Posted on 08/19/2012 4:52:40 AM PDT by raybbr
UNION, Conn. (AP) — It's time to add gassy trees to the list of climate concerns.
According to a new study by Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, diseased trees may be releasing unusually large amounts of methane gas into the air. If the data holds up, it could alter forest management strategies around the world and change the calculations for how much trees are able to offset carbon emissions.
"If we're using forests as a climate mitigation tool, we have to know what we're getting," said Kristofer Covey, a Ph.D. candidate who worked on the study. "Carbon offsets could be changed somewhat by this."
To be sure, the new findings don't negate the beneficial aspects of trees, which absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. But it may give foresters some pause in thinking about what mix of age and species of trees is ideal for the environment.
"There's methane sneaking out the back door," Covey said, ushering visitors along a hiking trail at the 7,800-acre Yale-Myers Forest in northeastern Connecticut. "This is a very preliminary study, but there's a potential for this to be widespread. What we'd like to do is put together a global assessment, looking at a bunch of questions."
As with many scientific endeavors, the methane discovery happened by accident. Robert Warren, a former postdoctoral researcher at Yale, was showing some students at the forest how to take tree core samples. Suddenly, one of the trees began to spit out gas.
One of Warren's students decided to see if the gas was flammable by lighting it, and a moment later, "there was this flame coming out of the tree," said Mark Bradford, an assistant professor of terrestrial ecosystem ecology at Yale. "Robert called me up and asked what the heck was going on."
(Excerpt) Read more at wtnh.com ...
This is hilarious!
Dishonest piece of crap by someone who refused to put their name on it.
Our family is in the tree business with three family members in the forestry business and he is full of crap. These were DISEASED trees with a FUNGUS known as heart rot
he admitted:
“This doesn’t tell us yet about what’s going on in other places,”
NO KIDDING!!!
Student / Doctoral / PhD / 2016
Kristofer “Tofer” Covey
Contact
Email: kristofer.covey@yale.edu
Tel: 518-321-3706
Mailing Address
Yale School of Forestry &
Environmental Studies
195 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
USA
Degrees
Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT Master of Forestry, 2010. State University of New York at Potsdam, Potsdam, NY BA Physics, 2003
“These “experts” didn’t know that decaying matter produces methane? Obviously, they aren’t country boys.”
It is hilarious except for the fact the piece was written by unnamed people who are obviously being dishonest to make it sound like we are DOOMED by global warming.
President Reagan said trees cause pollution and he got laughed at.
What great news! We’ve got potential energy sources seemingly falling out of the sky of late. No more peak oil!
What do whinging negative leftists do, though? Complain about tree farts.
“This is a very preliminary study, but there’s a potential for this to be widespread. What we’d like to do is put together a global assessment, looking at a bunch of questions.”
Can we all say MASSIVE GOVERMENT GRANT. And it will create thousands of NEW JOBS!
It’s a WIN-WIN
Yep, bet them crabby old apple trees of Oz could fart like a champ.
“So, all that cutting down of the rain forests in the last century was actually saving the planet.”
I’m getting a dim vision of our pal, Al Gore, wearing a pith helmet slashing his way thru a rainforest with a 3 foot machete.
I need some sleep
All this time folks been drilling the ground when all they needed was a cordless drill and head for the woods.
This sounds like a full employment program for researchers.
These dumb effers are first starting to realize this?
“there’s methane sneaking out the back door...”
snort...i’m totally stealing that line!
my grandson is getting tired of “i faarrt in your general
direction...”
You just can’t make this stuff up, ping.
Them trees are Evil. I’m tellin’ ya!
Not only are they contributing to GW with their methane emisions, but they are also smogging our air with their isoprene emissions that convert to nasty ozone.
http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20020526235808data_trunc_sys.shtml
“Isoprene - C5H8 - is released by the respiration of oak trees and is the second-most abundant naturally produced hydrocarbon (after methane) in our atmosphere,” he continued.
“After a complicated series of chemical reactions, isoprene facilitates ozone production, so increased isoprene means more ozone in the air.”
Isn’t that what Reagan said?
And like every other gubmit grant/program, not one damn thing willl be produced and we’ll end up like Easter Island with no trees.
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