Testing Trees' Ability to Survive Future Air

Scientists working on the Aspen Free-Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) project in northern Wisconsin are spewing air pollutants into a test forest to determine the trees' ability to cope with the air contamination levels expected for the area fifty years from now. The US$ 8-million project has put billions of pounds of ozone and other pollutants into the air at the site since the projects inception in 1997. The air at the test site contains one and a half times the normal level of contaminants found in northern Wisconsin, about the same as a clear day in Los Angeles.

A mix of trees that grow in the area was planted in test groves. Rings of pipes emit gases onto the trees. Researchers carefully monitor wind speed and temperature to regulate the level of pollutants at the site. Samples taken from the trees and soil are being analyzed to see how the trees react to the altered air conditions.

Preliminary findings indicate that the trees do not grow as fast as expected when exposed to higher levels of carbon dioxide. Also higher levels of ozone seem to inhibit the trees' ability to absorb other air pollutants.

Links:

• Polluting Now to Save Trees in the Future from the Los Angeles Times via Yahoo! News


• The Aspen FACE Experiment the Aspen FACE project website

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 10:36 AM on August 11, 2005

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