Videocrux - Forests growing faster than normal growth trend

#Videocrux - Forests growing faster than normal growth trend Forests growing faster than normal growth trend
Ecologist Geoffrey Parker has been closely watching these trees in Maryland grow for more than 2 decades. This winter, he came up with some startling findings. Geoffrey Parker, "The old forests were growing faster, the inter-median age forests was growing faster and even the young ones it's as if we gave steroids to a whole population of humans and they are all growing faster individually than you would expect from the normal growth trend."
Forests growing faster than normal growth trend
Ecologist Geoffrey Parker has been closely watching these trees in Maryland grow for more than 2 decades. This winter, he came up with some startling findings. Geoffrey Parker, "The old forests were growing faster, the inter-median age forests was growing faster and even the young ones it's as if we gave steroids to a whole population of humans and they are all growing faster individually than you would expect from the normal growth trend."
Trees are thriving due to climate change
Poplars, oaks, hickory every single tree of every kind found in this centuries-old forest is on a fast track. It’s as if you were adding another medium-sized tree to the forest every year. Parker says this is a direct result of climate change. In the last century, world temperatures have gone up 3/10 of a degree. In this region, the concentration of CO2 in the air is up 13% from 20 years ago, and the growing season is a week longer than it used to be.
Scientists documenting positive effect on air quality
Geoffrey Parker, "When you increase the CO2 concentration around a plant, it grows faster, and when you raise the temperature around a plant up to a certain point, it grows faster, and if you give a plant longer to grow, well it will grow longer as well." Trees are some of the biggest consumers of CO2. So perhaps this increased growth that scientists are documenting could have a positive effect on the air quality in the area... But it's not that simple.
Extra growth in trees may hamper wood quality
Geoffrey Parker, "It's probably a good thing that atmospheric CO2 is being kept from rising faster, but it might be a bad thing for the quality of the wood produced by this extra growth. In the meantime, Parker and his team will continue methodically measuring their trees every two years. But the scientists don't expect the trees to sustain their accelerated pace, since the quantities of other substances essential to their development—soil and water for example—haven't changed.

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