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The previous paragraph explains it: >Lianas are rapidly expanding their territory in tropical forests, sometimes suppressing tree growth entirely in certain lo
by bcraven 1y ago
The previous paragraph explains it:
>Lianas are rapidly expanding their territory in tropical forests, sometimes suppressing tree growth entirely in certain locations. In such areas, forest regeneration halts, and carbon storage can decline by as much as 95%. "That's almost equivalent to deforestation," Visser says.
There's more more CO₂ in the atmosphere; so more lianas grow; they choke out the main tree body; so less CO₂ is absorbed; so there's more CO₂ in the atmosphere, _e.t.c._
- credit_guy 1y agoStill, this does not sound right. You are hinting towards some predator-prey-type of cycle: trees grow (and absorb CO2), lianas infest them (and by the way, they appear to absorb even more CO2), but then trees die, and lianas die with them. But then won't trees grow again, and the cycle would repeat? Maybe overall, this cycle would reduce some CO2 absorption, but by 95%?
- bcraven 1y agoThere's some interesting results here[0] but from what I can make out the trees don't necessarily die and take the liana(s) with them. They may continue to stand (dead) or may simply be hugely starved of light. [0]https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2010.01676.x https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.13...