August 27th, 2008 · No Comments

By John DeFore

The changing schedules of fall foliage may be a headache for nature lovers who time their forest vacations to maximize viewing of autumnal reds and oranges. But they could be good for the environment those travelers set out to enjoy.

According to a new article in the journal Global Change Biology, a team led by Michigan Tech forestry professor David F. Karnosky has established that increased levels of atmospheric CO2 “act directly to delay the usual autumn spectacle of changing colors and falling leaves in northern hardwood forests.”

Studying forests in Wisconsin and Italy and using an elaborate system that allows researchers to control the concentrations of carbon dioxide and tropospheric ozone within a given wooded area (the project was launched to help answer questions listed here), the team found that longer periods of green leaves resulted from higher CO2 levels. And longer green periods mean more time in which trees can soak carbon up. (Other researchers have already asserted that increased CO2 leads to earlier growth in the spring as well.)

Karnosky describes the phenomenon as “a good-news story for our region’s forests,” since trees have longer periods of productivity before taking a break for the winter. While the experiment was too brief to suggest how mature forests would behave in the long term, it’s surely welcome news for sustainable foresters to hear that what threatens the planet in one respect is at least helping their young trees grow more quickly — putting a dent in the very problem that keeps them green.

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