Trees might not be acting in the way we thought - this forest fitted with pipes can tell us why

Trees might not be acting in the way we thought - this forest fitted with pipes can tell us why 3 days ago Katherine Latham Thomas Downes By simulating the future atmosphere, scientists hope to understand whether trees will continue to act as the lungs of the planet. What's more, for the first time, MacKenzie and his fellow forest-watchers have also shown that microscopic organisms living on these trees capture methane, another greenhouse gas harmful to the atmosphere. " Thomas Downes Scientists are pumping CO2 into forests across the globe – to further our understanding of how trees can help keep the Earth cool Earth's natural greenhouse effect – whereby gases such as CO2 and methane absorb the Sun's heat as it radiates back from the Earth's surface, trapping it in the atmosphere – is vital for life as we know it. "We are measuring components of the forest productivity", says Laynara Lugli, a tropical ecologist studying the effects of climate change on soil-plant interactions at the Technical University of Munich. Maria Clara Ferreira Guimaraes Laynara Lugli studies what climate change could mean for the interactions between plants and soil in the Amazon rainforest Back in the quiet Staffordshire countryside, MacKenzie agrees.