Climate change could speed the natural regrowth of forests on undeveloped or abandoned land in the eastern U.S., according to a new study.
If left to nature’s own devices, a field of weeds and grasses over time will be replaced by saplings, young trees and eventually mature forest. Earlier research has shown that this succession from field to forest can happen decades sooner in the southeastern U.S. than in the Northeast. But it wasn’t obvious why, especially since northern and southern fields are first colonized by many of the same tree species.
Now, a study published Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences points to temperature as the major factor influencing the pace at which trees take over.
The results suggest that as temperatures rise, faster-growing forests on lands that humans have left idle could play a bigger role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, say researchers from Duke University and Syracuse University.
The team conducted the experiment at six sites up and down the eastern U.S., from New York to Florida.
Read more at Duke University
Photo: Researchers grew tree seedlings in plots with varying soil fertility, and with and without different mixes of early succession plants such as broomsedge and goldenrod. CREDIT: Jason Fridley, Syracuse University.