Friday, May 19, 2017

Not the Onion: Climate change is causing trees in the eastern U.S. to move north, west

Via Twitter: It's getting so hot that even the trees are heading north.

Man-made climate change — including warmer temperatures and deviations in rainfall patterns — appears to be one of the reasons tree populations in the eastern U.S. are shifting north and, more surprisingly, west, according to new research.

The shift could even lead to the extinction of certain trees in select forests, the study said.

Overall, the changing climate has pushed trees an average of 20 miles north and 25 miles west over the past 30 years. While the northern shift was expected due to warming temperatures, researchers think the more surprising westward movement could be the result of a change in rainfall patterns.

When researchers analyzed the impact of climate change, they found precipitation had a stronger impact on forests in the short term than temperatures, said lead author Songlin Fei of Purdue University.

(Link to more)

21 comments:

ndspinelli said...

Climate change has been causing Jews to move to Florida for generations.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

A secret poll showed they are leaving because they aren't happy with deblasio policys.

bagoh20 said...

Invest in Arctic Ocean beach property now. Get in on the ground floor of the next big real estate boom. Make hundreds of dollars from home.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Bago - please keep this money making secret to yourself. I don't want too many others buying up the soon to be unfrozen tundra AKA future beachfront property. Wait until after I assemble some YUGE parcels and then big bucks guys like Buffet and Soros will make my investment skyrocket when I sell it.

Leland said...

One year of good rainfall is now a pattern.

The Dude said...

Trees have moved forever, if slowly. There was a time when ice 2 miles thick covered Manhattan, or as we called it, good times, and as the ice receded trees moved in.

The reason we have so many species of hardwoods compared to Europe is because our mountain ranges run diagonally on this continent, the Alps run east-west, which prevented trees from migrating when the ice melted. You can look it up.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...

Amartel said...

It's an entvasion. Treebeard and the gang are angry and they're on the move west and north because that's where the orcs live.

chickelit said...

Will the North once agin be accused of 'arboring fugitives?

Chip Ahoy said...

And everyone knows when trees actually do move to be cooler that when they're THEN NOTHING ELSE CAN EVER GROW!

Rabel said...

We were warned. And we did not act.

ricpic said...

"The reason we have so many species of hardwoods......"

True for the east and midwest but once you hit the Rockies it's pines pines pines. Don't get me wrong, I love the cottonwood but there aren't that many other hardwoods out west. California has some strange pod dropping trees from dinosaur times or maybe they're giant willow trees. And oaks, they have giant oaks that peaceable bulls spend their dotage under. Are cottonwoods even hardwoods?

ricpic said...

Rabel's gone virile!

Rabel said...

Oh, noes!!!!!

The Dude said...

Rpic - the dividing line between hardwoods and softwoods should really be conifers and decidious trees - those that bear cones and those that shed their leaves.

Even that doesn't do it, as there are decidious conifers like the dawn redwood, and hardwoods, such as the live oak that do not shed their leaves.

Cottonwoods are technically hardwoods, as they don't have cones, but the wood itself is quite punky. Stuff can be made from it, but you have to account for it's relatively low modulus of elasticity.

There are great hardwoods in northern California, Oregon and Washington - big leaf maples, alder, chinkapins, oaks, cherry, madrone and so on.

I always liked the story of Ferdinand. I have an old copy of it, given to me by a woman with whom I recently watched a movie about actual cork oaks in Spain. As it turns out they are different from the depictions in the book.

Shocking, right?

ndspinelli said...

Hillary must have told Huma to file so she can run for Prez again. Crazy Joe Biden is blasting Hillary, saying he might run. Hillary has deep state attacking Trump. The Dem party is controlled by people in their 70's/80's.

ndspinelli said...

I get wood reading Sixty writing about wood. But I don't text it to 15 year old girls...or boys.

ndspinelli said...

I make sure they're 18 years old.

The Dude said...

I'm tellin'!

ampersand said...

Wiener is now on Arkancide watch. If he goes to jail(MacDougall) or to the hospital (Virginia Kelly), he is a goner. He should get a DNA test on that kid before Ma Barker strikes again .

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Birnam Wood Does Comes to Dunsinane?

Amartel said...

Will The Weiner Pervert do time? Or are we now in an era when Democrat fall-guys and gals don't actually have to spend time in prison or jail? Dunh dunh duuuuuuuuunh. Stay tuned.