Our recent Global Change Biology publication demonstrating how some trees successfully cope with an extreme heat wave has received significant media attention. Of special note was the recent story in the Scientific American titled "Trees Sweat to Keep Cool". We were excited to see our work highlighted in this excellent magazine. There were some other interesting press articles as well, including stories from The Guardian, The Futurist, Phys.org, Outdoor Design, Salon, The Weather Channel, and others. Much of this coverage was very good, but some points were missed in some of these stories. (1) We never suggested that these trees need to be genetically engineered to cope with extreme heatwaves. I don't know where the genetic engineering idea crept in, as we don't mention this at any point. The primary message of our work is that these trees already possess a remarkably ability to withstand extreme heat with little detrimental effects. (2) Several stories highlighted how these trees "lost their ability to absorb carbon". We think this misses the central message. Yes, photosynthesis was reduced an average of 40% over the 4-day heatwave; this was entirely expected and is directly predictable from the temperature dependence of photosynthesis. The much more interesting point is that after the heatwave passed, the heatwave trees and the control trees continued to photosynthesize at the same rates. That is, the heatwave had no impact on the trees "ability to absorb carbon" over the long term. We find this remarkable.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Drake lab
Tree ecophysiology at SUNY-ESF Archives
October 2022
Categories |