Now global warming is causing trees to take over! Damn them! Damn them all to hell!
Posted on 09/28/2014 3:36:10 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
Grasslands around the world are under threat from trees, according to a new study from Kansas State University.
Streams, as well as tall grasslands surrounding them, are being studied by biologists, concerned that prairies could turn into forests or become covered in shrubs.
Tall grass is becoming less common in areas around the world, with shrubs and trees replacing the prairies. Such changes can affect the movement of water through the regional ecosystem, changing soil chemistry. This can have a dramatic, potentially negative, effect on the local environment.
"This is an important issue regionally, because as trees expand into these grassland areas, people who are using grassland for cattle production have less grass for animals, too," Walter Dodds, distinguished professor of biology at Kansas State University, said.
The Konza Prairie Biological Station, where the research was carried out, stretches over 8,600 acres in northeast Kansas.
Dodds has 20 years of experience studying the area. Along with Allison Veach, doctoral student in biology, the two studied 25 years of aerial photos of the station. The pair were looking for patterns in the growth of trees and shrubs within 100 feet of streams. They wanted to know specifically how grazing by animals affected the growth of plant life, as well as the time between large fires, known as the burn interval. They compared these effects to historical growth patterns of woody vegetation in the regions.
"Although we can reduce woody expansion by burning more frequently, we can't prevent it from occurring over time. Woody plant encroachment may not be prevented by fire alone," Veach said.
This research underscores the importance of controlled burns to keep growth of woody vegetation in check, assisting tall grasses to grow. However, the study also reveals that such actions are not enough to ensure the long-term survival of tall grass in prairies.
Dodds and Veach believe the recent growth of trees in grasslands could be due to increased carbon dioxide in the air. Grasses are more efficient than trees at utilizing the gas in respiration. As concentrations rise in the atmosphere, it is possible that shrubs and trees are able to use the atmospheric component to feed their growth.
Investigation of tall prairie grasses, and how they are affected by the growth of trees around streams, was profiled in the journal Plos One. When the burn interval was low -- just a year or two -- growth of trees and shrubberies were kept in check. However, these fires do not appear to reduce the development of such organisms enough to preserve a healthy environment for grasslands, according to the study.
Now global warming is causing trees to take over! Damn them! Damn them all to hell!
i’m so tired about these sky-is-falling academics trying to make a name for themselves.
they bitch when man clears a field. remember how we were going to run out of topsoil and that was going to be the end of our food supplies?
they bitch when nature fills in grassland.
good grief we have such morons today.
But you can’t chop down the trees, and you better not mow the grass either. What’s an environmentalist to do? /s;)
Nature must remain static according to the environmental left.
I live in an area that was cleared farm fields in colonial times up until the turn of the twentieth century. It is now covered in new growth forest intermingled with single family homes. The only remnant left are the stone walls. It’s called the Hudson Valley.
I live in southern Pennsylvania and over the past 25 years I have watched the GRASS being replaced with mosses and lichens.
The early growth forrest is being replaced by oaks and poplars (normal for these parts) but also by conifers and aspens...more like the Colorado Rockies.
Nature is DYNAMIC!
I know around here, in SW PA, there is property that, 20 years ago, was mown for hay and that those fields (for whatever reason) were no longer mown and are now scrub and taller/bigger trees
It may be because children are trending away from farming into other fields (more than likely), so I think it's not so much an eco system actively taking over, but nature doing what she does when left alone.
Isn't this what the weenies WANT ?
What is it about these enviro-nazis? Nature is all about change, usually in small ways over many years. These people seem to think that nature is never changing and what-is right this minute is the way it’s always going to be.
And when their pet ideas are proven wrong they scream and shout like little children because they are ‘wrong’ and ‘somebody’ or ‘something’ is being mean to them.
And do you know who's fault that is? Evil Big Oil. In the 1920's and 1930's, hay farms arcoss the country went out of business because of the switch from horses to cars. The government bought a lot of the land in the depression to stabilize prices, and turned a lot of it into forests.
Are we going to be doomed?
Back in the 1800s the forests were cleared to make way for hay farms to feed all the horses, and when automobiles replaced horses and carriages, the farms were abandoned and the fields returned to forest land. Nature has a way of fixing herself, that arrogant academics cannot seem to grasp.
You beat me by 90 seconds :-)
Yes. I for one welcome our new tree overlords.
yes it is what they want. they change inheritance laws to make survivors have to sell to pay taxes, and make regs and crap increase to deter those that want to continue farming, to give up.
As I’ve been saying for years to people who complain about clear cutting, they aren’t destroying forests, they’re creating meadows. Wildlife flocks to clear cuts.
Our county here was flooded for city reservoirs. My county alone has half a dozen reservoirs. The farms were mostly dairy/feed corn/hay. Borden’s dairy had a shipping plant here for raw milk on a railroad spur to NYC.
A lot of wildlife, such as deer and elk, like the edges of forests and meadows. They have cover during the day, and grazing at night.
“As I’ve been saying for years to people who complain about clear cutting, they aren’t destroying forests, they’re creating meadows. Wildlife flocks to clear cuts.”
Exactly, its called “edge” land. Where forest meets the meadows and open areas.
My father had a saying, although it wasn’t specifically directed at this seems to be very applicable.
He used to say “you know some people just can’t stand prosperity”.
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