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How long does it take a tree to grow into something that substantially effects carbon counts in the atmosphere? 1 year? 10 years?
by hacker_9 9y ago
How long does it take a tree to grow into something that substantially effects carbon counts in the atmosphere? 1 year? 10 years?
- sp332 9y agoThey take carbon from the atmosphere as they grow, so they are most effective when they are young. When they die they tend to release most of it, but an established old-growth forest in China was estimated to sequester 9 tons of carbon per hectare per year. http://www.co2science.org/articles/V14/N15/EDIT.php http://www.co2science.org/articles/V14/N15/EDIT.php
- jbattle 9y agoI thought that the defining attribute of an old-growth forest is that it is in relative stasis in terms of the distribution of trees (i.e. in carbon balance)
- sp332 9y agoThe article claims that it caused some recalculation in sequestration models. Here is the original paper and some discussion from the peer review. https://www.clim-past.net/7/685/2011/cp-7-685-2011-discussion.html https://www.clim-past.net/7/685/2011/cp-7-685-2011-discussio...
- anotherbrownguy 9y agoIn fact, only growing trees have significant net absorption of CO2. Older trees, specially the non-fruit bearing kind, have negligible net CO2 absorption. Cutting down old trees may not be good for the ecosystem, but it is great for CO2 absorption, as long as something else is planted in its place, preferably a very fast growing tree.
- sp332 9y agoOlder trees are still growing, for example you can still count rings to estimate how old a tree is.
- szemet 9y ago'according to a new study published in Nature, it turns out that the oldest trees are actually still growing rapidly, and storing increasing amounts of carbon as they age' http://science.time.com/2014/01/15/study-shows-older-trees-absorb-more-carbon/ http://science.time.com/2014/01/15/study-shows-older-trees-a...