Research: Impacts of climate change on tree growth and carbon dynamics - Hawkesbury forest experiment
The tree chambers at University of Western Sydney - Hawkesbury
The Hawkesbury forest experiment is looking at how native trees respond to increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and reduced rainfall. The research site consists of 12 chambers, each housing a tree which will grow to over 10 metres.
The research aims to provide enough understanding so that scientists can predict the growth and carbon storage potential and productivity of managed and unmanaged eucalypt forests, growing in response to rising CO2 levels and under different water availability scenarios expected over the next 50 years.
Eucalyptus saligna trees, native to the Hawkesbury region, are being grown in the chambers with higher CO2 conditions and water constraints expected in future. The chambers allow conditions between the trees to be controlled in the same way so that the effects of the experimental conditions (higher CO2, or less water) can be observed.
This research has been conducted in the northern hemisphere, and results in Australia are expected to show:
- stimulated photosynthetic activity that may accelerate the growth of tree canopies and stems of trees, leading to greater forest productivity;
- reductions in the opening of the stomata in leaves, thereby preventing water loss, and therefore less water taken up by the trees.
Read more about this project on the University of Western Sydney's website at http://www.uws.edu.au/centre_plant_food_science/pafs/hawkesbury_forest_experiment.
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