Tree Huggers

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/8446901

(More details, from the National Park Service : https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/wildfires-kill-unprecedented-numbers-of-large-sequoia-trees.htm )

This is a future I don't want to live in.

Seriously though, here's the article:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-17/gloucester-dave-evans-bicentennial-trees-closed-wa-government/103118524

• The Gloucester and Dave Evans Bicentennial Trees will be closed for the next 12 months
• The state government has not ruled out permanently closing the trees for climbing
• Climbing the 60-metre tall trees is a popular activity for tourists

https://web.archive.org/web/20231112162223/https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/11/12/virginia-acorn-collection-forests/

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/9478756

Exceprts from the op/ed:

The Southeast Alaska community of Whale Pass opposes a 292-acre sale of old-growth forest and instead prefers the economic benefits of tourism and carbon credits.

Despite the fact that logging will almost certainly make less money and is less than 1% of the economy of Southeast while tourism provides 27%, the state of Alaska says it’s in the state’s best interest to pursue an old-growth timber sale right next to Whale Pass. This is like turning down a multimillion-dollar offer on your home to sell it for a few hundred thousand bucks.

Furthermore, the DNR commissioner explained in a letter to the Whale Pass City Council that “while carbon offset projects will open exciting new sources of revenue for the State of Alaska once the program is up and running, projects on state land are expected to operate in parallel with timber harvests — not take the place of them.” This statement ignores the fact that carbon offsets are only worth money if you are making a real tradeoff to conserve the carbon instead of logging it.

Somehow, making a political point against the Biden administration is more important than maintaining any semblance of credibility for actualizing revenue from the newly created carbon offset program, supporting tourism, the economic sector that is thriving, allowing the community most impacted by the decision to generate immediate revenue and lead the way on carbon credits, and addressing landslide concerns.

cross-posted from: https://jlai.lu/post/2020236

I am trying to plant palm trees from date pits. I've already done it. It's a very long process that takes about a year to show a recognisable palm. The date pit has to be first immerged in water for at least 15 days and up to 3 weeks. Then in wet cotton for the same time. Finally, we can plant it. The palm should be water only when the soil is fully dry.

I've been using cactus soil last time but they are sold in big quantity and I don't want so much of it. Which kind of soil could replace it, preferably sold in smaller quantity? Are there soil especially made for palm trees?

The removal of senescing trees or those which pose a genuine risk to health or property is part of professional urban tree management. However, there are many requests for tree removals that are not based on a genuine likelihood of injury or property damage, but rather on an unfounded fear of what might happen or where the tree is considered to be in the way of some other activity. Across Australia, about 97% of requests for tree removals made to local government authorities are ultimately approved. Such a high rate of approvals provides a threat to the fabric of the urban forest.

In many instances, the removal of sound and healthy mature trees has unexpected costs and consequences. The loss of shade can have an effect on the temperature experienced within a dwelling over summer and this may have health consequences in terms of heat-related illnesses if the occupants are elderly. Swelling of reactive clay soils may be exacerbated by a tree removal, which can contribute to problems with footings and foundations and wind damage may also be greater after the removal of a tree than it was when the tree provided a filtering of and shelter from strong wind.

Too often the consequences of removing safe and healthy trees are not fully considered when undertaking the cost-benefit analysis associated with any proposed tree removal. This brief paper provides a framework for decision-making that could be used in defending safe and healthy trees from removal and allows the identification of any unforeseen consequences from such removals.

It's only a couple months old. It's being grown under grow lights because it is now fall and it would not grow well outside. It was doing absolutely fantastic and then one day it started rolling its leaves downward. I am really afraid to overwater because I don't want to cause root rot, but I don't know if it's overwatered or underwater because everything I look at on the Internet is telling me the signs for both are similar.

I am pretty new to growing plants of any kind, but I really wanted to grow a beautiful tree with my kids and plant it in our yard when we get a house in the future. I would feel awful for so many reasons if I kill this little tree. Can somebody please help me understand how to help it and what to look for the future with watering needs?

Interesting article on assisted migration of redwoods. This idea is starting to catch on. I think the naysayers are a little too fearful—are there any documented negative effects of moving long-lived and slow to reproduce trees to areas that have a long history of biogeographic contact? I am not aware of any. Most invasive species are small, fast to reproduce, and introduced to radically distant ecosystems.

