new research shows tree roots regulate CO2, keep climate stable

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/new-research-shows-tree-roots-regulate-co2-keep-climate-stable-1392909770



Trees have become a source of continuous surprise. Only weeks after researchers demonstrated that old forest giants actually accumulate more carbon than younger, fast-growing trees, British scientists have discovered that the great arbiters of long-term global temperatures may not be the leaves of an oak, pine or eucalyptus, but the roots.

The argument, put forward by a team from Oxford and Sheffield Universities in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, begins with temperature. Warmer climates mean more vigorous tree growth and more leaf litter, and more organic content in the soil. So the tree’s roots grow more vigorously, said Dr. Christopher Doughty of Oxford and colleagues.

They get into the bedrock, and break up the rock into its constituent minerals. Once that happens, the rock starts to weather, combining with carbon dioxide. This weathering draws carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and in the process cools the planet down a little. So mountain ecosystems—mountain forests are usually wet and on conspicuous layers of rock—are in effect part of the global thermostat, preventing catastrophic overheating.

The tree is more than just a sink for carbon, it is an agency for chemical weathering that removes carbon from the air and locks it up in carbonate rock.

[PasadenaTrudy]

1. Trees rock!

I'm glad I live in an official Tree City, USA. I would be so depressed living somewhere that was short on shade trees.

[Trillo]

2. The symbiosis of plants and animals is full of wonder.

Wish we'd stop chopping down the rainforests....

[hunter]

3. It would be nice if we stopped chopping down *ANY* forests.

Paper, construction materials, anything we now chop down trees for, all those things can be made from quickly renewable or recycled materials.