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Old Trees Doing it Better than Young Trees: Responding to CO2
Volume 14, Number 8: 23 February 2011

In introducing their important new study, Knapp and Soule (2011) write that "atmospheric CO2 concentrations have increased by over 27% since the early 20th century, resulting in enhanced radial tree growth in natural environments for numerous tree species in a variety of climatic regions (e.g., LaMarche et al., 1984; Knapp et al., 2001; Soule and Knapp, 2006; Voelker et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2006; Koutavas, 2008)." They additionally note that "the principal benefit of elevated CO2 for radial growth has been linked to increased intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE), which is the ratio of net CO2 assimilation through leaf stomata to leaf stomatal conductance." And they report that "increases in iWUE based on carbon isotope chronologies have been identified for trees growing in both controlled (e.g., Leavitt et al., 2003) and natural environments (e.g., Bert et al., 1997; Feng, 1999; Tang et al., 1999; Arneth et al., 2002; Saurer et al., 2004; Waterhouse et al., 2004; Liu et al., 2007)."

In light of these well established facts, the two researchers, as they describe it, "examined radial growth responses of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa var. ponderosa) between 1905-1954 and 1955-2004 to determine if the effects of increased intrinsic water-use efficiencies caused by elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations were age-specific," working with 209 cores collected from mature trees (ranging in age from at least 100 to over 450 years) from five different sites in the USA's northern Rocky Mountains, while additionally calculating iWUE using carbon isotope data from 1850 to 2004.

This work, according to Knapp and Soule, revealed that "(1) responses to elevated atmospheric CO2 in old-growth ponderosa forests are age-specific; (2) radial growth increases in older trees coincided with increased iWUE; (3) ponderosa had increased growth rates in their third, fourth, and fifth centuries of life; and (4) age-specific growth responses during 1955-2004 are unique since at least the mid-16th century." In addition, they report that "increases in iWUE during 1955-2004 were 11% greater than during 1905-1954."

In discussing their impressive findings, Knapp and Soule say they "demonstrate that old-growth ponderosa pine forests of the northern Rockies have likely benefited from the effects of increased atmospheric CO2 since the mid-20th century and that the benefits increase with tree age." And since the CO2-induced radial growth increases in the older trees "were significantly associated with rising iWUE," they say the "accelerated growth rates are likely caused by more efficient water use in the semiarid environment where the trees were sampled."

In concluding, the two scientists rightly state that "old-growth trees can be highly responsive to environmental changes," especially, we would add, that of the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 content, as their work clearly demonstrates to be the case. In fact, they note that even what many might call ancient trees "are capable of increased growth rates several hundred years after establishment," further citing in this regard the work of McDowell et al. (2003) and Martinez-Vilalta et al. (2007).

Sherwood, Keith and Craig Idso

References
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Bert, D., Leavitt, S.W. and Dupouey, J.-L. 1997. Variations of wood δ13C and water-use efficiency of Abies alba during the last century. Ecology 78: 1588-1596.

Feng, X. 1999. Trends in intrinsic water-use efficiency of natural trees for the past 100-200 years: a response to atmospheric concentration. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 63: 1891-1903.

Knapp, P.A. and Soule, P.T. 2011. Increasing water-use efficiency and age-specific growth responses of old-growth ponderosa pine trees in the Northern Rockies. Global Change Biology 17: 631-641.

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