Forests provide humans with economically important and often irreplaceable products and services, and affect global climate by acting as sources and sinks of heat-trapping carbon dioxide. Yet the possible responses of forests to ongoing environmental changes are poorly understood. In the most recent issue of Ecology Letters, Stephenson and van Mantgem show that birth and death rates of trees vary in parallel with global patterns of forest productivity.
In less productive forests, such as coniferous forests growing at high latitudes, a century or more can pass before half of all trees die and are replaced with new growth. In contrast, in the world’s most productive forests – tropical forests growing on fertile soils – half of all trees die and are replaced by new growth in only thirty years. The faster turnover of trees means that the world’s most productive forests may also be those likely to respond most rapidly – positively or negatively – to environmental changes.
Lynne Miller | Source: alphagalileo
Further information: www.blackwellpublishing.com
More articles from Ecology, The Environment and Conservation:
Calm before the spawn: Climate change and coral spawning
05.11.2009 | Florida Institute of Technology
Clean Algae Biofuel Project Leads World in Productivity
05.11.2009 | University of Adelaide
Airborne nitrogen shifts aquatic nutrient limitation in pristine lakes
06.11.2009 | Studies and Analyses
Genome sequence for the domestic horse to be unveiled
06.11.2009 | Life Sciences
06.11.2009 | Earth Sciences
Texas Tech University Hosts Major Textile Conference in India
06.11.2009 | Event News
Brief Highlights of the Fluid Dynamics Conference, Minneapolis
30.10.2009 | Event News
EUROSAFE Forum 2009 Brussels: "Safety Implications of an Increased Demand for Nuclear Energy"
29.10.2009 | Event News