World’s oldest trees dying due to climate change: study [View all]

[octoberlib]

Scientists Friday warned of an alarming increase in the death rates of the largest living organisms on the planet, the giant, old trees that harbour and sustain countless birds and wildlife.

Research by universities in Australia and the United States, published in Science, said ecosystems worldwide were in danger of losing forever their largest and oldest trees unless there were policy changes to better protect them.

“It’s a worldwide problem and appears to be happening in most types of forest,” said David Lindenmayer from the Australian National University, the lead author of a study into the problem.Just as large-bodied animals such as elephants, tigers, and cetaceans have declined drastically in many parts of the world, a growing body of evidence suggests that large old trees could be equally imperilled.”

Lindenmayer, along with colleagues from the James Cook University in Australia and Washington University in America, undertook their study after examining Swedish forestry records going back to the 1860s.They found alarming losses of big trees, ranging from 100 to 300 years old, at all latitudes in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, South America, Latin America and Australia.The trees at risk included mountain ash in Australia, pine trees in America, California redwoods, and baobabs in Tanzania.The study showed that trees were not only dying en masse in forest fires, but were also perishing at 10 times the normal rate in non-fire years.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/06/worlds-oldest-trees-dying-due-to-climate-change-study/