Another alarm: Warmer forests remove less CO2 from the air
From one of our correspondents.
Climate change poses an increasing threat to the ability of forests to remove CO2 from the air, according to new US research. Researchers at the University of Florida analyzed 113,806 measurements in unplanted forests by the U.S. Forest Service, from 1999 to 2020. They wanted to assess how forests across the country are responding to the changing climate. Especially in the western United States, climate change has led to a striking decline in tree growth and the growth of biomass.
Forests are crucial for regulating the Earth's climate because they remove and store an important part of CO2 emissions from the air. But the ability to do that depends on the delicate balance between the positive and negative effects of climate change, the researchers explain.
Forests also have the tipping points feared by alarmists.
'We are seeing changes in the functioning of forests as their ecosystems respond to changing factors worldwide, such as CO2 fertilization and climate change', says lead author Aaron Hogan.
It is the future balance of these factors that will determine the functioning of forests in the coming years to decades.
https://www.climategate.nl/2024/01/opnieuw-alarm-warmere-bossen-halen-minder-co2-uit-de-lucht/
