Trees are growing faster, but the wood is lighter by Meredith Jacques
Forests are considered a great carbon sink--trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and incorporate it into their body mass. So, trees sequester carbon, which means that the carbon is held in place in the tree's body and not floating around in the atmosphere. And as the climate warms, trees are growing faster. This seems like a good thing, more trees to absorb more carbon! But, a group of researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have been studying tree growth from trees growing over the last 150 years have made a troubling discovery.
According to the data collected by TUM, trees have been getting lighter over the last 150 years. The examined hundreds of trees of various species and looked closely at their ring structure to determine how quickly they are growing and how dense their mass is. This study was conducted on a test plot that was planted 150 years ago and has had the same treatment over the course of those 150 years. They discovered that the mass tress are adding is 8-12 percent lighter than it was 150 years ago. So maybe trees aren't sequestering as much more carbon dioxide as we might have thought, even with faster growth.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180814101501.htm
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112718310600?via%3Dihub
Why is it a problem that the mass of trees is lighter than it was 150 years ago?
What might be causing this change?
Are there any better ways of "scrubbing" carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere?
Forests are considered a great carbon sink--trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and incorporate it into their body mass. So, trees sequester carbon, which means that the carbon is held in place in the tree's body and not floating around in the atmosphere. And as the climate warms, trees are growing faster. This seems like a good thing, more trees to absorb more carbon! But, a group of researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have been studying tree growth from trees growing over the last 150 years have made a troubling discovery.
According to the data collected by TUM, trees have been getting lighter over the last 150 years. The examined hundreds of trees of various species and looked closely at their ring structure to determine how quickly they are growing and how dense their mass is. This study was conducted on a test plot that was planted 150 years ago and has had the same treatment over the course of those 150 years. They discovered that the mass tress are adding is 8-12 percent lighter than it was 150 years ago. So maybe trees aren't sequestering as much more carbon dioxide as we might have thought, even with faster growth.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180814101501.htm
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112718310600?via%3Dihub
Why is it a problem that the mass of trees is lighter than it was 150 years ago?
What might be causing this change?
Are there any better ways of "scrubbing" carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere?
the reason they are less dense is we are cutting them so much-Andrew
ReplyDeletei think what might be causing this is everything developing and not allowing much space for the trees to grow like they used to
ReplyDelete-jo
The ever-changing environment may be causing this change in trees. When people in society continue to damage and pollute the area we live in, plant life can be impacted by beginning to evolve. Ashley Herman
ReplyDeletea reason the trees could be lighter now than they were 150 years ago is the soil around them could have loss nutrients, and the nutrients that use to be there were what helped the trees grow denser in the past. -kennedy
ReplyDeleteThey aren't giving as much carbon dioxide.
ReplyDeleteThe trees aren't getting as much carbon as they grow.
We can grow more trees to take in more carbon dioxide.
~Gray Daitch
The trees have less space to grow, so I think thats why they get lighter.- Berto
ReplyDeleteThe more you cut the trees down the less bigger or dense the tree will be each time. -Jason Williams
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I didn't know that. Also, that makes sense.
DeleteNoah Wasserman
The environment changed a lot due to the deforestation that went through east and west of America - the less amount of space that forest have is quite concerning
ReplyDelete-Ash
the reason they want the kept lighter trees for years
ReplyDeleteI think that when the trees were denser, they were able to take in more Carbon Dioxide. I also think that because the trees are less dense now, they cannot hold more Carbon Dioxide, which could lead to Global Warming. - Noah Brockmann
ReplyDeletewhen the trees are wider they are able to take in more carbon dioxide and give more oxygen than a tree that is thinner.
ReplyDeletewhen the trees are wider they are able to take in more carbon dioxide and give more oxygen than a tree that is thinner.-Jeffrey
ReplyDeleteSomething with the carbon dioxide that is making the trees lighter than it was 150 years ago-Brandon McKinley
ReplyDeleteThe more we chop down trees, the less they are going to provide
ReplyDeleteIf we keep chopping trees down , they aren't going to provide
ReplyDeleteI didn't a group of researchers at the Technical University of Munich have been studying tree growth from trees growing over the last 150 years have made a troubling discovery. ~ Willie
ReplyDeletethe less dense the trees will not grow higher because they'll might blown over by the wind.
ReplyDeleteThey could be less dense because of them not receiving enough carbon dioxide, that could possibly effect how much oxygen they are putting off. -caroline
ReplyDelete