Favor existing species or genotypes that are better adapted to future conditions

Large reductions in carbon can occur with some natural disturbances and can result in species composition changes. Favoring or restoring species expected to be well adapted to future climate through management practices can facilitate a gradual shift in the forest composition that allows for continued levels of forest carbon stocks without disturbance-related carbon reductions. For a particular site or forest type, there are likely many species that may be well adapted to the future range of climatic conditions. Some future-adapted tree species may be present at a particular site as a minor component of the community. Management actions that emphasize or restore these future-adapted species now may create opportunities to increase their relative abundance to fill the niche left by maladapted species that decline. Where communities are dominated by one or a few species, this approach will probably lead to conversion to a different community type, albeit with native species.

Land managers already work in many ways to increase forest productivity through enhancing structural heterogeneity and species diversity. As an adaptation strategy for managing forest carbon, this general goal receives added effort and focus when managing systems whose current characteristics limit the ability of the forest to sequester carbon or increase the risk of carbon losses through disturbance under a changing climate. This strategy is focuses on altering the characteristics of a forest through intentional alterations of species composition and structure so the desired future conditions of the forest are significantly changed from current conditions. These changes may be necessary in order to create ecosystems that are better adapted to the range of expected future conditions, thereby maintaining desired ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration and storage and reducing the risk of carbon loss from disturbance.