaohan completed a dual Master’s of Science program (TRANSFOR-M) at the University of Freiburg and University of Alberta, where she studied no-analogue ecological communities and no-analogue climate conditions since the last ice age based on fossil pollen data and paleo-climate models. Zihaohan now works on adaptation of tree species to climate environments, and she is researching the risks and opportunities for assisted migration to address climate change. Her role in the CoAdapTree project is to investigate climatic risk factors when moving seed to colder environments in anticipation of climate change. Specifically, she analyzes how the risk of late spring frosts and early fall frost change when Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine, and western larch populations, deployed in current seed zones, are moved to higher elevation bands or northward to address climate change.