Climate change favors the presence and growth of giant trees. This was revealed by a study conducted by Wageningen University and Nanjing University. According to the research, the so-called giant forests are located within a specific climate area that is expanding more and more due to the global rise in temperatures.
Climate change favors the presence and growth of giant trees. This was revealed by a study conducted by Wageningen University and Nanjing University. According to the research, the so-called giant forests are located within a specific climate area that is expanding more and more due to the global rise in temperatures.
Rainforests are among the most important but also most threatened ecosystems in the world. Oddly, they grow in both tropical and temperate climates. Today they cover about 6% of the total surface of the Earth and are home to over half of the world's plant species (at least two thirds) and animals. The conditions they need to live were little known until now.
Marten Scheffer who led the research team noted: “By studying the whole Earth, we found that the height of the canopy is not a continuum. Crowns over 25 meters high are surprisingly rare. Usually the trees are lower or are found only in the rainforest ”.
The researchers showed that the distribution of trees reaching great heights, exceeding 25 meters, it is strictly limited to situations in which average annual rainfall above 1500 mm of rain occurs. This happens in areas with tropical and temperate climates. Yet we are witnessing the expansion of giant forests.
Scientists in fact predict that the total area with levels of rainfall similar will increase by approx four million km2 globally over the next few decades due to climate changes.
"These findings imply that strategic management could facilitate, in principle, the expansion of giant forests, protecting critically endangered biodiversity and carbon storage in selected regions," says Xu Chi, a Nanjing University specialist who has analyzed the data.
What are the implications of the increasingly widespread presence of these enormous creatures? For once, climate change will facilitate the spread of these forests which are home to much of the biodiversity that is currently in danger and which are capable of storing large amounts of carbon. A small consolation for us but according to the researchers it is also an opportunity that can only be realized if these precious ecosystems are managed in the best possible way.
Yet another gift from Mother Nature, who despite the damage that man inflicts on the Earth, always finds a way to recover and offer us the best conditions of life.
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Francesca Mancuso
