HOME >> BIOLOGY >> NEWS
Seeing the forest and the trees

NOTE: This press release has been updated since its original posting.

The Earth Institute at Columbia University, October 2005 -- With human emissions of carbon dioxide on the rise, there is growing interest in maintaining the Earth's natural mechanisms that absorb and store carbon. A new study released this week in the on-line edition of the journal Science suggests that tree diversity in tropical forests plays a crucial role in determining how much carbon these natural storehouses are able to hold, as well as their ability to provide other crucial ecosystem services such as preventing erosion.

The study was led by Daniel Bunker and Shahid Naeem from the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology at Columbia University and Fabrice DeClerck from the Earth Institute at Columbia University. They simulated variations in forest diversity that resulted from a range of different extinction scenarios: those governed by biological characteristics such as low growth rate or limited growing range, those resulting from human activities such as selective logging, and those arising from environmental changes such as widespread drought. As a result of the simulations, they found that the types of trees remaining after each scenario played out had a large and widely varying effect on the amount of carbon a forest would be able to store.

"Carbon sequestration is just one of the many services that tropical forests provide," said DeClerck. "The more ecosystem functions you look at, the more important diversity becomes."

The study was based on data from the 120-acre Forest Dynamics Plot, a tropical forest on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal run by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute that has been surveyed every five years since 1985. Previous studies have found that nearly half of the estimated 600 billion tons of carbon stored in the Earth's biomass is found in tropical forests. By simulating differen
'"/>

Contact: Ken Kostel
kkostel@ei.columbia.edu
212-854-9729
The Earth Institute at Columbia University
21-Oct-2005


Page: 1 2

Related biology news :

1. Seeing the trees for the forest: WHRC scientists creating national biomass and carbon dataset
2. Seeing a neurotoxins deadly grip
3. Seeing the serpent
4. Seeing beyond the gray areas: New tool uncovers the importance of the brains white matter
5. Seeing the trees for the forest: WHRC scientists creating National Biomass and Carbon Dataset
6. Seeing what protein C is all about
7. New study warns limited carbon market puts 20 percent of tropical forest at risk
8. Tropical insects go the distance to inform rainforest conservation
9. Rain forest protection works in Peru
10. Smithsonian scientists show differing patterns of rainforest biodiversity
11. Lost forest yields several new species

Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
TAG: Seeing the forest and the trees

(Date:5/21/2013)... is an uphill battle? Try staying fit in space, ... muscle and bone. , That,s the challenge a group ... new three-year, $1.2 million grant from NASA. Their goal ... exploratory missions. , "You could give astronauts the best ... them to stick to it, it isn,t going to ...
(Date:5/21/2013)... CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Over the past few decades, scientists ... including angioplasty balloons and metallic stents. While generally effective, ... of side effects. , A new study from MIT ... combines the benefits of angioplasty balloons and drug-releasing stents, ... a balloon is inflated in the artery for only ...
(Date:5/21/2013)... path of insulin action in cells in precise detail ... understanding what goes wrong in diabetes. , The ... James from Sydney,s Garvan Institute of Medical Research, is ... prestigious journal Cell Metabolism . , First discovered ... role in the body because it helps us lower ...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Fueling fitness on the final frontier 2Evaluating a new way to open clogged arteries 2Evaluating a new way to open clogged arteries 3Insight into the dazzling impact of insulin in cells 2Insight into the dazzling impact of insulin in cells 3
(Date:5/21/2013)... York , May 21, 2013 ... Transparency Market Research ( http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com ) "Biochip Products and ... IVD Tests) - U.S. Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and ... billion in 2011 and is expected to grow at ... reach an estimated value of USD 4.7 billion in ...
(Date:5/21/2013)... -- Synthetic Biologics, Inc. (NYSE MKT: SYN), a developer of biologics ... announced today that Jeffrey Riley , CEO, ... MicroCap Conference on Thursday, May 30, 2013 in ... Mr. Riley is scheduled to present at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern ... can be accessed by logging onto the web at ...
(Date:5/21/2013)... 21, 2013 Inflamax scientists worked ... ITN to design the study, which will provide ... clinical models used in the study of allergy ... Allergen Challenge (NAC) models. Although both the models ... to date no direct comparison between the allergic ...
(Date:5/21/2013)... 21, 2013 The Formulate Fusion Fabric ... for sales and marketing teams looking for a fully-functional package ... kit as “everything you’ll need to put together a stunning ... comes with a number of displays and accessories that can ... feet by 20 feet in size. These components vary from ...
Breaking Biology Technology:The U.S. Biochip Products and Services Market is Expected to Reach USD 4.7 Billion in 2018: Transparency Market Research 2The U.S. Biochip Products and Services Market is Expected to Reach USD 4.7 Billion in 2018: Transparency Market Research 3The U.S. Biochip Products and Services Market is Expected to Reach USD 4.7 Billion in 2018: Transparency Market Research 4The U.S. Biochip Products and Services Market is Expected to Reach USD 4.7 Billion in 2018: Transparency Market Research 5Synthetic Biologics to Present at the 2nd Annual Marcum LLP MicroCap Conference 2Inflamax Research selected by the Immune Tolerance Network and the National Institutes of Health to conduct a landmark clinical study on the underlying mechanisms of allergic inflammation. 2GLM Displays Announces All-in-One Formulate Fusion Fabric Display Kit 2
Cached News: