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?
I didnt know tress absorb carbon dioxide. -christa
ReplyDeleteOverpopulation can be one of the causes that limit the trees from absorbing carbon dioxide.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that trees are a lighter color should be concerning for us humans. Without the trees absorbing as much carbon dioxide as we thought, there is more carbon dioxide in the air which is not beneficial to humans. We should be concerned about this because with all of the excess carbon dioxide there are not a lo of other ways to dispose of it. The carbon dioxide takes up the space for oxygen which we need to live.
ReplyDelete- Caroline Wilhelms
DeleteI believe that the trees are lighter because of all the pollution that seeps into the ground causing all the minerals to be either weaken or disappear causing the trees not be able to collect all the minerals it needs to grow healthy and strong.
ReplyDelete-uly
DeleteThe more our population grows the more CO2 that is in the air and if the trees don't take in as much then the level of oxygen will decrease
ReplyDeleteGavin
DeleteMaybe the trees usually grow at a certain rate but the increase of carbon dioxide in the air made them grow faster but at the cost of not being able to produce denser wood. I googled the subject and could only find articles that cited TUM, so maybe more experiments need to be made. The study only used trees in Europe, so maybe trees in different climates would have different results.
ReplyDeleteIan
Even thought trees are growing faster its not always a good thing. They do not have as much carbon dioxide in them as we. We need to do something to help.
ReplyDeleteinteresting that trees are getting light over the 150+ years
ReplyDeletehow can they tell how fast its growing just by the rings -Bennett
ReplyDeleteI didn't know 8-12 percent of trees are lighter than they were 150 years ago
ReplyDeleteWillie Gibbs
DeleteHow long will it take for this to become an overwhelming problem for us? - Josiah
ReplyDeleteI noticed that this study consisted of the same set of trees in the same area.. although there are different species of trees used in this study, do you think the area of where the trees were planted has anything to do with the density of the wood? Further, in earlier years, was the tree more dense than it has been within the past 20?
ReplyDeleteIn reading about this topic, it's important to recognize possible alternative explanations for the decrease in tree mass density, as opposed to the density these trees were producing 150 years ago. Looking further into the article, they specify that they surveyed Spruce, Pine, Beech, and Oak trees. Spruce and Pine trees have an average lifespan of about 200 years, and Beech and Oak have an average of around 300.
ReplyDeleteThis is important to consider, as if these trees are 150 years old, they have either lived for 3/4 of their lifespan (About a 60 year old human), or 1/2 of their lifespan (or about a 40 year old human). In animal and human life, things like bone density naturally decrease with age. Looking specifically at humans, other things will thin out as well, examples being hair, nails, the weakening of teeth and skin. This reducing of mass that the tree is creating may simply be a factor of an aging tree, that just isn't as good at creating new mass as it used to be when it was younger.
A broader sample of younger, and possibly even older trees would be beneficial to examining if the root of this problem truly is within the increasing of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere causing trees to create less dense wood.
Some ways of reducing our carbon emissions, is to begin to wean ourselves off of burning fossil fuels, focusing on renewable natural resources for our power, like wind, water, and solar power. Even simple things like turning off electronics can reduce carbon emissions.
The truest way of straight up removing carbon dioxide form the environment is still using plant photosynthesis to remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere, as it's doubly beneficial to us, as plants create oxygen with carbon dioxide. If trees are truly becoming thinner, the only plausible solution is to plant more trees to even out the way that trees used to absorb carbon in the air.
-Eva Deniszczuk ★
This shows that speed isn't the thing that the trees need to worry about, its more about their thickness so they can absorb CO2
ReplyDeleteoverpopulation and too much toxic gases that come from factory are the causes that limit the tress from absorbing carbon dioxide
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteOverpopulation can contribute to this
The population of the people are becoming way too high which is affecting our trees and the amount of oxygen that can be absorbed
ReplyDeleteThey absorb a lot of carbon, age makes them weaker and rushing progress makes them weaker
ReplyDelete-Ray
it could be a problems with forest fire because of how big the trees are and the fire could move faster they it was a 150 years age
ReplyDeleteTajMckinney
i didn't know trees have been becoming lighter over the past 150 years
ReplyDeleteSammie Katz
I think the trees are lighter because there is more CO2 in the air, so the trees are growing faster but not as dense. -Olamide
ReplyDeletehow is the growth of trees being effected? Are we making this problem worse? - Lindsay Dehn
ReplyDelete