Michigan researchers conduct carbon dioxide test

University of Michigan researchers are charged with determining how much heat-trapping carbon dioxide forests of the Upper Midwest will remove from the air in coming decades.

Researchers hastened the demise of some 7,000 mature aspen and birch so the test plot would resemble what the forest will look like in 20 or 30 years, said Christoph Vogel, a University of Michigan forest ecologist. A band of bark was stripped from each tree to kill it without cutting it down.

Throughout the Upper Midwest, the aging aspen and birch trees that dominate the forest canopy are starting to die of old age. The species are gradually giving way to understory species such as red maple, beech, white pine, red pine and red oak.

As the aspen and birch drop out, the increased sunlight should boost the growth rate among the pines, oaks and maples, leading to a more complex, multi-layered canopy. The Forest Accelerated Succession Experiment (FASET) experiment is designed to speed that transition, acting like a time machine that allows scientists to measure future carbon uptake now.

“Are the forests of the future going to be taking up more carbon than today’s forests? That’s the big-picture question, and we think the answer is, ‘Yes, they will,’” he said.

The FASET team predicts once the aging aspens and birch are removed and the treatment stand has a chance to recover, the carbon storage rate in the treated area could increase by as much as 40 percent.

The project is funded with a $650,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Institute for Climate Change Research.

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For more: Christoph Vogel, University of Michigan, (269) 539-8408; csvogel@umich.edu.

August 2008