The pines of the future

1995/10/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

In North Carolina there is a new pine forest created by researchers from Duke University. Obviously, they are not trees of all kinds, nor the forestry. The objective of this curious research is to know the mechanisms of self-protection of pines in the next century before the new conditions of contamination. Predicting the ecological conditions that we will know in the following century, they pump carbon dioxide in the proximities of the pine forest in amounts superior to the usual ones so that the pines adapt to a situation that will be normal in the next century.

The conclusions that have been published so far are only provisional, but biologists have been optimistic about the progress of research. It seems that the pines will have no obstacles to photosynthesis and that they will grow without discomfort. For example, North Carolina pine specimens are at least higher than normal.

However, this trend towards growth will have a major rival in the coming years: drought. According to the researchers, pine trees adapt well in the short term to carbon dioxide emissions, but the drought will be more difficult. If this hypothesis is confirmed, it has been announced that the study of new irrigation systems and vegetable hybrids with lower water dependence will have to be addressed.