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Thursday, December 31st, 2015

Drought taking big toll on California’s forests

Author:     Molly Solana
Source:     West Texas News
Publication Date:     30 December 2015
 Link: Drought taking big toll on California’s forests
Stephan:   When I say climate change is going to change the face of the Earth, and fundamentally alter its eco-systems -- upon which much of human, animal, and even insect and soil bacterial life depend, I mean that quite literally. This isn't getting as much play as sea rise but the impact will be equivalent. Here's an example of what I mean.
Drought plagued California forest Credit: Huffington Post

Drought plagued California forest Credit: Huffington Post

California’s years-long drought is not only having a distressing impact on humans but also on vegetation, as years of little or no rain is taking a big toll on the state’s forests, a new study revealed.

The new study, conducted by a team of researchers at Stanford University’s Carnegie Institution for Science, estimated that up to 58 million big trees in the state experienced water loss that could be life-threatening since 2011 because of the state’s historic drought.

The researchers also estimated that nearly 41,000 square miles of forest containing nearly 888 million big trees experienced change in the amount of water stored in their canopies between 2011 and 2015.

Water loss coupled with higher temperatures and outbreaks of deadly insects like bark beetle have further increased the risk of the trees’ death. Loss of trees would bring widespread potentially-destructive changes in the ecosystems.

Carnegie’s Gregory Asner, the study’s lead author, said, “The drought put the forests in tremendous […]

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