Trees Growing faster in Our Lifetime!
While we’ve been busy digging out from the snow all winter, scientists around the world have been elated with the new discovery that trees have been growing faster in response to global warming.
The study, published by the National Academy of Sciences, reviewed growth of 55 forests in the eastern United States for over 20 years and part of it was conducted right here in Maryland, centering on mixed hardwood trees on the western edge of the Chesapeake Bay.
The trees are growing two to four times faster than normal because of higher temperatures and more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This translates to a faster rate now than they have grown in the past 200 years!
Is this good news or bad? Trees are now known to play a vital role in fighting global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide, reports the New York Times. It appears that local forests are adapting to the rise in carbon dioxide by absorbing more of it but it is unclear as to whether trees can sustain this trend. Many scientists don’t think the increased carbon dioxide absorbtion can persist for too long because of other factors such as water availability and soil nutrients.
Some worry that although trees have adjusted well to global warming’s higher temperatures and longer growing seasons, other species such as waterfowl, are in danger as wetland habitats dry up and disappear.
Our response: Wow! Science never ceases to amaze us…even the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that occured in Chile last month has effected our earth by slowing the speed of rotation by a microsecond.
Sources:
Picture courtesy of Live Science.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/science/earth/02trees.html
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/global-warming/Global-warming-helping-trees-grow-faster/articleshow/5536203.cms
http://www.livescience.com/environment/trees-growing-faster-100202.html
http://www.urdunewsmagazine.com/news/2010/02/04/global-warming-good-for-trees-bad-for-ducks/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/02/AR2010030201377.html