These findings suggest that terrestrial and arboreal species may be able to move relatively short distances to climatically buffered microhabitats beneath dense vegetation to avoid exposure to high temperature extremes.

We also find that, while macroclimate velocities are directed upslope, near-ground climate velocities are additionally directed toward denser vegetation, and 3D climate velocities are directed vertically downward toward the ground.

We find that vegetation structure increases microclimate heterogeneity, which causes near-ground climate velocities to be 2x slower than macroclimate velocities and 3D climate velocities to be up to 161x slower than macroclimate velocities.

Using mechanistic microclimate models integrated with lidar-derived data on vegetation structure, we model climates near the ground and at multiple heights in the canopy. We then calculate climate velocity in two dimensions across the land surface and three-dimensions within the forest canopy.