Trees On Strike !

The trees absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The trees absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Every year that passes, trees leaf out earlier in spring because of rising temperatures due to the climate change. But it seems that in recent years, according to a new international scientific research, the trees are ‘on strike’, as they show a tendency to stop this phenomenon.

The researchers examined data from many common trees in 1,245 locations from Denmark to Bosnia.

It was found that in the period 1980-1994, and 1999-2013, the leaves of the trees grew more and more prematurely about 13 days overall over the past 30 years. But in the second period (1999-2013) the growth rate was lower than in the period (1980-1994). That is to say that leaves keep coming sooner, but with continually decelerating rate.

The slowdown "suggests a current and possible future weakening of forests' carbon uptake due to the declining temperature sensitivity of (trees)," lead author Yongshuo Fu of Peking University in Beijing told AFP.

The fact that the trees leaf out earlier, means that, over the years, they absorb more and more carbon dioxide, par excellence "greenhouse gas."
But the new study raises fears that the trees are approaching their limits in terms of how early they can leaf and therefore how much more carbon dioxide can absorb.

Many tree species need a period of cold temperatures before they are ready to leaf out.

This biological mechanism exists so as to ensure the trees that when they make leaves, the winter has indeed gone and their leaves will not dry out. However, due to the climate change, the weather conditions have become more unpredictable; thus, the trees are likely to stop making leaves earlier in order to reduce the risk of a possible damage.

The average global temperature has risen by 0.8 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels and UNO’s goal is to limit global warming to two C overall.

Source: businessinsider.com, terradaily.com