York students contribute to major study on African forests
Posted on 19 February 2009
The students, led by Dr Jon Lovett of the University’s Environment Department, measured trees over a period of six years in a remote area of Tanzania. The York students helped in the establishment and measurement of permanent sample plots, together with researchers from the University of Dar es Salaam.
Dr Lovett said: "Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming and is released by burning fossil fuels plants naturally absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis and so remove it from the atmosphere."
The remarkable finding of the new study is that African forests are growing faster as carbon dioxide concentrations increase and they are a critical sink for carbon dioxide.
The York study has been used as part of an international study by Dr Simon Lewis of Leeds University to measure the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by African rainforests and is important for our understanding of global warming.
Dr Lovett said: "We weren't expecting our work to be so important, as it was part of an environmental impact assessment for a new hydropower dam, but we carefully followed strict protocols and so the data collected was useful for the continent-wide analysis."
The York research also had some surprises "During the field work we also found four new species of plants and a new species of toad! This shows how unexplored many areas of tropical rain forest are."
The new study could help conserve tropical rainforests and so maintain their role as absorbers of the greenhouse gas. Governments are now discussing the possibility of providing funding to developing countries to help to protect their forests.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- More information on the Environment Department at the University of York is available at www.york.ac.uk/depts/eeem/
- The African Tropical Rainforest Observation Network, Afritron brings together researchers active in African countries with tropical forest to standardise and pool data to better understand how African tropical forests are changing in a globally changing environment. The institutions include University of Leeds (UK), University of Yaounde (Cameroon), Forestry Commission of Ghana, University of Agriculture (Nigeria), Bureau Waardenburg bv (The Netherlands), Institute for Tropical Ecological Research (IRET, Gabon), Smithsonian Institution (US), Wageningen University (The Netherlands), Plantlife International (UK), Wildlife Conservation Society-Democratic Republic of Congo, National Museum of France, University of York (UK), University of Dar es Salaam, Centre for International Forestry Research (Indonesia), University of Aberdeen (UK), University of Dublin (Republic of Ireland), University of Toronto (Canada), Mbarara University (Uganda), and Forest Development Authority (Liberia).
- The research was funded by the Royal Society and the Natural Environment Research Council and by the many institutions and donors who funded establishment and monitoring of the study plots (details on Afritron)
- More information on the research is available from Simon Lewis, University of Leeds. Email: s.l.lewis@leeds.ac.uk, Tel: 0113 343 3337; Clare Ryan, University of Leeds press office. Email: c.s.ryan@leeds.ac.uk, Tel: 0113 343 8059