[OrganicMeds]

Great for the outdoor growers

FORESTS could be growing faster now than they were 225 years ago as a result of global warming, a study has revealed.

The study, published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found evidence that trees in the eastern United States were growing at an accelerated rate due to the rising levels of atmospheric CO2, higher temperatures and longer growing seasons.


Scientists in Maryland, VA documented changes to the growth of 55 plots of mixed hardwood forest over 22 years, and concluded the younger trees were growing much quicker than the eldest trees in the study, which were 225-years-old, a Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) blog reported yesterday.
Forest ecologist Geoffrey Parker of the SERC and Sean McMahon of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute discovered that, on average, the forest was growing an additional two tonnes per acre annually, the equivalent of a tree with a diameter of two feet sprouting up over a year.


The scientists agreed that if the older trees had grown at the same rate throughout their lives as the younger trees were now, they would be much larger.


Mr Parker began his tree census work September 8, 1987, and measured all trees that were 2cm or more in diameter, and then identified their species. By knowing the species and diameter, he was able to calculate the trees biomass.


During the past 22 years CO2 levels at SERC rose 12 per cent, the temperature increased by nearly three-tenths of a degree Celsius and the growing season lengthened by 7.8 days. Mr Parker and Mr McMahon suggested that a combination of these factors caused the forest’s accelerated biomass gain.

[antimatter]

Doesn't matter pine beetle and logging is killing all our trees, we wouldn't have pine beetle if our winters were cold enough like they used to be.

[alaskan]

cue record snowfall and low temps

[SlowCalaToker]

Originally Posted by alaskan

cue record snowfall and low temps

I wondered how long it would take to turn this into a global warming debate...

Remember, climate change is real, anthropomorphic climate change is still up for discussion.

Back to the thread.....

[Cannoiseur]

I think you meant anthropogenic. Anthropomorphic is the attribution of human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, so unless you're trying to say that Global Warming has beautiful hair and a nice personality then that word is not correct :lol:

I've read a bunch of peer reviewed articles dealing with the increased growth rates due to rising atm. CO2 and most of them agree on one thing; the growth rate increases but only temporarily. as more carbon is available for fixation and utilization the growth rate increases but since the supply of other limiting nutrients such as nitrogen is static then the newly produced biomass will be of much lower quality. As this new biomass is shed from the trees and becomes decomposing litter then the offset-balance of C:N will upset the digestive processes of the soil micro-fauna responsible for recycling the matter back into usable nutrients. Eventually all the N will be consumed to keep up with the increased carbon availability, but instead of plants and microbes releasing it for reuse, they will instead hold on to it as a precious commodity and growth will slow immensely

Makes sense to me and I only have to look at my garden to believe it.

Spring plants are starting earlier and winter frosts are coming later, plants that should die off in sept/october are hanging around till december.

[SlowCalaToker]

Originally Posted by Cannoiseur

I think you meant anthropogenic. Anthropomorphic...

Yea, you're right. I'm high, what can I say?

[Cannoiseur]

Lol, I totally understand :grin:

[Croissant]

they are probably trying to compensate for deforestation