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Not sure planting a "highly invasive tree" is the solution: http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/paulownia-princess-tree-on-most-hated-plants-list.html http://www.

Not sure planting a "highly invasive tree" is the solution: http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/paulownia-princess-tree-on-most-hated-plants-list.html http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/paulownia-princess-tree-on...

ghostbrainalpha 7y ago
The hybrid Empress Splendor tree is not invasive. https://worldtree.info/empress-tree/ https://worldtree.info/empress-tree/
- CyanBird 7y ago
  Quoting the website: >Is the tree invasive? >The short answer is: No, the Empress Splendor tree is not invasive. >The Empress Splendor tree belongs to the genus Paulownia. There are many different species of Paulownia and only one is classified as invasive, the Paulownia tomentosa (http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/printree.shtml http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/printree.shtml). We do not use this variety, choosing instead non-invasive species such as the Paulownia fortuneii. >The Rainforest Alliance has chosen Paulownia as an ecologically sound tree for the purposes of reforestation and carbon sequestration (View the Rainforest Alliance Report). >The Rainforest Alliance is internationally recognized as a certification program for sustainable forestry and best practices for tree planting and agroforestry.
CyanBird 7y ago
My question here, is, if this tree proposed a possible slice of solution to carbon capture, is it a "bad" thing if we let it spread over the world which would otherwise be hit by possibly run-away global warming? From my perspective, and quoting interstellar "There's no time for caution" I would go over and say that maybe even doing genetic altering of the tree, so it could fit our purposes better might be a good idea. Be it making it extremely vulnerable to specific herbicide or make it grow/capture carbon even faster
jwr 7y ago
Given what we are doing about the climate crisis (nothing), I would be very happy to plant "highly invasive trees" and have them spread around like crazy. Too many of those trees is a much better problem to have than a cooked planet.
- kgilpin 7y ago
  I guess you would be trading a carbon problem for mass extinction.
  - pakitan 7y ago
    Mass extinction of what? I haven't heard of a tree that's so invasive that it kills everything in its way, animals and plants alike.
jointpdf 7y ago
The USFS [1] page on Paulownia tomentosa cites a lot of research suggesting that it’s a “transient” invader that rapidly settles harsh or disturbed (e.g. by fire) environments, but is highly shade intolerant and gets outcompetes in the long run. So it seems to me a good strategy is to use it to rapidly colonize non-forested areas, sequester that biomass, and eventually cultivate more diverse species (or something like that). >”...thus, princesstree frequently establishes and spreads after disturbances that create these conditions, such as fire, windstorms, pestilence, floods, landslides, and anthropogenic disturbances such as construction, cultivation, mining, and logging” > “Hu suggests that by the time Paulownia grows to maturity, the seeds it produces likely cannot survive within the same habitat as the parent plant because the succeeding vegetation has ‘modified the physical environment so much that no new Paulownia has any chance to get established’. Thus, princesstree may not alter the successional pathways of some native ecosystems.“ [1] https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pautom/all.html https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pautom/all.h...

ghostbrainalpha 7y ago

The hybrid Empress Splendor tree is not invasive. https://worldtree.info/empress-tree/ https://worldtree.info/empress-tree/

CyanBird 7y ago
Quoting the website: >Is the tree invasive? >The short answer is: No, the Empress Splendor tree is not invasive. >The Empress Splendor tree belongs to the genus Paulownia. There are many different species of Paulownia and only one is classified as invasive, the Paulownia tomentosa (http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/printree.shtml http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/printree.shtml). We do not use this variety, choosing instead non-invasive species such as the Paulownia fortuneii. >The Rainforest Alliance has chosen Paulownia as an ecologically sound tree for the purposes of reforestation and carbon sequestration (View the Rainforest Alliance Report). >The Rainforest Alliance is internationally recognized as a certification program for sustainable forestry and best practices for tree planting and agroforestry.

CyanBird 7y ago

My question here, is, if this tree proposed a possible slice of solution to carbon capture, is it a "bad" thing if we let it spread over the world which would otherwise be hit by possibly run-away global warming? From my perspective, and quoting interstellar "There's no time for caution" I would go over and say that maybe even doing genetic altering of the tree, so it could fit our purposes better might be a good idea. Be it making it extremely vulnerable to specific herbicide or make it grow/capture carbon even faster

jwr 7y ago

Given what we are doing about the climate crisis (nothing), I would be very happy to plant "highly invasive trees" and have them spread around like crazy. Too many of those trees is a much better problem to have than a cooked planet.

kgilpin 7y ago
I guess you would be trading a carbon problem for mass extinction.
- pakitan 7y ago
  Mass extinction of what? I haven't heard of a tree that's so invasive that it kills everything in its way, animals and plants alike.

jointpdf 7y ago

The USFS [1] page on Paulownia tomentosa cites a lot of research suggesting that it’s a “transient” invader that rapidly settles harsh or disturbed (e.g. by fire) environments, but is highly shade intolerant and gets outcompetes in the long run. So it seems to me a good strategy is to use it to rapidly colonize non-forested areas, sequester that biomass, and eventually cultivate more diverse species (or something like that). >”...thus, princesstree frequently establishes and spreads after disturbances that create these conditions, such as fire, windstorms, pestilence, floods, landslides, and anthropogenic disturbances such as construction, cultivation, mining, and logging” > “Hu suggests that by the time Paulownia grows to maturity, the seeds it produces likely cannot survive within the same habitat as the parent plant because the succeeding vegetation has ‘modified the physical environment so much that no new Paulownia has any chance to get established’. Thus, princesstree may not alter the successional pathways of some native ecosystems.“ [1] https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pautom/all.html https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pautom/all.h...