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Scientists: Global warming may be killing trees in West twice as fast
Mercury News ^ | 1/22/09 | Hadley Leggett

Posted on 01/22/2009 2:40:13 PM PST by NormsRevenge

Trees in old-growth forests of the western United States are dying at twice the usual rate, and scientists say climate change may be to blame.

In one of the largest-ever surveys of U.S. forests, ecologists analyzed data on nearly 60,000 trees in 76 old-growth forests. Set to be published Friday in the journal Science, the study reported a startling jump over the past few decades: regardless of type, size or elevation, twice as many trees are dying each year.

And while death rates have increased, birth rates for new trees have remained stable — meaning there aren't enough new trees to replace the old ones.

For now, the percentage of trees dying each year is small, so doubling the rate means an increase of only 1 or 2 percent per year. But over time, small increases can add up, said Dr. Phillip van Mantgem, U.S. Geological Survey researcher and co-leader of the research team.

"If current trends continue, forests will become sparser over time," van Mantgem said. "Simple projections of forest stand structure indicate that average tree age will eventually decrease by half, and this will potentially lead to decreasing average tree size."

Sparser forests provide fewer places for animals to live, van Mantgem said, and also put trees at-risk for sudden die-off from catastrophic incidents such as fire, drought and bark beetle attack.

In addition, because large trees absorb significant amounts of carbon dioxide, death of old-growth forests could further exacerbate climate change.

The study analyzed data collected since 1955, from forests across California, the Pacific Northwest and several Rocky Mountain states.

(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: globalwarming; killing; scientists; trees
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1 posted on 01/22/2009 2:40:15 PM PST by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

Why can’t global warming kill these scientists ?


2 posted on 01/22/2009 2:41:22 PM PST by libh8er
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To: NormsRevenge
Trees in old-growth forests of the western United States are dying at twice the usual rate, and scientists say climate change may be to blame.

Same people were blaming the same problem on acid rain a few years ago.

3 posted on 01/22/2009 2:43:50 PM PST by fso301
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To: libh8er

Why can’t global warming kill these scientists ?”

Roaches are very hard to kill.


4 posted on 01/22/2009 2:43:57 PM PST by tired1 (When the Devil eats you there's only one way out.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Well....I can tell ya that ice storms sure kill a lot of them.....that don’t sound warm to me.


5 posted on 01/22/2009 2:43:57 PM PST by rightwingextremist1776
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To: NormsRevenge; OKSooner; honolulugal; Killing Time; Beowulf; Mr. Peabody; RW_Whacko; gruffwolf; ...
Image and video hosting by TinyPic

FReepmail me to get on or off

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Climate Research News

Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown

GREENIE WATCH

Ping me if you find one I've missed.


Coulda..shoulda..mighta..woulda...maybe.....
pffft.
6 posted on 01/22/2009 2:45:25 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: libh8er

Before long, these scientists will be proclaiming global warming are killing baby boomers. Between x year, theres a sharp decrease in human population. How could that be? Must be because of global warming


7 posted on 01/22/2009 2:45:30 PM PST by 4rcane
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To: NormsRevenge

Fake science for a fake cause/religion. Father AlGore of the Church of GlobusWarmus hath proclaimed it so. The trees portend doom. The rabbits with the mean nasty teeth shall smite us. We shall have to resort to the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.


8 posted on 01/22/2009 2:46:21 PM PST by shankbear (Al-Qaeda grew while Monica blew)
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To: NormsRevenge

But, they have carefully examined EVERY other possible variable and global warming is the only possible cause. NOT.

These folks are producing Obama-output.


9 posted on 01/22/2009 2:47:16 PM PST by Da Coyote
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To: NormsRevenge

Twice as fast as what?


10 posted on 01/22/2009 2:47:42 PM PST by GSWarrior (To activate this tagline please contact the admin moderator.)
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To: NormsRevenge

The NY Times kills millions of trees per year printing their left wing propaganda - ditto for most lib papers. This hopefully will end soon.


11 posted on 01/22/2009 2:48:33 PM PST by Frantzie
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To: NormsRevenge

Old growth forest contain a large number of old trees.

The older things get, the greater the liklihood of death.

So if these trees all got their start long ago, we could be seeing the upper limit of tree longevity.

The greens see Old Growth Forests as sacred, but I don’t think they are immortal.


12 posted on 01/22/2009 2:48:46 PM PST by DBrow
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To: NormsRevenge

Actually, they are freezing to death.


13 posted on 01/22/2009 2:49:05 PM PST by Doomonyou (Let them eat lead.)
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To: NormsRevenge

I’ve planted well over 100 trees on my own property and my family has close to 25 acres in a set-aside Tree Farm.

And, I sell trees to others for a living.

I’ve done my part to ‘save the planet.’ I just read yesterday that we have 70 million MORE acres in ‘trees’ than we did when the Pilgrims first got here. Most of it’s gone back to woodland and prairie and wetland as we get more efficient in producing food and need LESS farmland.

They can just p*ss off. :)


14 posted on 01/22/2009 2:49:10 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: NormsRevenge
"scientists say climate change may be to blame."

...or more likely not.

15 posted on 01/22/2009 2:49:31 PM PST by spunkets
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To: NormsRevenge; All

This report is garbage. I think what is happening is that bark beetles are killing these trees. This is because of poor forest management. This poor forest management is because of the lawsuits initiated by environmental groups who claim they are trying to save the forests. More garbage mainstream media journalism.


16 posted on 01/22/2009 2:52:09 PM PST by truthguy (Good intentions are not enough!)
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To: NormsRevenge

Look at this site, it contains some interesting data that shows this is a bunch of crap. There has been no warming in the north west in the last 22 yrs

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/cag3.html


17 posted on 01/22/2009 2:53:28 PM PST by muskah
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To: NormsRevenge

in other news the country is in a deep freeze even here in FL where we have had minus temps.

Don’t these people realise now that they are making themselves look rather silly a bit like those who refused to think the world was round or you kill people and get 72 virgins, o wait????????


18 posted on 01/22/2009 2:55:30 PM PST by manc (Marriage is between a man and a woman no sick MA,CT sham marriage end racism end affirmative action)
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To: NormsRevenge

Its the shock of a sudden change from global warming to global cooling back to global warming back to global cooling or otherwise total nonsense!


19 posted on 01/22/2009 2:56:00 PM PST by PORD (People...Of Right Do)
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To: NormsRevenge

Women, minority trees hardest hit.


20 posted on 01/22/2009 2:56:53 PM PST by Starfleet Command
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