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/environment@beehaw.org/t/568185

"We are investing in activities that are harmful for forests at far higher rates than we are investing in activities that are beneficial for forests," the assessment coordinator said.

Researchers investigated the impact of extreme heat on trees during Australia’s last major heatwave, in 2019 and 2020. They found species with large thin leaves, such as red maple, were particularly vulnerable to extreme heat, whereas trees with thicker leaves, such as ash and Chinese elm, were better able to regulate their temperature. The results, published in Global Change Biology, show that access to water is also crucial, with well-watered trees able to open their pores and evaporate water, preventing scorching of leaves.

As our climate heats, heatwaves are going to become more frequent, giving urban trees a tough time. Planting heat-resilient tree species is important, but we also need to consider new techniques to protect our urban trees, such as irrigation pits to capture and store stormwater, or rain gardens (gullies planted with vegetation that absorb and store flood runoff). Trees have never been more needed.

Study:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.16929

Abstract

High air temperatures increase atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and the severity of drought, threatening forests worldwide. Plants regulate stomata to maximize carbon gain and minimize water loss, resulting in a close coupling between net photosynthesis (Anet) and stomatal conductance (gs). However, evidence for decoupling of gs from Anet under extreme heat has been found. Such a response both enhances survival of leaves during heat events but also quickly depletes available water. To understand the prevalence and significance of this decoupling, we measured leaf gas exchange in 26 tree and shrub species growing in the glasshouse or at an urban site in Sydney, Australia on hot days (maximum Tair > 40°C). We hypothesized that on hot days plants with ample water access would exhibit reduced Anet and use transpirational cooling leading to stomatal decoupling, whereas plants with limited water access would rely on other mechanisms to avoid lethal temperatures. Instead, evidence for stomatal decoupling was found regardless of plant water access. Transpiration of well-watered plants was 23% higher than model predictions during heatwaves, which effectively cooled leaves below air temperature. For hotter, droughted plants, the increase in transpiration during heatwaves was even more pronounced—gs was 77% higher than model predictions. Stomatal decoupling was found for most broadleaf evergreen and broadleaf deciduous species at the urban site, including some wilted trees with limited water access. Decoupling may simply be a passive consequence of the physical effects of high temperature on plant leaves through increased cuticular conductance of water vapor, or stomatal decoupling may be an adaptive response that is actively regulated by stomatal opening under high temperatures. This temperature response is not yet included in any land surface model, suggesting that model predictions of evapotranspiration may be underpredicted at high temperature and high VPD.

Clouds are the largest source of uncertainty in climate predictions.

In a paper published this month in Science Advances, Dada's team establishes a new heavy hitter in cloud creation: a kind of chemical released by trees.

The role of trees in seeding clouds is important, because it suggests what the sky above some regions might be like if governments manage to tamp down sulfur emissions.

In a world with less pollution, plants and trees will become more dominant drivers of cloud formation, an echo of the premodern world.

While anthropogenic emissions dominate cloud formation in populated areas, plant volatiles dominate over more pristine land elsewhere.

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/news@lemmy.world/t/497705

Police investigating after former tree of the year winner, estimated to be several hundred years old, felled

Human-caused climate change is altering the temperatures and rainfall patterns to which those and other trees are accustomed, and many have already been pushed close to the edge of what they can endure.

Industry and urban growth have pushed many of them to the edges of their habitats, and climate change has only exacerbated the problem.

The model also enables the scientists to estimate how mismatched a plant is from its native climate.

"Plant species can directly reveal to us their climate preference and their vulnerability to potential climate change in the 'language' of their leaves and wood," said Sack, the paper's senior author.

"We are tuning in to what the plants are telling us about their preferences, in the language of their tissues and physiology, aiming to help them survive escalating climate challenges."

"The reflection of species' preferred climate in their wood and leaves evidently arose from millennia of evolution that matched plant physiology to climate across California," Medeiros said.

"We also found that many plants in the ecosystems we sampled were occupying locations that differed in climate from what we estimated to be their optimal niche. As climate change ensues, we think this will tend to aggravate the sensitivity of many species, including common trees like the California buckeye and shrubs like the purple sage and California lilacs."

Most of the described solutions center around tree planting. They are just the most effective way to cool cities.