Seventy years ago things were different. The most of the roads in the country were dirt, the information super highway hadn’t even been dreamt of and trees in Yosemite were bigger. So what’s the cause of the decline of big trees in Yosemite? Researchers from University of California Davis believe the same thing making trees in California’s Central Valley less productive is also contributing to the decline of big trees, global warming and climate change.
L.A. Times:”Climate change is a likely contributor to these events and should be taken into consideration,” said USGS scientist emeritus Jan van Wagtendonk. “Warmer conditions increase the length of the summer dry season and decrease the snowpack that provides much of the water for the growing season. A longer summer dry season can also reduce tree growth and vigor, and can reduce trees’ ability to resist insects and pathogens.”
Scientists also believe Yosemite may now be more vulnerable to major wildfires, since areas that have not experienced fires in almost 100 years have shifted from fire-tolerant ponderosa pines to fire-intolerant trees, such as white fir and incense cedar.
The study comes on the heels of recent findings by a team of UC Davis scientists that a decline in winter chilling hours due to global warming is having a dramatic effect on trees in the Central Valley, where much of the nation’s fruit and nut crops grow.
Photo by Ralphman.
Comments
One response to “Yosemite Trees Getting Smaller”
I wrote about this last week on Yosemiter yosemiter.com/8/science/large-trees-declining-too-few-fires/ and I don’t think that it’s smog or global warming that is hurting the big trees.
I think it’s Smokey the Bear. I think that the overwhelming drive to prevent forest fires is letting the faster growing trees, but less flame resistant trees, like the Cedar, get totally out of control and upset the natural balance of the forest.
As someone who lives with the threat of forest fires, I understand the need to control them — but let’s call a spade a spade. Everything can’t always be the fault of a few million automobiles and their drivers. Sometimes, it really is the government’s fault.