THE ACADIAN FOREST OF THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES AND EASTERN CANADA HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS A MAJOR CARBON SINK ACCOUNTING FOR 8% (UNITED STATES) AND 14% (CANADA) OF TOTAL NATIONAL FOREST CARBON STORES WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY BEING IDENTIFIED AS ONE OF THE MOST ENDANGERED FORESTS IN NORTH AMERICA. A COMPLEX MOSAIC OF VARIOUS FOREST TYPES IN MULTIPLE STAGES OF STAND DEVELOPMENT PRIMARILY DUE TO ANTHROPOGENIC AND NATURAL DISTURBANCES PROVIDES AN IMPORTANT ECONOMIC RESOURCE AS WELL AS HABITAT TO A DIVERSITY OF WILDLIFE. MANAGING FOR THE MULTIPLE RESOURCES THIS ECOSYSTEM PROVIDES REQUIRES ACCURATE PREDICTIVE MODELING IN THE FACE OF EXPECTED SPECIES DISTRIBUTION CHANGES DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE. THIS PROJECT PROPOSES TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT SPECIES-SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS AT MULTIPLE SCALES INCLUDING CLIMATE TOPOGRAPHY SOILS SEED DISPERSAL AND BIOTIC INTERACTIONS AS WELL AS THE FEEDBACK EFFECTS OF NATURAL DISTURBANCE ON THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE IN ORDER TO PREDICT CHANGES IN TREE SPECIES HABITAT. USING A DATASET FROM THE ENTIRE ACADIAN REGION WILL ASSURE ACCURATE ASSIGNATION OF SPECIES BIOCLIMATIC REQUIREMENTS AT DIFFERENT LATITUDES LONGITUDE AND ELEVATION WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF POWERFUL STATISTICAL SOFTWARE. THIS SURFACE DATA SET WILL BE INTEGRATED WITH LANDSAT DERIVED DATA IN THE SPATIALLY-DYNAMIC LANDIS-II (LANDIS) MODEL. A 4 MILLION HA AREA OF LAND HAS BEEN PARAMETERIZED FOR USE IN LANDIS THROUGH THE AUTOMATION OF MULTI-TEMPORAL IMAGEPROCESSING OF LANDSAT DATA. LANDIS CAN INVESTIGATE THE INFLUENCE OF NATURAL DISTURBANCE AND STAND LEVEL BIOTIC INTERACTIONS ON FUTURE SPECIES DISTRIBUTION AND ASSOCIATED CARBON CYCLES. SIMULATION OF VARIOUS ALTERNATIVE FUTURE SCENARIOS WILL BE CONDUCTED AND ASSESSED FOR THEIR IMPACT ON ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS CARBON DYNAMICS AND ASSOCIATED TRADEOFFS. RESULTS WILL HELP ELUCIDATE THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION TO MANAGE THE CARBON BUDGET WHILE MAINTAINING ECONOMIC PROFITABILITY AND WILDLIFE HABITAT. LASTLY THE FLEXIBLE TECHNIQUES PRESENTED IN THIS PROPOSAL CAN BE APPLIED TO OTHER REGIONS.