Ancient oak trees help reduce global warming

Washington, June 28 : Scientists have discovered that ancient oak trees submerged in freshwater aquatic systems store carbon for thousands of years, thus keeping carbon out of the atmosphere and helping to reduce the effects of global warming.

This discovery was made by researchers at the Missouri Tree Ring Laboratory in the Department of Forestry, US.

"If a tree is submerged in water, its carbon will be stored for an average of 2,000 years," said Richard Guyette, director of the MU Tree Ring Lab and research associate professor of forestry in the School of Natural Resources in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.

"If a tree falls in a forest, that number is reduced to an average of 20 years, and in firewood, the carbon is only stored for one year," he added.

The team studied trees in northern Missouri, a geographically unique area with a high level of riparian forests (forests that have natural water flowing through them).

They discovered submerged oak trees that were as old as 14,000 years, potentially some of the oldest discovered in the world.

This carbon storage process is not just ancient; it continues even today as additional trees become submerged, according to Guyette.

While a tree is alive, it has a high ability to store carbon, thus keeping it out of the atmosphere. However, as it begins to decay, a tree's carbon is released back into the atmosphere.

Discovering that certain conditions slow this process reveals the importance of proper tree disposal as well as the benefits of riparian forests.

"Carbon plays a huge role in climate change and information about where it goes will be very important someday soon," said Michael C. Stambaugh, research associate in the MU Department of Forestry.

"The goal is to increase our knowledge of the carbon cycle, particularly its exchange between the biosphere (plants) and atmosphere. We need to know where it goes and for how long in order to know how to offset its effects," he added.

ANI