A new study out of the Department of Biology at McGill University has shown that large older trees could be very important in the growth of today’s forests. The study was conducted by Dr. Zoë Lindo, a post-doctoral fellow, and Jonathan Whiteley, a doctoral student. The findings of the study highlight the importance of maintaining large old-growth trees in coastal temperate rainforests stretching from Southern Alaska to Northern California, according to Science Daily.
Dr. Lindo’s findings suggest this is a result of interactions between old trees, mosses, and cyanobacteria, all of which contribute nutrients in a manner that could sustain the long-term productivity of these forests. “What we’re doing is putting large old trees into a context where they’re an integral part of what a forest is,” Dr. Lindo said. “These large old trees are doing something: they’re providing habitat for something that provides habitat for something else that’s fertilizing the forest. It’s like a domino effect; it’s indirect but without the first step, without the trees, none of it could happen.”
Dr. Lindo continued by saying “You need trees that are large enough and old enough to start accumulating mosses before you can have the cyanobacteria that are associated with the mosses. Many trees don’t start to accumulate mosses until they’re more than 100 years old. So it’s really the density of very large old trees that are draped in moss that is important at a forest stand level. We surveyed trees that are estimated between 500 and 800 years old.”
We here at Cartwright Tree Care find this study to be very intriguing, and we’re curious to know if ancient trees aid forest growth in our area. Do you have an opinion? Feel free to share it with us if you do!
Photo credit: iStockphoto via Sciencedaily.com.