"Australian tropical rainforest trees have become the first in the world to switch from being a carbon sink to an emissions source due to increasingly extreme temperatures and drier conditions. The change, which applies to the trees' trunk and branches but not the roots system, began about 25 years ago, according to new research published in Nature. Trees store carbon as they grow and release it when they decay and die."
"But if so, the findings could have significant implications for global climate models, carbon budgets and climate policies. This paper is the first time that this tipping point of a switch from a carbon sink to a carbon source in tropical rainforests has been identified clearly not just for one year, but for 20 years, said Prof David Karoly, an emeritus professor at the University of Melbourne and an expert in climate change science."
Around 25 years ago trunks and branches of Australian tropical rainforest trees began releasing more carbon than they absorbed, converting aboveground biomass from a net carbon sink to a net carbon source. Roots have not shown the same shift. Nearly fifty years of forest monitoring across Queensland reveal increasing tree mortality and insufficient regrowth driven by hotter, drier conditions and more extreme temperatures. The Australian moist tropics occupy a warmer, drier climate niche than many other tropical regions and may act as an early analogue for future global changes. The shift could alter carbon budgets, climate models and policy, requiring further research.
#tropical-rainforest-carbon-balance #climate-driven-tree-mortality #australian-moist-tropics #carbon-budgets
Read at www.theguardian.com
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