Off the wire
• French Ligue 1 standings  • S.African tourism minister reaches out to role players to improve sector  • West Africa Clean Energy Corridor launched at AUW  • French Ligue 1 result  • Real Madrid one point off title following win in Vigo  • Brazil's De Souza wins Rio Pro  • Egyptian armed forces chief visits Libya's Benghazi  • Protection sought for unaccompanied refugee, migrant children, UNICEF says  • Interview: Stakeholders see China Trade Week a new impetus in China-Ghana relations  • Tanzania could attain middle income status by making growth more inclusive: IMF  
You are here: 　 Home

Climate change causes trees in eastern U.S. to shift westward: study

Xinhua, May 17, 2017 Adjust font size:

Climate change has long been predicted to shift trees northward, but a new study released on Wednesday found that it's also causing some tree species to move westward in the eastern United States.

The study, led by Purdue University professor Songlin Fei and published in the U.S. journal Science Advances, used the U.S. Forest Service data on 86 tree types to explore the distribution of these trees in the eastern U.S. between 1980 and 2015.

Many climate change studies have generally shown a strong correlation between changes in temperature and tree shifting, but the new study was surprised to find that precipitation has a stronger near-term impact on the ranges of many tree species than temperature.

"Trees are shifting partially because of climate change, but their responses are species specific," Fei said. "Deciduous trees like oak and maple are primarily moving westward. Evergreens are responding in a different way. They're moving northwards."

Deciduous trees were shifting westward to follow changes in moisture, he explained, pointing to an increase of more than 150-mm total annual precipitation in the central United States and a large reduction in the southeast during the 30-year study period.

Fei said the findings are significant in that the research shows the clear impact of climate change based on big data, not just modeling.

"It is not future predictions," he said. "Empirical data reveals the impact of climate change is happening on the ground now. It's in action." Endit