Trees felled by Katrina weighed as factor in global warming By John Pope, in the Times Picayune Saturday, November 24, 2007
As if Hurricane Katrina's wind and water hadn't inflicted enough damage, a group of researchers led by a Tulane University biologist has found that the monster storm may well have accelerated global warming. When Katrina roared through coastal forests in August 2005, it destroyed thousands of trees. As those trees decompose, the carbon they release will be enough to offset a year's worth of new tree growth in other parts of the United States, said Jeffrey Chambers, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. The team's report has been published in the peer-reviewed journal Science. Forests are important adversaries of global warming because they remove carbon from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, thereby lowering the production of carbon dioxide. However, an increase in this compound warms the climate, resulting in more intense storms and, eventually, more trees that will decompose, the scientists found. The Tulanians collaborated with researchers from the University of New Hampshire. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-25/1195885441151680.xml&coll=1 =-=-=-=-=-=-= The abstract for the article in Science is at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/318/5853/1107 It says: Science 16 November 2007: Vol. 318. no. 5853, p. 1107 DOI: 10.1126/science.1148913 Brevia Hurricane Katrina's Carbon Footprint on U.S. Gulf Coast Forests Jeffrey Q. Chambers,1* Jeremy I. Fisher,1,2 Hongcheng Zeng,1 Elise L. Chapman,1 David B. Baker,1 George C. Hurtt2 Hurricane Katrina's impact on U.S. Gulf Coast forests was quantified by linking ecological field studies, Landsat and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image analyses, and empirically based models. Within areas affected by relatively constant wind speed, tree mortality and damage exhibited strong species-controlled gradients. Spatially explicit forest disturbance maps coupled with extrapolation models predicted mortality and severe structural damage to ~320 million large trees totaling 105 teragrams of carbon, representing 50 to 140% of the net annual U.S. forest tree carbon sink. Changes in disturbance regimes from increased storm activity expected under a warming climate will reduce forest biomass stocks, increase ecosystem respiration, and may represent an important positive feedback mechanism to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. 1 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, 400 Lindy Boggs, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA. 2 Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA. * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -.-. --.- Roger --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalchange -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
