The California Drought Is So Bad, It Might Be Killing The Giant Sequoia (xpost from GD)

[KamaAina]

A full-grown giant sequoia is a thirsty tree. In the height of summer, the millenia-old behemoths, some of which grow upwards of 30 stories tall, can guzzle 500 to 800 gallons of water per day. They can also survive a variety of scourges that would fell an inferior conifer -- beetles, wildfires, storms. But scientists are worried the species may have met its match in the ongoing California drought.

Nate Stephenson, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, was walking through the woods last year when he noticed some of the trees he'd been studying for decades had dropped most of their leaves. He joined forces with other researchers from the USGS, as well as from the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Stanford University, UC Berkeley and the Carnegie Airborne Observatory, to launch a comprehensive health study on the sequoia.

Anthony Ambrose, a tree ecologist at University of California, Berkeley, led a recent bout of fieldwork to monitor how stressed the sequoia have been, and if, in fact, we should be worried about their longevity. A few weeks from now, his team plans to collect a slew of samples from more than 50 trees that have dropped up to 75 percent of their leaves. He hopes the research can provide real-time data to forest managers who can prioritize care for threatened trees...

Koren Nydick, a lead author of the study, spoke with Ezra David Romero of NPR affiliate Valley Public Radio about the prospect of a drought felling the giants. Nothing's been corroborated by science yet, but it's clear something unusual is bothering the trees.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/california-drought-giant-sequoia_55d1edcfe4b0ab468d9db8e7?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013§ion=politics

h/t Fearless

[haikugal]

1. Everything we love is in danger....

K&R!!

[saturnsring]

2. That area will soon be the great American desert. There's probably no saving them

[Lordquinton]

3. Very poor article

It changed the title of the original article which posed it as a question, and if you read it it specifically states that it is unlikely to be the drought that is affecting them. It doesn't even state what trees they are talking about, but reading the article they are referring to it specifies the inland redwoods, not coastal (which the drought is not effecting, cause they rely on fog drip, not ground water) These trees have been through much worse than what is happening now, and will survive the floods that are going to follow.

Now, the ones we have planted in the valley outside their natural range will be toast, but they were from the second they were planted, they were a 300 year watering commitment which was never going to be fulfilled.

[Stardust]

4. I hope you're right. They are truly magnificent. nt