Trees are in trouble, just when we thought their renewable fibers were going to help replace non-renewable materials. And after we realized that they were storing carbon from the atmosphere as natural sinks. A team of German forest scientists is warning, look what we are doing to trees through the climate change we cause. You may find their discoveries concerning.
What We Are Doing to Trees
Trees around the world are displaying longer growing seasons as global temperatures rise. As much as three extra weeks of annual growth which is making their wood weaker. Moreover, exhaust fumes and fertilizer runoff are not helping keep them strong either.
The wood density of Norway Spruce, Sessile Oak, European Beech, and Scots Pine in the research area is reducing.
The forest scientists took core samples in forty-one experimental plots in southern Germany. Visionaries planted these in 1870 to monitor the trees over time. Their successors found their density fell by 8% – 12%.
Proofs are Everywhere, When We Look
The effects of long, hot summers are evident in the Company’s Gardens in Cape Town, when we look at what we are doing to trees. There, oak saplings brought from England grow faster, straggly branches that become brittle. While the oldest trees in the European countryside look as solid as ever.
The forest scientists discovered another alarming thing: “As the density of the wood samples dropped, so did their carbon content by about 50%.” A news channel interviewed Richard Houghton, an ecologist at Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts. He said that this discovery “means the trees have been sucking up less CO2 from the atmosphere every year.”
There is however one shining light in the darkness. Pekka Kauppi, an environmental scientist at the University of Helsinki believes “a global turnaround from shrinking to expanding forests” compensates for the lower density. Phew, we hope Kauppi is right or else we might be in for a lot of trouble.
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Preview Image: Alpine Scenery in Bavaria, Southern Germany
