Trees and climate change: There's more than what meets the eye
Trees fight climate change by taking in carbon dioxide from the air and using the carbon molecules to grow leaves, roots, branches, and enlarging the stem. This process of extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and incorporating it into the trees biomass is called carbon sequestration and plays a major role in the fight against global climate change.
So if trees use carbon for growth, does that mean that bigger trees are better for fighting climate change?
So if trees use carbon for growth, does that mean that bigger trees are better for fighting climate change?
No, not necessarily.
It is true that for a given tree, an increase in size will lead to more carbon sequestration. A tree that is 15 m tall will hold more carbon than it did when it was 10 m tall. The same is true for the diameter of the stem, although this relationship is harder to conceptualize. But an increase in the diameter of a stem from 14 cm to 15 cm will sequester much more carbon than an increase from 7 cm to 8 cm, and a stem growing from 28 cm to 29 cm will sequester even more carbon than one growing from 14 cm to 15 cm―even if the stem only increases by 1 cm in all cases. Size can therefore play an big role in carbon sequestration, but it is not the most important criteria to consider when selecting a tree to fight climate change.
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What is more important than the size of a tree is the total number of carbon atoms a tree will contain. And different species will vary greatly in the number of atoms they store. In fact, for the same volume, the wood of certain species can have over 150% more carbon atoms compared to other species! In other words, one tree could be better than 2.5 trees from another species even if they are equal in size.
As you can see, there is a complex interplay between size, species and carbon sequestration. AVES uses scientific models to determine the number of carbon atoms a tree can store in order to select the most effective tree for a given site. |
Composition chimique d'un arbre (lignine) montrant des atomes de carbone
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Repeated numerous times, maximizing the carbon sequestration potential of our neighborhood trees can have substantial effects on the environment.
Contact us to find out which tree is best for your property. Together we will make a difference!
Contact us to find out which tree is best for your property. Together we will make a difference!