• Health
  • Science
  • U.S.
  • Technology
  • Business
  • World
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Sports

Building a Better World

News and information

  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Our Team

Tropical vines are smothering the rainforest, study finds

October 13, 2015 By Sam Catherman

Tropical vines are smothering the rainforest, study finds

A recent study shows that invasive vines are choking out rainforest trees, preventing the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham have found that the vines scaling the rainforest canopies are causing serious disturbances in the balance of carbon in rainforests around the world. According to a press release from Eurekalert, these vines are causing the death of a large number of trees in tropical climates.

Rainforests are essential in keeping the global carbon cycle moving. Massive rainforest trees are one of the primary sources of carbon uptake on the planet. As they absorb carbon dioxide from the air through their leaves as a key ingredient in synthesizing glucose, they incorporate atmospheric carbon into new cells.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and lead author Dr. Geertje van der Heijden found evidence that woody climbing vines called lianas are preventing trees from absorbing carbon on a massive scale.

Rainforests store roughly one third of all of the world’s total carbon, and sequester roughly 40 percent of the carbon in the atmosphere. In the past few decades, liana growth has exploded in many equatorial regions, and they are choking out trees, preventing carbon uptake and thus the photosynthesis that sustains them.

The researchers carried out a three-year experiment in Panama by removing lianas from eight 80-square-meter plots in the rainforest and comparing overall tree growth to eight plots where lianas grew freely.

The plots with lianas growing in them stored 76 percent less carbon in the form of woody biomass compared to the trees that had the vines removed. Reduced tree growth and subsequent death of trees contributed to the reduction in stored carbon.

Dr. van de Heijden, a professor at the University of Nottingham School of Geography, said that lianas are creating a net increase in the overall atmospheric carbon by killing trees.

What’s worse is that these woody vines are increasing in numbers in size in the rainforests throughout Central and South America, which store a large percentage of the world’s carbon. The professor hopes that the study’s findings will help inform future climate models, and improve predictions about how to successfully manage vegetation in these critical areas.

Sharing

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Filed Under: Front Page, Science

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow Us

Facebookrss

Search:

Recent Posts

  • NASA’s InSight spacecraft makes important course correction May 26, 2018
  • Scientists outraged at latest Trump decision May 15, 2018
  • Huge uproar erupts over major incident at Utah park May 13, 2018
  • Incredible moon discovery stuns scientists May 12, 2018
  • Authorities shocked by discovery about common painkiller May 6, 2018
  • Outrageous crocodile experiment stuns scientists May 5, 2018
  • Great Barrier Reef is too quiet, scientists say May 1, 2018
  • Massive Hiroshima bomb discovery shocks scientists May 1, 2018
  • Earth will be slammed by massive asteroid April 29, 2018
  • Teens are doing something incredibly alarming in schools April 29, 2018
  • Huge discovery in Tasmania stuns scientists April 28, 2018
  • Shocking discovery in New Jersey stuns authorities April 22, 2018
  • Huge volcanic explosion could wipe out the United States April 21, 2018
  • Huge controversy erupts over world’s hottest pepper April 15, 2018
  • SpaceX is about to do something astonishing April 15, 2018

Copyright © 2021 Jones Kilmartin Group, LLC · Metro Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress