"Live fast. Die young!" Fast-growing trees could store less carbon

Nature Communications

Faster growth leads to a shorter lifespan in trees, according to a paper published in Nature Communications. The findings could have implications for predictions of how much carbon forests can store under climate change.

A black spruce (Picea mariana) forest.
Photo credit - Western Arctic National Parklands

A relationship between faster tree growth rates and shorter tree lifespan has been shown in some trees, particularly in cold-adapted conifers, but whether this applies across species and climates has been disputed. Such a trade-off would be at odds with the use of tree growth rates as a proxy for carbon storage, and cast doubt on Earth system model predictions of global forest carbon storage.

Roel Brienen and colleagues analysed a large dataset of tree-ring data representing 110 tree species across all continents except Africa and Antarctica. They report that faster growth is linked to reduced tree lifespan both across and within tree species, and show that this is not due to covariance with climate or soil variables. Using model forest simulations based on data about the black spruce (Picea mariana), they further show that this trade-off has the potential to slow down or even reverse the global forest carbon sink in the future.

These findings challenge most predictions of future carbon storage in mature forests, casting doubt on the persistence of the global forest carbon sink in the coming decades. The authors call for efforts to integrate tree-growth lifespan trade-offs in process-based models of forest carbon dynamics.

Snowpack declines may stunt tree growth and forests' ability to store carbon emissions

ScienceNews

Hoar frost coats trees of the boreal forest in Manitoba, Canada. 

A PinP photo.

Researchers conducting a 5-year-long study examining snow cover in a northern hardwood forest region found that projected changes in climate could lead to a 95 percent reduction of deep-insulating snowpack in forest areas across the northeastern United States by the end of the 21st century. The loss of snowpack would likely result in a steep reduction of forests' ability to store climate-changing carbon dioxide and filter pollutants from the air and water. Story here.

Climate change is wiping out the baobab, Africa’s ‘tree of life’

Ameenah Gurib-Fakim - the Guardian

The trees are a scientific wonder, once capable of living for thousands of years, but now becoming endangered species. Story here.

Boab trees. photo by ChatDaniels

The right-wing government of Manitoba, Canada, “chops” a valuable tree-growing facility

WinnipegFreePress

                                           

A Pineland Forest Nursery photo.

The provincial government is selling a massive tree-growing operation near Hadashville that produces and stores seeds for every type of tree grown in Manitoba. More here.

Rooting Out Democracy

George Monbiot

The Sheffield tree massacre is one result of the monstrous, impenetrable officialdom that neoliberalism creates. Story here. 

H

Here in Canada, trees are also treated as a nuisance, to be gotten rid of. They rarely win the battle when "Big Ag" decides they have to go. Just watch the video, below, to see what we mean. PinP

Italy rebuked for failure to prevent olive-tree tragedy

nature

European Commission reveals widespread delays by the country’s authorities to halt spread of deadly plant disease. Story here.

Have crop shelter belts outlived their usefulness? Modern agriculture has spoken - they have.

Are trees now passé in our modern agricultural landscape? Please check out my brief video, below on the era of crop "shelter belts," now disappearing from the scene.

As always, you are urged to add your own two-bits worth in the comments section, below.

Winnipeg's Urban Forest a Monoculture at Risk of Being Wiped Out by Disease

CBCnews

CBC analysis using city tree inventory data reveals never-before-seen picture of Dutch elm disease. Story here.