{"id":78655,"date":"2026-08-31T10:37:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T17:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=78655"},"modified":"2026-08-31T10:37:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T17:37:35","slug":"forest-carbon-storage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/forest-carbon-storage\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature\u2019s most important climate change defenders are in peril"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can we count on forests to continue absorbing the carbon dioxide\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0warming our world? A new study from researchers at NAU and the University of New Hampshire says\u00a0\u2026maybe not.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The study, led by NAU Ph.D. student<\/span>\u00a0Darby Bergl<\/span><\/b>, took advantage of an exceptionally rare 20-year record of measurements taken in New England to ask a simple question: Are temperate forests continuing to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as expected? They found\u00a0the answer\u2014at least at this site\u2014was, increasingly, no.\u00a0<\/span>Their findings were published<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday, Aug. 5, in Global Change Biology Communications.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For decades, Bergl said, temperate forests in the northeastern United States have helped slow climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in trees and soils. But between 2004 and 2023, Bergl and her colleagues\u00a0found,\u00a0the carbon sink strength of one mature forest in New Hampshire declined substantially.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“We often think of forests as one of our best natural climate solutions because they remove large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, so changes in their ability to store carbon could have important consequences for future climate change,\u201d Bergl said. \u201cOur findings suggest that mature temperate deciduous forests may no longer reliably remove more carbon than they release under continued global change.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"metal<\/a>
The researchers’ findings drew from an exceptionally rare 20-year record of measurements taken a New Hampshire forest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using continuous measurements of carbon exchange between the forest and the atmosphere, researchers found that the forest absorbed\u00a0less and less\u00a0carbon each year. In several recent years, the forest even became a net source of carbon rather than a sink. The decline\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0caused by a reduction in photosynthesis, as researchers expected. Instead, it was driven by increasing carbon release from the ecosystem through respiration, the natural process by which plants,\u00a0roots\u00a0and soil microbes emit carbon dioxide.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Corresponding author\u00a0<\/span>Andrew Richardson<\/span><\/b>, a\u00a0Regents\u2019 professor at the NAU Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (Ecoss) and a former postdoctoral researcher at the University of New Hampshire, said warmer winters are playing an important role by increasing biological activity during months when forests were once more dormant. The study also points to changes in late-summer growing conditions that may be enhancing carbon cycling underground. Together, these factors\u00a0appear to be\u00a0increasing carbon losses faster than carbon gains.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Our results clearly show the long-term impacts of changing winter weather on the health and productivity of northern forests,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cForests provide enormous benefits to society, from storing carbon to supporting biodiversity and local economies. Recognizing and addressing these long-term impacts should be a priority for policymakers and resource managers alike, and these findings underscore the importance of developing strategies that sustain forest health and resilience in the decades ahead.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bergl said the findings have important implications for global climate projections, many of which are\u00a0operating\u00a0under the assumption that forests will continue to absorb\u00a0large amounts\u00a0of carbon in the future. It also highlights why long-term observations like these are critical for understanding whether forests can continue to provide one of nature\u2019s most important defenses against climate change.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we only detected this weakening carbon sink after two decades of continuous measurements underscores the importance of sustained investment in long-term ecological research, without which gradual but consequential changes like these could easily go unnoticed,\u201d Bergl said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to Bergl and Richardson, authors included NAU\u00a0Ecoss\u00a0associate research professor\u00a0<\/span>Mariah Carbone<\/span><\/b>\u00a0and postdoctoral researcher\u00a0<\/span>Yujie Liu<\/span><\/b>; NAU assistant professor of data science\u00a0<\/span>Benjamin Lucas<\/span><\/b>; UNH professor of natural resources and the environment Scott Ollinger; David Hollinger and Andrew Ouimette of the U.S. Forest Service; and Boston University distinguished professor of biology Pamela Templer.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/span><\/p>\n


\nJill Kimball | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-2282 | jill.kimball@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can we count on forests to continue absorbing the carbon dioxide\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0warming our world? A new study from researchers at NAU and the University of New Hampshire says\u00a0\u2026maybe not.\u00a0 The study, led by NAU Ph.D. student\u00a0Darby Bergl, took advantage of an exceptionally rare 20-year record of measurements taken in New England to ask a simple question:…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2880,"featured_media":78657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2880"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78655"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78679,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78655\/revisions\/78679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}